‘The person who gets ahead is the one who does more than is necessary and keeps on doing it.’
- Richard Denny
‘Excuse me sir,’ the voice at the other end of the phone said, ‘I have just been relieved of my position.’
‘What?’ said I from the other end, ‘When? How? What happened?’
This was a conversation between me and one of my mentees, Jenny. Not her real name though. The timing of Jenny’s sack though caught me unawares it was however not surprising. Her imminent sack was always waiting to happen. I have always warned her about this. It was a matter of when and not if. In point of fact I had been encouraging her to look elsewhere for work.
You see Jenny was a Senior HR professional in her organization and had been having a running battle with her direct boss who was the Head of HR. So many times she had called me up to complain about one thing or the other. The picture she painted for me was a boss who was incompetent and consequently jealous of a subordinate who was a star (and was always questioning his actions especially the ones that she feel runs counter to her professional beliefs and ethics).
My advice to her had always been to get out of the organization fast before being sacked. For a start, her boss had the ears of the powers that be in the organization and whatsoever he told them they would listen to and do. Therefore considering the cat and mouse relationship, her sack was inevitable. So immediately the company started experiencing a downturn in its economic wellbeing and they had to down size, her name was included.
There are two morals to be learned from this story.
The first is pride and its converse humility. If you want to accomplish great things and acquire uncommon skills in your workplace, some amount of pride is necessary to push yourself forward. However, false pride can be a major stumbling block in achieving much in any organization.
Jenny was an accomplished HR professional. If I have to rank her against her peers, she would be in the top 20%. She has earned her right to offer advice and recommendations to her superior officer, however she should have been more diplomatic about it. The pride she had in her work however made her question certain wrong decisions her boss made. She therefore allowed false pride to halt her progress.
This is very common among most workers. When workers believe that their work is beyond reproach they allow this to damage their careers thinking they can no longer benefit from the knowledge of others who are more experienced and better. Therefore no matter how incompetent you might think your superior is, there are still some things you can learn from him or her. That is why he has gone that far in his career. Jenny therefore needs to imbibe humility. That is the confidence that follows the accomplishments in any workplace and not the pride that preceded her fall.
Now to the second moral in this story which is to avoidance of false pride which can prevent you from transcending from a good worker to a great worker. Great workers though confident in their work are devoid of false pride. They are the ones that are always coveted in most organizations. They drive organizations from ordinary to great organizations. Great workers make the problems that usually hamper and plague businesses at every stage of their development become easy to solve and consequently disappear. They make all the difference.
So what does Jenny need to do about her future as a HR professional? What does she (or any worker for that matter) need to do to propel herself from the good worker that she presently is to a great worker?
Here they are in these four easy steps:
1. Doing the work you love (What?): To be a great worker, you first need to love the work you are doing in any organization. How do you go about achieving this? By choosing a career or work that allows you to achieve your primary aim or purpose in life. You purpose in life is the reason why you are in existence. For example if your primary aim is to care for people, then your work should be in the area of medicine or social work. Any work that is not related to caring for people can never hold your attention. Jenny is doing the work she loved, no doubt about that.
2. Working where you love (Where?): A follow up to the first step is to carefully choose your place of work. The organization where you work must be one that will allow you achieve your primary aim in life not one that will hamper you. An organization whose mission and purpose differs from yours will never allow you to thrive. You will always be enthusiastic to work in an organization where work and working is made enjoyable. Here Jenny got it wrong. She was not working where she loved.
3. Working when you love (When?): There is an unwritten rule in most organizations that if you want to get ahead you must resume earlier and close later than the normal resumption and closing hours. At least one hour before resumption and after closing. When you put in more hours the better. Doing this shows that you care for your organization.
When you love what you are doing and where you are working, putting in extra hours will never be a problem. In point of fact whatever time you are called upon to work, you will never complain and will always love it.
4. Working with whom and those you love (Who?): This is about the most important step in the consideration of transcending from a good to a great worker. If you carefully choose the people you work with, you will be able to master the what, where and when of your working life. You can choose to do what you love, work where you love and even when you love, but working with people you do not love can make work and working hell for you. Here Jenny got it absolutely wrong. She was working with those she distrusted and was uncomfortable working with.
Great employees are the ones who make organizations successful. They are the ones who are tenacious and self motivated. They set the direction of any business.
Jenny was a good worker. A damn good one for that matter. However, she never allowed herself to become a great worker which she was destined to be. Reason being that she allowed false pride ruin her career. This she could have avoided if she had followed the four easy steps listed above. So sad.
Thank you for sharing your time with me in reading this post. Trust you enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
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