Over the years, I've observed that my friends like to come to me for work related advice even though I'm technically not in corporate nor is my performance assessed through a subjective yardstick. What's interesting though is my observation that despite not having met their bosses, colleagues or even witness how their work gets done, I have managed to advise on solutions and got pretty spot on results over the years. I attribute this to an instinct developed from watching dramas and reading books. So I wouldn't call this specialized advice but rather a sharing from observation.

1. Add Value

Can advice number one get any more obvious? These 2 words carry a very broad meaning, the thing is, not everyone gets its true essence. Have you met the person in the meeting room who talks a lot but no new learning points or actionables get brought across? That's not adding value. That's making noise. Or have you tried asking a question in your company centralized system and you get an answer which is not a direct answer to what you want and it might be something you already know? Kudos to effort but if it's not a direct answer to the question, then essentially it's not helping because the one asking the question still needs to seek the answer elsewhere.

My Point? Adding value means making a difference. The difference can be big or small but it should improve lives. The tea lady who changes the regular tea leaves to something with more health benefits is adding value. You get healthier drinking it. The colleague who does up summary tables or summarizes important noteworthy news is adding value. He/she made your life easier. The colleague who shares his proven methodology on getting deals in or making work processes faster is adding value. He is teaching people to be more effective with their time. In my examples, you notice the tea lady isn't the most educated in the room, she's simply takes an interest in doing her job better. The colleague who summarizes stuff may not be the best performer, but he is diligent and willing to do more. The colleague who shares his proven methods, he may be good at what he does but being unselfish is frankly a major plus point.

2. Know What Is Happening In Your Surroundings

I'm always baffled how people can be so disinterested in things happening around them in the workplace they don't seem aware what's happening outside their direct sphere of work. Some people have no idea who are the top performers, no idea who just made a major contribution, no idea who just made a major blunder or what blunder happened for that matter, some don't even know how their own team mates are doing... I come to realise a lot of people feel that minding their own business at work is sufficient. I disagree. If you want to excel, it's not sufficient.

By not knowing who are the top performers or who is good at doing what, you will never be able to learn from the best. You will take information in indiscriminately and frankly good or bad advice is also advice. Sometimes when we need to get things done fast, we need to know which exact person to seek help from. Not knowing what's happening around you will mean there's a high chance you seek help randomly and the outcome may not be efficient or effective. Not knowing if there's a major contribution from a random colleague or if someone helped the firm with a breakthrough would again mean you missed out on learning something new. If you know someone found a better way to do something, wouldn't you want to know how it is done? If you don't even know this happened or who did it, how will you even make an attempt to learn? Also, blunders... it's a fact all of us learn on the job. As we start from junior positions and work our way up, we are bound to make mistakes. Some small some bigger. If you don't know what's happening around you, there's no way to shorten the learning process and learn from other people's mistakes. If each person in the team of 10 makes 1 mistake each, and you know what's going on, you technically would have made 1 mistake and avoided 9.

3. Be Generous

My very first boss straight after graduation once remarked that stingy people have small signatures, generous people have big signatures. I'm not sure how accurate this assessment is but it resonated with me because my signature was small and I was stingy back then. Rather, I would be generous and give but end up gripping about it later that it's not worth giving. This is wrong. When you give, you need to give willingly. By the time I was in my last corporate job, I kind of got the hang of being generous. Life was made easier for me because my last corporate boss was probably the most generous boss I've ever encountered.

So what does being generous entail? The art of generosity to me is the willingness to share and the willingness to appreciate effort. For example, in my previous role as a paid financial consultant (yes there's such a thing), I work with back-end staff like processing team, telemarketers and even crowd pullers. These people work really hard to help me get my job done well. These people are often under-appreciated. Most people take them for granted but it's common that the advisors who eventually do well would often show appreciation and recognise them for their hard-work. Do not get me wrong, I don't mean bribing them with money. It can be small gestures like buying coffee, sharing a bit of your incentive or getting them a small souvenir when you are overseas. Yes, it doesn't cost much, it's just saying thank you but not everyone is willing to give.

Does this concept only apply to sales jobs? No. Every job has a pay scale of who are the top earners and those who languish behind. Most jobs require a team effort to get things done. If you need support for your role but don't show appreciation to the support given to you or share your rewards with them, then they are better off supporting someone else. This idea of generosity extends to even your co-workers and your bosses. Who likes hanging out with a stingy poker? Ask yourselves this question, do you like a stingy poker boss or a generous one? If you prefer the latter, would you support a person who is generous or stingy if this person might be your boss someday?

4. Implement What Is Taught To You

I got this theory that most people aren't keen to teach and share because they don't get the satisfaction from the fruits of their sharing. I'm pretty sure, a lot of us fall in the category where we get sent to some training, copy a ton of notes and never look at it again after the session. People don't like helping people who don't appreciate their help. People don't like teaching people who don't learn. I'm saying copy and paste. We are taught these throughout our schooling days, it's easy.

If it's so easy, why is it that most people attending a workshop have varying results? For starters, not everyone copies the same content. Not everyone thinks they need notes to remember, some turn up late, some went toilet or smoke break, etc... on top of which someone people need convincing to implement what is learnt. They may think they should implement half, or a third or a quarter... which is nothing wrong if you are experienced and already good at what you do, but if you are new and trying to be the expert, then the odds is 50-50 that you get your trial and error right. In fact, there's a high chance the odds are lower in your favour because the teacher probably made the mistakes you made when he/she started out.

The satisfaction to teach someone is mainly to watch them grow and validate your methods. Most people are intrinsically kind and willing to help. However, if the lessons taught aren't implemented sufficiently and you are just an information junkie, then the time spent teaching can be better spent catching up on loss sleep or enjoying a Starbucks with a good book.

Summary

To wrap up, personal development is something that strongly interests me. The ideas shared today are simply a result of my observations. The key pointers are:

1. Add Value

• Don't be Captain Obvious. Do things that make peoples' lives better.

2. Know What Is Happening In Your Surroundings

• Be genuinely interested in everything related to your work and you can pick up valuable information from this interest.

3. Be Generous

• Do things that shows appreciation and be willing to give back especially when you need other peoples' effort to get your job done well.

4. Implement What Is Taught To You

• The biggest reward you can give those who shared ideas with you is by validating that their sharing is useful and made a difference.

If you know other strategies to excel in the workplace please share them with me by dropping me a message. I'm happy to learn new strategies! Previously I've also written another highly popular article called 4 Habits People Who Consistently Increase Their Salaries Have

Be sure to share the article if you feel this information is helpful. Like my page if you would like to read more of such articles.

Disclaimer: The content created are based on my personal opinions and may not be representative to everyone or any organisation. If you have any doubts or queries pertaining to insurance or investment, please seek professional advice from a trusted adviser in an official setting. You may also reach out to me if you do not have a present adviser using the message box under 'Let's Talk'.