Reasons to Work

You spend eight hours, sometimes more, in the office. Every morning, you choose to leave your lovely family to brave the traffic and sit in your desk all day, spending it with people who may not even like you. Why do that?

For top executives who have already gone from bottom to the highly coveted high positions, the reasons may be composed of high salary and high position. But beyond that, what really is your reason? If your salary will get lower, will you still hold your position? And why does the position matter to you? By digging into the reasons and motivations a person has for work, he can figure out how he can improve on his career and have it translated to the other areas of his life.

The need for money

Let’s face it. Everybody needs money for food. We only have different levels of need, wants and abilities to purchase food, and other necessities in life. Perhaps a lot of executives are mainly driven by their salary, that’s why they drag themselves to work every morning. To some, it’s perfectly fine, especially if the workplace is not stressful. But for others, going to the office every single day is torture.

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What to Do During Promotion Season

Wait it out. Seriously, all you need to do during promotion season is to wait for your boss to give you the news that you were promoted. If you did well in the previous months (or years), you can be confident about a promotion. But if not, you’ll know better. So instead of feeling sad during promotion season, prepare well for it by being an excellent and consistent executive. Remember that expectations are higher on those at the higher positions, so make your mark to seal that promotion.

Learning

Observe your workplace and see which areas you can improve on. Be sensitive to how you move around the office, from how you communicate to how you accomplish a task. Executive jobs tend to be more noticed than others, so target all areas when you evaluate yourself and how you fare with others. Ask for honest evaluations from your teammates – from the people on the same level as you are to those who are down the line. Based on their observations, you can capitalize on your good traits and demonstrate them more. As with your negative traits, improve on them on a daily basis, and ask your colleagues for a review again after some time.

Next, discover the things that you can learn to improve your performance. Showing discontent on your current performance by looking for new ways to be more efficient and more productive will surely be noticed. Be creative in doing this, and make it an exciting phase of your work. Commit an hour or so during the day just learning a new skill that you can leverage for your team and your company. You’ll be surprised at how many things can be done with supposedly boring accountant jobs.

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Managing Difficult People

Do you still remember the last time you had to manage a difficult person? Were you satisfied with how you acted on it? Did the situation turn out to benefit the team or the company, or did it result to resentment and reduced productivity? Learn how to handle difficult staff today, because no matter where you go and in all Singapore jobs, there will be a couple of them tough cookies.

• Immediately forgive. Be aware of the inner good in yourself and choose to forgive instead of acting on the issue out of anger and frustration. Angry people have clouded judgments, just like drunk people. So if you want to preserve your reputation as an executive, it’s best to simply forgive. Remember that you are not in the losing end when you back away from conflict.
• But wait for a time to settle the situation. It is not enough to just let the situation be forgotten through time. However, before you go and send an emotional email, wait it out a while. Assess yourself and wait for the perfect time to settle the situation.
• Evaluate your goals in settling the issue. Remember that as the boss, you should be on the understanding side, acting maturely on all situations even if you are the one who received the offense. That said, you should carefully think of your purpose of settling the issue. Is it to simply make the point that you are right? To start with, you don’t have to be right. You won’t gain anything other than a bloated ego and a shrunken reputation.

• Hold your horses. If the person in conflict with you initiates a fight or an argument, don’t react in anger. When you react, they will get what they want from you, and that is a kind of reaction that will backfire. Cease the negativity as soon as possible.

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Chill Out at Work

Oftentimes we chance upon articles that talk about tips and tricks on how you can have a workout that tears your muscles and give you a healthier body. In fact, a lot of professionals are into working out that they want to spend at least an hour in the gym just to keep their body in shape.

But how many times do you, as an executive, pay attention to your disposition and emotional state? You may feel physically okay, but your mind and heart may be stressed out. And sooner or later, how you feel will reflect on your health. Here are chill-out steps you can take at the office that can help you preserve your energy in the best way possible.

• Leave. Leave for a few minutes to just take a walk outside. Leave your work and read your favorite book for five minutes. Leave the office on time to spend quality time with family.
• Listen. To music that will help you work in a more positive disposition. When you were a student, to what kind of music did you respond positively? Play them on loop and see yourself achieving more without stressing out. Beware of songs that are too good though. You may love Broadway songs but you may get distracted, singing your heart out to every track that you play. Go for those that would boost your energy for work and not for performing.

