Accountability and integrity are the hallmarks of a productive worker. Be it the Prime Minister or a lowly clerk, when one performs with utmost dedication, then one can be successful in their venture. Moreover, these people achieve a sense of elation and satisfaction with their work at the end of the day.
Some other traits of a successful person are punctuality, honesty, sincerity and the desire to excel. Above all, a successful person is never satisfied with their work; rather they try to keep on improving so that they may achieve more and excel more.
In this context, a person who is never satisfied with their job tends to be unsuccessful, moody and hates their jobs. They find life dull, boring and monotonous. They drag themselves to their work places; do their jobs with little interest thereby affecting the productivity of their labour.
The first time I landed in Aizawl four years back to work for a financial institution, the first thing I was taught was to love my job. My officers and seniors helped me to digest my job profile and gave me all external support so that I can understand my responsibility.
I was taught that you have to crawl before you learn to walk. This was happening before I was allowed to take charge of my responsibility. In a way, it has helped me a lot since I could understand and appreciate my job.
So, when I started working, I understood my responsibility and enjoyed working. The bottom line, is you need to enjoy your work so that you can have job-satisfaction.
If we take job-satisfaction as a parameter for productivity in State-run institutions, then I bet it will make a sorry figure.
In most of the departments - whether in State or Central - there are two types of employees. One tribe belongs to those who have lots of desk work and are busy all the time.
The second tribe belongs to the kind who does not have any work to do or are just procrastinators. Even those who are loaded with work often find their jobs boring and felt wedded to their fate for the worse.
Some faces burnout syndrome and look forward to a long peaceful life without files. They often feel frustrated and finally the toll takes on them and their families.
On the other hand, due to excess of employees, a number of departments are running with few man-power and computers. Thanks to the advent of computers, one employee using the machine can finish the work of four to five employees in a jiffy. This has resulted in employees who do not have work at all.
They either laze around, playing cards, reading novels, playing solitaire on the screen etc. For them, the only consolation is that they get their monthly wages and nothing else. With no jobs around, they do not have any reason to be happy with their jobs. In short, they have nothing to cheer about.
With the coming of globalization and intense competition, today we need to run the Government or a department like a corporate body.
Today's corporate world is on hire and fire basis. Those employees who are not found productive or whose actions are detrimental to the smooth running of an organization are handed the pink slip - a graceful way to say ‘we do not need you anymore'.
With such stringent and tough corporate laws, the employees have to be on their toes. On the flip side, if one particular employee show immense responsibilities then he or she is rewarded handsomely.
At this juncture, I am reminded of a management lesson. A particular shoe company had sent one of their representatives to a place to sell shoes. When he reached there, he found out that the inhabitants had never seen a shoe in their life forget about wearing them.
The man who had bags of shoes with him was perplexed and frustrated. He returned and reported to his immediate boss that there was no scope for selling the shoes as none of the inhabitants had ever seen it. He simply maintained that there was no market for it.
Another company sent a representative to the same place. When he reached there, he saw an opportunity. He saw bare-foot everywhere and began thinking how he should sell his shoes. He met the chief of the village and befriended him. After some days, he persuaded the chief to try on one of the shoes.
The chief after putting on the shoes found out that it was not only harmless but also very comfortable. Then, the salesperson was able to convince the inhabitants to wear the shoes. Unlike his counterpart, this person found out that there was a big market for shoes since nobody wore shoes!
The moral of the story is that the second sales-person took his job seriously and looked for opportunity even in face of adversity. In an organization, such sales persons are very necessary for productivity plus enhancement of job skills. However, we tend to be like the first sales person.
We do not look for opportunity nor do we put any efforts in our works. We fee! that the Government job is our birthright and work or no work we need to be paid regularly. With such attitude in our minds, it is no surprise that we do not have pleasure in our lives with our jobs.
Coming back to the corporate world, your targets and responsibility are not always fixed. Your responsibility grows in proportionate to your achievements and contributions. You are always expected to move ahead and never look back. As you move ahead, your salary and incentives increases.
However, there is no excuse for sliding back. Such work culture allows you to think out of the box and work with all your heart to achieve your target. Once you reach your target, you can never explain the sense of contentment, which engulfs your mind. That is the kind of motivation that comes automatically from inside that lets you work more consistently.
If I were allowed to comment, then I would say there is no punishment like engaged in a job, which do not give any sense of satisfaction or pleasure. It is nothing but a thankless job that does not give any room for creativity nor fulfilment.
Successful persons are those who love and enjoy their work. For them, a job is not just another security measure for the family but a religion.
When you respect your work and worship it, then only blessings will flow abundantly.
* Robert J Baite wrote this article for The Sangai Express
He can be contacted at [email protected]
This article was webcasted on 20th October 2006.
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