How To Get Ahead at Work

                                                   

I will send a mail on your ass!! My supervisor, who I grew fond of with time, would always say that whenever she was threatening. Whenever she would direct it to me, I would try very hard not to laugh, because I always wondered what the mail would be about. There’s nothing interesting about my ass. It’s like a brick wall. Unlike the ones (intentionally or unintentionally) I’ve had the privilege to come in contact with, which are so soft to the touch, and invariably transport one to another dimension.

The corporate world is a cut-throat place, where only the fittest survive. A place where the cabals rule undefied. Okay, maybe the scenario is not as serious as I paint it.

 However, statistics say that only 50.8% are happy at their jobs. Couple minimal job satisfaction with relatively low pay, overly long work hours, office politics and you’ve got a recipe for an excruciating experience.

Here below are some tips to help you survive the complexities of the corporate world.

Being valuable.

This is the ultimate. It should even be one’s raison d’etre. All the feedback I get from friends, relatives, even professional bloggers, and people in the corporate world regarding work is being valued. It’s a truism. You have to add value where you are. If you don’t, you are in for a stressful ride. Because immediately co-workers and supervisors see that you don’t add value, it creates a negative persona that usually cannot be changed or altered. Add value. One lady I worked with was so conscious of what other people thought about her that she would take on sometimes ridiculous tasks just so that other people would not think that she was incapable. And it worked! Co-workers and supervisors alike loved her attitude towards work. On the other hand, I worked with another colleague (who is my absolute favorite), who had an insatiable desire to learn and to do everything required of her. Two very different motivations, but the same results. One did it in a fear of a bad reputation, and the other did in a bid to learn as much as she possibly could. Both approaches worked. But I enthusiastically recommend the latter. The whole point of being valuable is so that others don’t see you as sloppy, and you don’t get unnecessarily hassled over little things. And besides, whatever you learn cannot be taken away from you. If you give value, it’s because you possess value. Everyone should strive to be valuable.

Be Organized.

Being organized makes a difficult job easier. It makes your workflow seamless and smooth. I know it is much harder for some people to be organized, perhaps because of their personalities. But being organized can only be rewarding. Having a place for everything saves you time and effort in searching for things you would not otherwise search for. You could achieve this by using labels, or by having designated places for things. Being organized also makes you more focused and less prone to distractions, since your job is all your attention is fixated on, and not other little things.

Have a plan

My supervisor would always come to work with a list of all the things she wanted to achieve for the day, and much of the time, she would achieve them. Other times she wouldn’t. Not because she was inefficient, but because there would be factors beyond her control. Sometimes it would be network hiccups, other times, it could be that her own supervisors gave her tasks that superseded whatever she was doing at the moment.

Having a plan makes you more efficient, and more purposeful. It stops you from doing irrelevant things. It has been found that having a plan makes you more efficient by as much as 25%. Also bear in mind that your plan may not always be carried out to the detail, but at least you have an idea of what you want to achieve for that day.

Be a little more Patient with other people

Sometimes at work, when there’s a lot to be done, and there are deadlines or their equivalents, people tend to snap at one another. Under such circumstances, tempers are bound to flare. However whenever things don’t go as planned. It would be expedient, to be a little temperate under pressure, and to demonstrate some measure of self-control. This helps especially when you work with people who have volatile temperaments. A refusal to engage in verbal combat would help stop fires in their tracks. You can be helpful to your more volatile co-workers by being patient when they snap at you.

Also, those who are more volatile should learn to control their frequent explosions and use mild words realizing the demoralizing effect words have on people. I rest my case.

Work environments aren’t always perfect. Perfect isn’t any fun. There are always the verbally abusive bosses, the colleagues who have a ‘don’t care’ attitude, the ones always finding faults. Also inclusive are the ones who make coming to work a dream. The peacemakers. The funny ones. The kind ones. The patient ones.

Work is a necessity. We need to work so we can eat, have clothes to wear, have social status e.t.c. We will always work with other people and it would be rewarding if we learn to relate better with people, learn to be selfless,  more patient, learn to add value e.t.c.

 But ultimately, some things cannot be repaired. So if you find the experience In any work environment to be too much of a hassle, and depending on whether or not you place more emphasis on emotional wellbeing over monetary compensation, or whether you place a high premium on being creative or not, you can always use the door. Or not.