Moving Ahead in the Corporate World
I have been thinking about the new profile of an achiever in the working world and have made multiple attempts to finalise the issue but every time an additional aspect finds its way into that important statement. However, this time I am determined to complete this task somehow even if the idea sounds very basic and ordinary.
It is an accepted fact in our commercial and industrial world that today’s work place is a lot more exhilarating, demanding, challenging and customer-driven than ever before so there is no doubt in my mind that the people who are in the workforce and want to get ahead and to rise to the top have to be high achievers.
I wish to go back to the basics of human qualities as means and methods of achievement. These may sound and look obvious but often a reminder creates a miracle to change and adjust our attitude.
My high school teacher gave me a description of a high achiever as an individual who is fully committed to team work, is always prepared to take risk, is a balanced thinker, is a continuous skill builder and is ready and eager to produce good results at all times. He told me a few specific things that make us high achievers like quality, skill, attitude and inspiration.
Ever since then, I have been adding my own thoughts to the profile of a high achiever for the business world. Whether we are working in high-tech or low-tech, in service sectors or manufacturing areas, and whether we are accountants, sales persons, plant operators, engineers, market researchers or managers, and supervisors, and whether we are Chiefs or just ordinary Indians, clerks or switchboard operators, we need to look at and check our essential biography or profile as an achiever if we want to move ahead successfully in this tough and competitive world.
In my many years of working as a teacher, administrator, curriculum developer, examiner and human resource practitioner I have heard members of corporations not only talking about their missions, strategies and objectives but they have been generating reams of written material, lectures, reports and memos spelling out what they wanted their people to know about their plans and policies.
Sometimes all these just end up being words piled upon words, with blame games pointing at failed associates. So what should be done? We need actions and attitudes that we can clearly measure and that can help us get there with ease and understanding. In order to achieve our goal we need specific means, behaviour benchmarks and design-oriented quality that tell us that we are on the right path and are fully engaged in the correct processes.
Let me pose a few relevant questions. Are we more entrepreneurial than we were this time a year ago? Just how much value have we added to ourselves in the past three months? Have we mastered decision making? These and similar other questions call us to move towards the global drift and do some skill building and renewal because everyday our work is becoming more demanding than ever.
My suggestion is that we in the business world should learn to sharpen our executive, individual and corporate instincts and seriously view and adjust our own biography or profile if we want to move ahead. Who are we? Where are we? What are we doing? How are we performing our duties? When are we changing?
As I said in the beginning, now I will look at various basic and simple human qualities and attitudes that we can add to our profile and become high achievers as time moves on.
Our smiles and frowns convey very vital attitude about our work life and are important aspects of the high achievers. Our genuine and authentic smile is an encourager that quietly says, “Go ahead and tell me. Go ahead, do it. I believe in you. I am counting on your ability to do better.” A high achiever has to have the right kind of smile and be a spendthrift in this aspect.
On the other hand, frown, although it is appropriate in some instances, does a lot of damage because it depicts an attitude of an intimidator or discourager. So while the smile of a high achiever conveys an upbeat attitude about performance, our frowns may project the opposite, so let us take stock and adjust our disposition.
Then there is merit in a good handshake. My wife spoke at a wedding in Vancouver once and said that hand-in-hand contact is an expression of encounter, involvement and the good beginning of intimacy but it requires firmness. A weak handshake can show that we are moving away from people whereas a very firm handshake cannot be taken as persuasive but dominating. A high achiever gradually learns to resolve and adjust the handshake style accordingly to convey friendliness toward others and make them feel friendly toward self.
Many prominent workers have found that it pays to accept their weaknesses and character flaws. So it is often wise to accept that we have made a mistake and have learnt something from that error. If we do not acknowledge our limitations, we most certainly will doubt our strengths.
