7 Valuable Lessons I Learned at My Workplace
These lessons defined me as a person
Life is a great teacher. This process starts right from childhood and continues until we are willing to learn. Every age, every role we play adds to our repository of learnings knowingly or unknowingly.
In many cases, we realise what life was telling us in retrospect, while these life lessons would have already influenced our mindsets and attitudes.
The Learning Journey
Our first learning environment is our home. This is the most secure and insulated environment protecting us from the so-called mad, bad world.
Then cautiously, we take baby steps to school to socialise and interact with more “like us”. We start forming opinions, gathering experiences, and learn to behave in a certain way.
We take these learnings into college, and our journey into adulthood gets a fresh new perspective which may completely change us as an individual and shape our future.
Across all these milestones, there is one common thread. Our brain is picking up signals and learning constantly.
The next time a familiar situation happens, the brain goes back to this repository and picks up our reaction. And all this is without us consciously making an effort.
So let’s move on in our life journey. Now probably, we are at the threshold of starting work. This is another big milestone in our lives for two reasons:
- We will start this new adventure with a set of lessons we learned from life until now.
- This will be a testing ground for some of these lessons. Some may stay, some get tested, and some actually take a U-turn.
Trust me; I am saying this after more than two decades of work experience. I did go in with a certain set of values. At the core, those values are still intact.
But what has changed is my outlook towards people who may have a different set of values than mine, and I have learned how to work successfully together.
Do you want to know what helped me accomplish that? Well, these 7 valuable lessons learned in the workplace are my Success Mantra.
What Are My Learnings at My Workplace?
Before diving into these, a quick background on my job role, I am a project management specialist. I have managed large-scale process/project migrations across international markets for the last two decades.
Project Management involves working across multiple stakeholders who become your team members for a particular project. You may or may not have worked together earlier.
These different people come together as a team to meet the client goals within a cost and time deadline. And thus, there is an opportunity for great learning.
I list down my learnings from more than two decades of corporate experience. And guess what; these learnings are applicable in any sphere of life.
It's All About People
No matter how tech-savvy a company is, ultimately, you are dealing with people and their mindsets. It is people who run the fanciest of machines & are responsible for the inputs which determine the output. In my role as a project manager, this is one of the most important professional lessons learned.
Project management works on 2 basic principles:
1. Believe in people and their capabilities
I touched upon this in my blog on ‘5 Powerful Life Lessons Everyone Should Learn’ and why I feel this is the first step to building relationships at work.
Everyone has their priority list and every time, it may not match yours. When they don’t do or delay the work, which seems to be important from your perspective, pause & reflect rather than react.
When someone tells you they are too “busy”, it’s not a reflection of their schedule. It’s a reflection of your spot on their schedule. It’s just a mismatch of the priority list & maybe a discussion over coffee will help. It always helps :-).
2. Networking and managing relationships
Again, a trait that proved that networking works like magic in business relationships. And these networks are your biggest assets.
Whenever we got stuck in a project, someone from the project team had the Eureka moment, and we found our solution. When I needed help, I reached out to my network of people, and the help was around the corner. “It will be done” is the most assuring answer you need as a project lead.
But the important thing to remember is that relationships & networking works on give and take. So you must be willing to go that extra mile to help someone build credibility & for them to return the favour.
Life at Work Is Not Always Fair
You may have toiled day and night & given your best to the job, but you may still not get that coveted promotion or an increment. Worst still, you will see less-deserving colleagues getting promoted. Too bad, but that’s the reality.
There can be 2 scenarios here:
- Maybe my perception of the capability of my colleague is wrong
- There is a genuine miss.
You may want to raise this with relevant folks within the organisation, and sometimes you get a perspective that you may be oblivious of. But even if you don’t get a satisfactory answer, it is better to move on.
There is no point in ruminating about the issue lest it makes you bitter. Either move on from the issue or the job.
And my work lesson as a project manager is that life is certainly not fair most of the time. Suddenly, computers will not work, or people will not turn up, or a transport strike. Then what do you do? Read the next point for the answer.
Always Have a Plan B
Especially when you are in a field where each day matters and there is a strong interdependence between various tasks.
When I work on projects, I insist that we brainstorm for all the alternatives available and incorporate them into our planning process. In case of an eventuality, Plan B is available and can be triggered. The next point reinforces this thought. Read on.
There is Always a Solution
No problem does not have a solution. The solution may not be the desired one, but there is a solution. Needless to say, we need to ensure that the solution does not compromise on the fundamentals like quality, durability, or core values, etc.
For example, in some projects, there was a requirement of overhauling the production floor, which would delay production. The solution was to start production from training rooms as a stop-gap arrangement. But we ensured that the training rooms were certified by the clients first before moving into production.
Have a Dependable Team
If you are fortunate enough to lead a team, this will be your biggest work lesson and the most valuable asset. This saying is true at all levels — from a Team leader to a CEO.
A leader is only as strong as the weakest link in this chain.
It’s important to have a team that trusts you and whom you can trust because you cannot be everywhere. You don’t have to have “Mini-Yous”.
Encourage diversity in your team so that you get different perspectives and opinions; & they make the entire experience of working together richer and worthwhile.
However, they need to share the same passion, vision, and ideology you stand for while their implementation approach may differ.
I have been fortunate enough to have a wonderful team who have played an important part in my successful stint as a Project management head and me in theirs.
Do Not Burn Bridges
Very easy to do but impossible to mend. The corporate world is small, and you never know when you will bump into someone again. Even if you have to part ways, do it amicably. Remember your reputation precedes you, and many times, such incidents add on to the grapevine.
Again in my role, it’s the same set of people that I may have to reach out to time and again. Therefore there is no point in holding a grudge or spoiling a relation.
On the other hand, it always helps me understand the reason behind someone’s behaviour, and most of the time, it has nothing to do with me or my job. This helps me to be non-judgmental and open to a mature conversation.
Once we know that our entire approach towards that person may change.
Stay Away From Toxicity
Please note, I mentioned Toxicity and not Toxic people. We need to learn to separate the two.
Some people are always negative and have an opinion about everything. They may be a part of your extended team, and you have no choice but to work with them.
In such cases, my approach is two folds:
First — as I mentioned earlier, was to understand why the person is so toxic. If I get to know that, maybe I can help the person if possible.
Second — if there is no way I can find out why, I at least will not fan this toxicity. Whenever that person starts his/her speel, I try to divert the topic or steer him/her towards something positive.
This is important for my peace of mind; otherwise, I will also get into a toxic spiral which is extremely harmful. Again, this was quite common in my role as project management can be a hotbed for blame game and finger-pointing.
My approach has always been, what is done is done; let’s move on from here towards the solution.
Main Takeaway
I personally feel that my work life has helped me become a more compassionate, organised, focused & people person. I have had the most valuable learning experiences at work & will always cherish them.
What about you? What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in your career? Do share your thoughts in the comments below.
Originally published at https://my-ripple-effect.com on October 22, 2020.
