How to get works done?

One important aspect in a professional life is how to get works done efficiently and effectively. While everyone is bound to do their work for which they are accountable / responsible, there is still a fine line between doing the work and enjoying the work.

From my professional life so far (I’m not an age old person to account my 25 years of experience but still hold a decent level of experience because of which I become eligible to write this post), I have noticed different reasons why a person really does a work.

Primarily the reason one does the work is because obviously he has to do it, otherwise he would be sent back home. However it is very important, how is that work is being carried out and how it’s being served. For e.g. If one orders a Dosa, he is bound to get a Dosa in a Hotel. But it depends, whether he is given a tasty sambar / chutney, Butter is added to Dosa for no extra cost, how the Dosa is being served, how the cleanliness is maintained etc.

In same way, as an individual if one wants to do a work, though he/she does it, the question remains whether they are doing it with their full potential and interest. Many a times, the answer is negative. But why?

Some people get the motivation & Interest to work if they know their work is going to be recognized and he/she is bound to get rewarded. If those are not there, the quality of work would be depreciated day by day, though he might be receiving all other benefits.

Some people get the motivation & Interest to work, if they have excellent team members. For them, Hike in pay or promotion is not their major motivational factors. They like to see how they are treated. Since primarily we all spend major hours in an official environment, most of our emotions /energy are also being spent there. In that case, if we get excellent team members, who is just not a mere team member, but also assumes an extra role as a friend, then the working culture would be completely different. All know their responsibility and they work towards it, but at the same time, it’s been done enthusiastically. They love to do works in a shared manner with more of discussions among themselves. They like to be heard. They don’t care much about other things, as long as their personal emotions are satisfied.

Some people regardless of any benefits either personal / official, they work according to their mind patterns, which is often very difficult to read. It fluctuates often and one has to really know their habit patterns, to get works done through them.

Some people think work as worship. They are bound by Do’s & don’ts in life. Even though they have personal emotions, they still like their work, because they take it very seriously. They are those sincere, goody-goody individuals, who spend their life & heart towards official’s works. They might feel bad, if their efforts are not recognized, but they would feel much bad, if something goes wrong in the office.

Personally I’ve faced all of them in above categories. May be as a boss, as a person in equal designation, as a team member, as a person reporting to me or just a member in same office. Personally I love to work along with my team members. Many a times, if I am accountable to do some work, I often share my working experience, pain & pleasures I got in that work with my team members. I feel they would be equally happy to know about my work, because some day or the other, they have to reach that stage as well. Also, my work today would become his/her work tomorrow. So it is always better, we gave them a necessary exposure at the start. Also, I feel bad to say to my team, “boss, these are your work area & scope and you be among that only”.

I also strongly feel we should necessarily understand our team members emotions if we want our professional works to be done effectively & efficiently. Often works are done through emotions, and if we don’t understand the personal level of emotions, we would never know why someone work quality is depreciated or poor. As an employee we might not have powers to give a hike / promotion to our fellow team members, but certainly we can always have one or two kind words, just showing them what they mean to us, just showing that little extra care etc.

Also many a times, in professional life, one faces situations, where he/she feels extremely lost or a sense of loneliness creeps in. These emotions are often not discussed at all. However it depends on our ability to identify those and try & help them to overcome it. Otherwise they would never get the trust & confidence on us.

For e.g. I remember a scene in a film, where group of friends go to a quality restaurant. The foods are being served and everybody starts eating with the help of the spoon & spokes that are provided along with the items supplied. Among the group, there is one new person who is from a Village and who had never used spoon in his life. Though he his accompanied with his elder brother, who is one among the group, the elder brother didn’t understand the plight & pain of this village based brother because, he is more lost in his own personal interest of enjoying the atmosphere and his friends.

However, one of the city based member in that group (who else than the film heroine) who just sits near that village based boy, suddenly drops her spoon and starts eating the food by hand. Seeing her, this fellow slowly starts feeling comfortable and also starts enjoying the food, which he didn’t touch for quite some time.

Here no words are spoken, but still the ability to understand the other fellow personal weakness and also trying to help him without making him feel embarrassed is the highlight points to note.

How many of us can do such things in professional life as well? Here the food can be replaced with the works and the moment we share with our team members in the name of meetings, discussions, official lunch, casual chats, casual outings etc.

Well if you want your professional work to be done in a better way, you can ponder on these points & come up with your own strategy; otherwise just let it be the way it is now currently.