Smart Vs Hard Work

I have always wondered whether a smart approach works better or a hard working approach. In today's world are we looking to be smart or should we be hard performing workers?

The short answer is to be “work hard smartly”. Hence choose which activity will provide the most value in plethora of activities you are responsible for and complete/implement that first.

The key objective should be to recognize the requirement and value.    

This is a fine line to tread on, as what you feel the most valuable activity may not be echoed by others.

Remember, what you like/love doing, what you do well, and what is perceived as being done are three different activities. Find that sweet spot. Value is what which affects the most.  

Similarly pick the activity which will affect the maximum (Actual value), and is most talked amongst your seniors (Perceived value).

This is where being a smart worker helps “To find the best value affecting the most is the smart way of working.”

Once you have the activity in your mind, which brings in the maximum value, you now need to switch caps, from smart to a hard worker cap.  

A colleague of mine was invited to an impromptu meeting and he realized he had not considered the activity as highly important for his team. Clearly a difference of approach (Actual Value and Perceived Value) resulted on him in not studying the processes and approach. He was aware of the topic however details towards the solution were missing. All this time he was working on an extremely important assignment as perceived and understood by him.

The participants were senior members of the team hence this was one chance to shine. Not being fazed by the unscheduled agenda, low knowledge level, he immediately vouched to write the minutes of the meeting, and started jotting down the points discussed. He further took the initiative to summarize the meeting and ask the pro’s and cons of each approach discussed. Slowly the meeting turned with him coordinating between individuals, solutions and documenting the discussion. Finally he was elected to implement the solution as “test” in his team. Smartly played!! The minutes of the meeting helped him Recognize the requirement, further discussions helped him define the value hence create a bridge between Actual and Perceived Value.

  

He later backed the idea with hard work on the implementation that ensured that his name is on the right cards.

A KISS(Keep it Short and Simple) approach always works smartly. Hard work goes on keeping abreast with knowledge and knowing what to say and when. However when you present to senior management, you need to KISS. Prepare visual approaches like graphs, charts, tables rather than verbose slides, as most senior managers won’t appreciate to read through the entire slide.

Explaining visual tools like graphs, more than often leads to questions, generation of alternatives, which end up in an engaging conversation rather than a monotone.

Remember, holding the attention span in such presentations is the key. More importantly, catch the key words of the management.   

Back it up with minutes after the meeting to ensure all are on the same page.

We should realize that gone are the days, where we were told to keep our head down and just perform the activities told. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence, better processing systems, opportunities in organizations are dwindling with each individual required to provide more. At such times, keeping your head down and working hard may not be the real key to success. Rather to learn, look around and grab opportunities which you can see. Of course, spend time to recognize the value- add which the organization perceives as.     

Hence strike the balance by smartly recognizing the requirement, followed with hard work on implementation.  

DISCO to get a new job!!

What do I do after working in similar positions for few years? Do I change my profile or continue the same? If yes how??

A lot of my friends including myself have faced this situation. We have been working on similar roles and feel that after few years that we haven’t gone anywhere. The initial magic for the job is now missing, we had started off in the most positive sense but now slowly the magic, attitude has faded off… it has wandered in oblivion. We were all plain blackboards when we started off our careers, continuously chalking down our experiences however amidst this activity, we somehow succumbed to erase some of our experiences, rather than attempting to increase our board size!

Now we feel that the job has become monotonous, a feeling of know all has settled in. The next step typically is search for another opportunity, alas but when we reach out to prospects they push us back into the same mould! Not even once realizing what we are capable of… But have we portrayed ourselves correctly, do we have clarity on what should be our next step?

This is the time toDISCO, a small activity which can help us overcome these limitations:

Deep Dive: This is the most important activity which all of us should continuously perform. Many of us while working forget to update ourselves on the various projects, assignments which we have done in the last few years. We need to keep a track of all these activities which we have excelled in, Projects, team exercises, appreciation mails, promotions, excellence certificates, process changes etc .

There is a specific need to do this, as our memory is limited and owing to pressure we tend to forget our best moments!! If we recollect all our experiences/incidents on what we have done in the last few years we would remember only 4-5 achievements.

The best and the easiest way to do this, is to continuously update your CV. Yes, each time you venture into a new project, new accomplishments, just record the same in your CV. Not with an objective of searching for a job but just updating your CV. Be very descriptive rather than the normal bullet points. We can always brief it later (only if we remember what we had excelled in). The advantages here are that whenever you feel dull or you feel to search for a job, glance at your CV and things become really clear. This is the biggest motivator, either to continue your present or change your role. Forget the rules of the CV; short, sweet, 2 pages; just keep recording all what you have done, promotions et al.

