Career excellence and decision making
Whatever your area of professional engagement, excelling in your work ensures that you remain at the top in whatever field you are in.
Here are eight keys to becoming the best engineer, policeman, doctor, pilot, banker, teacher, pastor or cook:
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Promptness
We have been researching into the seven major reasons that make a customer select a particular supplier or service provider and the first on the list is the ability to complete work faster.
This is a core value that many firms spend a lot of time finding ways to deliver on it.
Successful people walk, act, decide and deliver work faster than others.
Be diligent and work longer
Sustained, concentrated and applied effort is the key to career success.
A reputation for hard work will make you stand tall.
Maintained the habit of being the first to get to work. Some people are lazy clock-watchers.
They look at their watch the whole day. These people cannot excel in their careers.
Prioritise your work
Avoid the danger of getting bogged down with many so-called small things that prevent you from performing your key tasks.
‘First things first’ is always a good slogan.
Excel in your key tasks
Everyone has a task they do best.
Discovering what you are excellent in and doing it well makes you enjoy the work and get better results.
Rewards, recognition and opportunities can then follow you.
Batch your tasks
Running around all day doing different things repeatedly will get you tired and frustrated.
Organise your tasks into identical groups; you’ll achieve more by doing all e-mails, phone calls and proposals together.
Work well with others
You will be impressed at how much you can accomplish when you learn how to work well with others in a team.
Beyond your individual abilities, you’ll need to get the best from others around you.
Simplify every job
The simpler the process the better it is for the client to do business with you.
Review your work processes regularly to reduce cost, cut down on time and eliminate unnecessary complexities and bureaucracies.
Organise samples and price lists and also develop templates, forms, systems and technology to simplify your work. It is a critical key for success.
Make wise decisions
Exercising discretion in decision making is a universal requirement for excellence in any field. Life is full of decisions.
We make hundreds or thousands of decisions each day, both as an individual and at the corporate level.
However, there is one major pothole that tends to ambush people in their personal and professional lives, regardless of their intelligence, education, financial success or personal achievements. That is the trap of “naiveté”.
To be naïve is to be ‘simple,’ that is, “Lacking worldly experience or guile.”
Many have been misled and made fatal errors in personal, marital, financial and career decisions because of this.
One of our literary mentors, James Ebo Whyte of Roverman Productions once said in his bi-weekly radio programme that “good children are often not ‘streetwise’ and end up in all kinds of trouble, while bad children know better about how to navigate their way through the complex maze of life.
” Controversial as this statement sounded, it underscored the danger of being naïve.
The naïve believe everything and tend to take things at face value.
Why else would a successful banker abandon his career and family and follow a hoax to travel abroad to pursue an imaginary ‘career’ only to return empty-handed and disillusioned several years after and restart life several steps behind?
What about a person who suddenly believes that her own mother is a witch just because one ‘pastor’ said so and who proceeds to wreck her entire family as a result?
Naiveté has nothing to do with intelligence and more to do with the way a person approaches individual situations and life in general.
A naïve person tends to oversimplify situations and thereby fails to see the critical factors that may significantly affect an outcome.
Many people faced with decisions, act naively or fail to conduct due diligence due to oversimplification, presumption, misplaced trust, narrow vision and the tendency to be taken up by superficial appearances.
“Only simpletons believe everything they are told! The prudent carefully consider their steps.” – Proverbs 14:15
The wise person looks carefully into every matter and conducts due diligence before making important decisions.
In making judgments on people and issues, the following tips would be most helpful:
Consider all angles
We all have a natural inclination towards keeping things simple.
We want to figure things out without reading a manual or doing our homework. Checking details and alternatives helps make wise decisions.
Don’t be fooled by appearances
We have a tendency to believe that every nicely dressed or good-looking person can be trusted.
There are sometimes important details beneath the surface that must be searched out.
Before signing the form, check out the small print or conditions; ask questions, talk to other users and examine all possible angles to the issue before deciding.
Avoid presumption
Do not presume that the same conditions or opportunities before you today will be there tomorrow.
If you proceed naively with a wrong choice, you may not get the same chance to correct it.
Do not misplace your trust
Someone said, “In God we trust, everyone else we monitor.”
We often innocently accord too much trust to people we hardly know.
Trust is earned and time is one of the currencies required.
An overly optimistic person may ask you to invest in something and promise a certain return.
They may sound convincing, but wisdom requires that you check their past records and achievements before committing your life savings.
Conduct due diligence
Laziness can cost you. You often know what to do and where to go to check things out. Avoid choosing the easy way out.
Seek Counsel
Don’t be narrow-minded. Seek wise counsel if unsure.
Avoid haste
Deception thrives on hasty decisions. Don’t be deceived into thinking the car or house will be bought by the time you talk to the expert. Slow things down and check on the specifications, price and ownership. — GB