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From Employee to Entrepreneur

For most executives, their job is heir safety net. In a sense, it is a security source in many areas – financial, emotional, self-confidence, life as a whole. It comes as no surprise therefore that more people would rather choose to report to work at a set schedule and stay there for eight hours of horrible bosses and even more horrible coffee.

However, there is an elite group of individuals who have what it takes to venture out on their own in the hopes of finding success that is outside of the idea of career ladders and salary grades. These people start off their own businesses and have only themselves to report to. It is a big risk, but it can also be the most liberating thing you can do in your life.

There are a lot of motivational articles, and even people, who would encourage you to go ahead and become the professional diver or photographer that you have always dreamed to be. However, it is easier said (and dreamed about) than done. Reality sneaks up in people’s minds and lets them know that they have bills to pay and mouths to feed.

That said, it is important to note that entrepreneurship is not for everybody. If you are seriously considering it, then you should conduct a thorough evaluation of what you want to venture into. On the other hand, it might be just the boredom in the office that’s prompting you to ditch the necktie and put on the apron to start your own restaurant. Or, it might be your senior, such as the people in high positions such as a manager job or a director job, that is driving you nuts and making you wish you’re the boss of yourself

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Travelling for Business 101

One of the perks of being an executive is the travelling. You get to see many places and experience different work and life cultures, all expenses paid. However, it is common to see professionals who have been chosen as company representatives or ambassadors to feel burnt out and tired of travelling.

Young professionals who are at the bottom of the career ladder would most likely feel excited about travel opportunities. But the ones in executive jobs would normally prefer to be in the office and handle their tasks from their comfortable desk. There are valid reasons, but there are also solutions to cope with the hassles of travelling. Let’s take a look at some of them:

Problem: You spend so much time travelling. You don’t have work-life balance anymore; you spend more time in the plane than on your own bed. You miss out on a lot of tasks because of travelling.

Solution: Demand for a limit. Some companies mandate travelling to only be limited to three nights and four days. The fifth day should be spent in the main office, and two days should be allotted for weekends. Some companies that do not have as much flexibility give employees a week of travel and another week on the main office. Still others allow employees to use the excess hours as replacement for work hours that they can use as leaves.

Problem: You end up swamped with work and other tasks. You do not have time for any other things. You even miss family time.

Solution: Planning. Keep a calendar (an updated and active one at that) and make sure that you stick to it. Your weekends should be systematically planned. If you are leaving on Monday, you should have some time on Sunday for packing. Allot one or two hours for it. If possible, delegate some tasks to other people, say ask your teammate to create the team schedule for the week, or ask your wife to settle the bills. A lot of companies also offer concierge services for their employees, giving you a few less things to worry about, such as dry cleaning and picking up stuff.

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Email Etiquette

Email is a significant of an executive’s day to day comings and goings. We receive tons of email, some of which are work-related, while many are either spam or personal mails. With the familiarity that we have on email, we may miss the importance of it and the implications of the things we say or do through emails. Here are some email practices that would help ensure you’re clear from any email trouble:

• Use the high priority button on really (REALLY) important emails. Do not overuse it, as a sign of respect to your co-workers. The high priority button is somewhat a sacred thing. If you receive an email marked as high priority, wouldn’t you really prioritize it? You don’t want to be like the girl who cried wolf. People who receive your high priority email may do the opposite – push it back to their to-deal-with list.

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Commit to Improve Communications

Any relationship that has worked through the years have different so-called secrets – understanding, compromise, love. But all of those factors would be for naught if they were not communicated properly. That said, communications is highly important for any relationship, be it personal or corporate. It is the backbone of any organization or community; it helps people understand each other better and arrive at better results, and it also helps them maintain a healthy relationship with clients. Constant and clear communications should always be your goals as a company. You need to commit to it, therefore. Take a look at some ways which you can adapt to improve the way you understand each other and your customers:

§  Conduct regular meetings. Gauge the level of communication and collaboration that occurs within your team and within the company. Banking jobs have different communication needs from people who work in marketing. If there is enough time for everybody and every team to integrate with one another, then once a month or quarterly meetings may be fine. However, if you run an office that is always up and about, with everybody missing on what the rest of the company is up to, then you need to conduct meetings more often. 

There are a lot of advantages to this, such as:

§  You can keep everybody at the same page.

§  You strengthen your team.

§  You increase the opportunities for collaboration and exchange of ideas.

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