Introspect: Once your CV has been updated with all the information, now is the time to introspect. There will be few achievements which had tingled you and sent the adrenalin rushing, in fact even today when you think about it you mentally smile and feel proud. These are the ones which you need to highlight. Remember on these you will be able to speak confidently, they may be a part of your job or maybe not. Similarly there will be few where you were a part of a team and efforts were not really up there, don’t discard these but keep them on low priority. So change your CV from high priority achievements on top to lower ones below.

Specific Roles: Reading your CV again will now help you understand what all you have done; the best is now out on the paper for you to read. You will now realize that a lot of achievements, successful projects are now staring at you. It’s Time to classify similar achievements into specific roles, for eg. In a span of 10 years I have excelled in sales roles, customer service and Operations, hence I made 3 different CV’s for these. Or eg. I have been into Marketing for the last few years hence specify ATL, BTL, Communications (both Internal and External) R&R and then make separate resumes for all.

Compare and Conclude:You would end up staring at 4-5 different resumes, if not more!! All these resumes are yours, and you would now realize that in spite of being in one role you have performed in other roles as well. Unlike to what you had thought, you would have achieved cross departmental functions and would have enjoyed in some projects. The next step now is to compare your projects, achievements, with the industry/company structure, i.e. for eg. Implementing a customer experience research would mean to be a part of Service Quality, R&R can also be taken as internal communications. These are all ways to rein your free thoughts so that you can present yourself better to the bigoted consultants/companies when you apply for a job. Conclude by presenting yourself with 2-3 main CV’s which concentrate on your skills/achievements in that certain field.

Outlook: once the comparison has been done you would be fairly confident on the two things which we started off with, 1) whether I should continue in the same direction or 2) should I move to another field. You will now realize that there are many things which are possible and you can look at trying your hand at those. Also post the conclusion phase you will realize that each of your job activity was linked somehow to the organizations structure. However we had chosen to erase it from our blackboard! Remember Outlook should not be confined only to yourself however look at the structure, job profile applied for. A subtle amount of homework on the company will also go a long way to add flair to DISCO. This homework will help you to speak the relevant activities and present yourself in the best possible manner.

I don’t guarantee that DISCO’ing will help you get a job but certainly it will give some amount of clarity on what you would want to do!! This clarity will surely help in speaking the right things at the right time.

I welcome any comments or advice to enhance the DISCO process as this is based solely on my experiences. DISCO is something which I realized I should have done at the beginning of my career, however better late than never!!

Sale Pitches

What do you do when your prospect doesn’t have time, how can you get that undivided attention, how can you get your customer to give you that appointment which you can convert!! Today, you need to make your mark in the first few seconds. So what are the three things which can help you turn your pitches?

Purpose

State your purpose in the most precise manner; this should ideally just include your name and your objective. Care should be taken that you don’t sound ominous nor boisterous, much you take it overboard!!Avoid words like “Expert, Skilled” remember you are knocking on his doors for your sale. You need to make him feel special. “I am David, a financial doctor who has been advising on financial health of my clients for the last 5 years. “ or “ A second opinion will only help you do better, as I offer an unbiased approach with active knowledge on present investment opportunities.” Ideally hand over your business card to your client now.

Benefit

State how you can be beneficial with your presence. This is the most important activity, your statements here should be well balanced and at the same time thought provoking. Any person will be affected only when he knows what is in it for him. Statements like “I can help buy you your dream car” or “Worried about the Mortgage interest rates? I can help reduce it even make it free!” or “When did you last take your family for a vacation? How about taking your family to an exotic location this year?” If you can name the car or location that would just hit the mark!! A little homework on the clients’interests can go a long way here. A Da Vinci painting may not invoke interest as to a Ferrari or a super condo to a 30 year old; similarly a Ferrari may seem pale to a family man with young kids!!

Check

Once you have established your credentials and evoked interest on what you can do, you need to take this pitch for closure. This is the trickiest part; a client may want to continue this conversation or may just be on the verge of ending the same. Here your non- verbal communication and ability to read them will help, phrase your checks on either continuing the pitch by stating the product or immediately asking for a specified time to meet. If you give options on timings probabilities for delay will be higher, be assertive and state one specific day and time.

Remember words will be useless unless sprinkled with passion and interest; these are the only differentiating factors. Certain amount of humor will only help in easing the situations, earning trust and most importantly attaining recall!! If your customer remembers you half of the battle is won. You need to get your PBC’s correct and the message across in the best possible manner!!