Have you noticed that someone else always seems to get the good assignments at work? Do you often have something to say but you feel drowned out by others louder than you are? Do you find yourself being very busy but not making much progress on the things that really matter? Are you constantly struggling with missed expectations with your boss? Could you use some simple techniques to get your work life on a better track toward long lasting productivity, growth, and happiness?
So much of what makes our work life challenging is beyond our control. Yet we can do so many things to make our work life more enjoyable and rewarding. The good news is they do not require anyone else to make them work for you. Nor do you have to learn to use any tools you do not already know. And you can start today! However, you must to learn to incorporate all of these ideas into your daily work habit. If they become habits, and not just a task list to throw out when complete, then you have the opportunity to realize long term benefits.
1. Be Prepared. No, not like a scout armed with tools to survive in the wilderness. Imagine an invitation to a meeting with a bunch of other people at work to discuss the Doppler project. The problem is you have never heard of the Doppler project and you are sure none of your co-workers have either. What do you do? You all show up at the meeting with empty note pads and curious expressions. Then the boss explains the project and asks people in the room their opinion about how to proceed. When you are all unprepared and shooting from the hip, the loudest person often gets all the attention.
What if you did just a small bit of research before the meeting? You found out that the Doppler project had to do with a new initiative to expand into the Brazilian market. You may also learn some useful facts about the Brazilian market, current distribution channels and market acceptance for your products, before the meeting. So much information is available online now that this part is easy. Keep it very simple and short – like one page – because you do not know much more than the name and scope of the project at this point. Now you show up at that meeting prepared. When the boss asks your opinion about how to proceed you can hand out a brief sheet of useful facts to everyone there as a starting point.
What happens with that research? In truth, it does not matter. What matters is that you have communicated clearly to the boss and everyone else in the room that you are interested in this project and you have proactively taken steps to learn and share that learning with the team. Who would not want you on the project?
2. Be Alert. Stay tuned to new developments in your industry as they unfold in the media, or from co-workers in the cafeteria, or players on the golf course. Evaluate each new development in the context of your company, your job, and your customers. This helps you to be proactive in making changes and suggestions that would help the new change to be successful. Too many people keep their heads down choosing to remain oblivious of new developments going on around them. At some point, they find themselves so out of step with what is going on in their job and their company that a huge adjustment is needed to get them back on track.
3. Know your customer. Recognize that you have internal customers – people in your company who depend on your work, and external customers – people who pay your company for the product or service you provide. Focus first on the external customer – or the “real” customer. The one who pays the bills will have far greater influence on you and your company’s future. Every job in the company has a direct or indirect effect on your customers.
Find out how your customers experience what you produce in your daily work. Does it make their life easier? Are they satisfied with it? Are they frustrated at having to call your hotline for help repeatedly? These issues do not simply relate to the product itself. Challenging billing processes, service and support, lack of communication, and countless other issues will have as much of an effect on the customer as a poorly performing product. What specific changes can you make in your work and what you produce that will benefit your customers, even in small ways? Make them and test them again.
4. Define the schedule. Often times missed expectations are the result of unclear objectives. A lack of communication to specify the work effort required to accomplish a project successfully. Without any input from you, your boss will simply dictate a target date and expect you will deliver. To prevent this, you are better off if you can create even a simple high-level outline of the key activities, deliverables, and milestones to accomplish the task. Then your boss is more likely to adjust the schedule to a date that is more realistic, and that will produce better results for everyone.
Sometimes people are afraid to appear to be questioning the orders of a demanding boss. If all you do is raise questions and produce no answers then that fear may be justified. Most demanding managers will be delighted if you come to them with a well thought out plan supported by facts to support your argument for a change in the schedule. You will not always get your way but you will gain a lot of respect.
5. Share the good news. Do not get bogged down in all the negative things that happen. Sharing good news shifts your orientation to all the great progress that and opens up new possibilities. As the bearer of good news, more people will enjoy hearing from you and share good news of their own. Do not be afraid to tell anyone from top to bottom in the company about the good things that are happening, and make an effort to share any item with no less than three people. Sharing all the good news with your office mate only will do wonders for that person. Will they pass the message on? Empower yourself.
6. Include everyone on your team. People work better when they understand the context in which they are working and how what they do relates to the bigger picture. If they are all informed, then they make informed decisions and produce more, faster. Avoid the tendency to share good news, best practices, tips and techniques, changes in procedures, etc., with just a few people to whom you feel close. If you can have an influence on the productivity of the entire team, you will emerge as a natural leader and you will become more productive. Why? Everyone else on the team will not only be doing a better job but they will work better with you as you will be seen as a problem solver and someone who generously adds value to their work.
7. Ask the right questions. Focus on business outcomes. Let us say you are back in that meeting on the Doppler project. Often the questions people ask seem to focus on the wrong issues, like, “Who’s in charge of the project”, or “Why wasn’t Fred invited to the meeting”, or “Can I get a free trip to Brazil”. If you ask questions about the expected business outcomes, you will demonstrate that you are on board, you get it, and that you focus on the success of the business first. People also tend to start problem solving or concluding the answer before they fully understand the problem. A little more time framing the problem and planning up front and everyone will have a better understanding. In addition, people will think you are smart – not with answers, but with the right questions.
8. Answer the right questions. People sometimes ask a question anticipating a certain pre-conceived response. If you can clarify the question and answer the correct question you will both learn, and you have steered the issue in the right direction. Also, do not be too quick to answer all those unimportant questions that are really distractions from the business purpose. If you join in with that you will simply be seen as contributing to the confusion and not focused on the solution and results. This approach will contribute greatly to helping you sort through all the work piling up on your plate, and stay focused on the work that really matters. If you disappoint people with tasks that do not matter while exceeding their expectations with those that are paramount, you come out far ahead.
9. Learn from your mistakes. Mistakes will happen, and often. They are valuable lessons about planning and invaluable experiences in navigating the uncertainties of the future. This can only be true if you acknowledge the mistake and take the time to learn from it so you can avoid – and help others to avoid – repeating the problem in the future. Come clean with the mistake, with why it happened, with what corrections can avoid similar mistakes in the future, and with the person or people who experience the worst effect of the mistake. In fact, the ‘injured’ parties analyze the situation and provide suggestions on how to correct it. A little humility will go a long way to earning respect and trust from others.
10. Finally, make work fun. You spend most of your waking life working. You need to be productive and you need to collaborate with lots of other people. We are more creative when we are having fun. Keeping the mood light allows us to put problems in their proper perspective and stay focused on the solution and on the future. Focus on producing the best results. Collaborate. Share good news. Be open and honest about mistakes. Develop a deep respect for your co-workers. Be tuned to the needs of your customers. Have fun.