I know that a high achiever by trying to make the visitors and subordinates feel comfortable gets better results through involvement and by the degree of warmth that is displayed for the people who are part of the workforce. So it is better to resolve that it is worth our time and concentration to make our colleagues and visitors feel at ease at all times by teaming up with warmth because this basic human quality of warmth inspires and attracts.
Then a high achiever has to be an excellent listener because an impatient listener almost always misses the message. If you learn to give time then you are saving time and you respond appropriately at all times to exchange all your information well. This is critical for good performance at any work place.
One good point to remember here is that the word silent when reframed can become listen. So it is wise to be silent when we want to listen well and get everything that a speaker says and intends to say. An achiever anywhere is the one who is a careful listener.
My grandfather made me study poems from early Indian poets and one of his efforts is still fresh in my mind.
Guru Govind Dono Khade Kaake Lagoon Paaye
Balihari Guru Aapne, Govind Diyo Bataaye. –Kabir Das
If my Guru and God were to stand in front of me, to whom should I bow first? Well, I choose you my teacher or my mentor because if he or she hadn’t been there I would have never known what God is.
I have always felt that achievers who are eager to learn and seek to be taught by masters of their crafts have always benefited tremendously in any position. An important aspect of learning from any mentor is that you will be criticised, face demands and maybe at times stressed but you have to take the initiative to find that teacher (that mentor) and convince him or her that you are a promising learner.
I have in my many years of work experience found that serious seekers definitely find gold and their quest assures enlarged perspectives and a lot more options for better achievement. So I have been promoting the maxim ‘get a mentor and prosper’ over the years.
If we have any convictions then we ought to have the courage to implement them but my understanding in this idea is that the peak performers have to dig deeper sources than their brains for calling up the needed courage to proceed. A long time ago I was told that fear has many eyes and courage has only one. I find that emotions are not always subject to reason but they are definitely always subject to action.
If we are among those performers who believe that they are authentic and not what they wish they were but what they really are then they can easily realize that their authenticity is what can generate superior exhilarating performance. However, to fully understand what we really are requires a lot of courage.
My point here is simply to believe in ourselves and let all the colleagues do the same. Then whatever convictions you have at your work place could be implemented with courage and competence.
An achiever who is a positive thinker must have the stamina to act positively. This will assist us to create a variety of opportunities to develop mental capacity to seek and find workable, beneficial and appropriate options. Our positive attitude will encourage us as well as our colleagues to stop supporting all hopeless causes and reject all forms of defeat when we face tough projects and other problems.
We as achievers then not only can cultivate the needed attitude of positive thinking by discovering a workable, beneficial and proper options but encourage ourselves and our workers to act on them and keep on moving with added vigour and enthusiasm.
I think I have started the ball rolling for anyone to develop a more distinct profile of an achiever. A peak performer at any work place has to understand that we all are ignorant in some field and no one can profess to possess knowledge about everything. This feeling is the starting point to extend our knowledge.
Let us not claim to know something we do not and ask our colleagues to enlighten us. This action of an achiever will act like a two edged sword. This will enhance your knowledge and make the other person happy to share the knowledge he or she has developed over the years.
The modern complex work culture demands that we share our knowledge and learn to accomplish through collaboration and joint efforts. Any worker, executive, manager or leader who is ready and eager to tread on this vital path of admitting ignorance would be able to promote the concept of sharing knowledge, skill and all other vital information needed to establish peak performance.
I know that a lot more can be expressed on this important issue by people who relate better to their work place and workers, have a higher purpose and want to improve the lot of mankind and the workforce. We can definitely make our jobs more meaningful by thinking about all the people who are going to benefit from our quality performance.
The more we are able to realize how important we are to the work place and how lucky and fortunate we are to be in the work force, the better would be our profile of an achiever.
This important realization will enable every enlightened executive, every practising manager and every enthusiastic worker to keep revising the requirements of an achiever.
I firmly believe that we have the rationale to continue to sharpen our innate instinct to be an effective, enthusiastic and efficient performer at our respective work places to serve the community with distinction.