Work smart!

Have you ever had an encounter with a person whom you respect a lot? And then after talking to that person, suddenly you feel enlightened. And before I forgot the conversation I had with Sarah, I'd better blogged this down so that I'll remember this for the rest of my life.

I was telling her the struggles one faces in the workplace. She told me something very significant. She said, "My dad used to tell me that every boss in the world dislikes employees who are task-oriented."

I was shocked at the statement at first. But aren't we supposed to do our task well?

She continues, "Task-oriented people are those - If the boss says 'Do A', then the employee only do A. This kind of employee will never go far in their life. They only know how to take orders. You shouldn't be order-takers. The right way to be will be, if your boss says 'Do A', you should present alternatives B, C and D as well."

"Always sit down and analyze the flaws of the company, and propose to your boss suggestions that can be done. Never mind if your idea is shot down. At least, you try."

In her previous job as sales, she basically worked one year before she finally received a proper assignment from her boss. For one year, she's been doing routinal jobs like filing and documentation. It's just sometimes the boss doesn't trust us enough yet to entrust us with greater things. Thus, it can take one year before you are finally entrusted with bigger things. Many people quit too soon within 6 months, thinking that there's nothing much to be done in the company. We shouldn't quit too soon, but keep on enduring.

So I asked her, "What if you are unsure of something and you wanted to ask your superior something? Wouldn't it make you look as if you don't know your stuff?"

She replied, "You gotta ask in a smart way. For example, don't go up to your superior and say, 'Can you explain to me A-Z how to do this?' Present two different extremes and ask for your superior's opinion, so it won't look as if you're not thinking with you brain."

“Always under-promise and over-deliver.”

"When you want to leave a company, think in terms of what value has the company added into your life."

Well, everything suddenly begins to make sense. Perhaps all these are things that really separate the good from the mediocre.

So it was a fun badminton night with Sarah, Leena and gang. Besides the physical sweating-out, I received principles in the middle of the badminton game.

So I told myself. Work hard and work smart!