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The Magic of a Positive Attitude

In the past few months, the value of having and developing skills and expertise has been proven. There was a limited scope for providing training. With the need to go virtual, there was also a limited scope for conducting interviews as thorough as old school, offline interviews offered. The skills, the resume spoke for themselves. Be it a hard skill which reflected in the experience listed or a soft skill like the ability to communicate well virtually, it was all self-evident. Skills are self-evident.

No doubt, skills and competence speak for themselves. Organisations want people who can get stuff done, use their experience, get deals finalised and contribute to the company culture and prestige. There is one more key ingredient which determines how successful an individual is likely to be.

That key ingredient is attitude. And it almost works like magic.

The Magical Ingredient:

Let us take a look at this story shared by the noted author, cultural commentator and public intellectual at a keynote note at the Skillsoft Perspectives 2021 address. An article by People Matters has summed it all up really well.

The story is about an assistant security guard; he didn’t have much exposure. People might be thinking- what does an assistant security guard has to offer in terms of skills and expertise? Within six months of working on the night shift, he had managed to have a great influence on everyone- so much so that people started to work in late.

He was always eager and curious, and with that eagerness he started to improve upon his English, learnt to make tea and coffee. With his curiosity, he figured out a way to operate the company’s telephone system. Eventually from an assistant security guard, he became a telephone operator. He retired as a director.

He didn’t even have a college degree. But that didn’t stop him from advancing at work. The lack of a college degree, and the so called ‘lack’ of skills and expertise did not act as hindrances.

His biggest asset was his attitude. The eagerness to learn, the curiosity to explore. A willingness to keep learning and contribute in whatever way possible.

The More Difficult Acquisition:

It won’t be too far from truth to say that this attitude of willingness is even more difficult to cultivate than acquiring skills and expertise, as an article by Entrepreneur.com sums up:

 “With the right attitude and enough effort most new skills can be mastered quickly. Whereas improving attitude is often about changing behaviours which is always much more difficult to do, as people need to want to change and without the right attitude this is unlikely to happen.”

It is ultimately attitude which determines how well someone would fit into the company culture.

Skills determine how well the employee is likely to work on the job. Attitude determines how well the employee is likely to engage with the work. And that is the difference.

If you are an employee trying to find the edge amidst everyone who has similar skills and expertise, it is attitude that will help you stand out. If you are an employer looking for someone who not only works but engages with their work, it is the kind of attitude they have that you also want to look for along with the skills.

The Role of Laughter in the Office

Gatherings of friends and family are punctuated by bouts of laughter and good-natured humour. The sounds of everyone having a hearty laugh light up dull days and gloomy evenings. But when it comes to laughter in the office, people tend to be a little prudish. We have written about the do’s and don’ts about humour in detail in one of our earlier articles. That was all about humour. Here, we are talking about laughter.

As we have mentioned in the article, a professional space has a much stricter code of conduct and a sense of decorum. Instances of humour might be around the office all the time but laughter, or loud laughter is something that is not heard very often. The tone of our voices remains hushed, and we try to keep a straight face for every interaction. In fact, expressing any range of emotions, forget laughing out loud is something that is often frowned upon. An article by Harvard Business Review charts out the experience of an executive. The executive was at a restaurant with his boss and a few investors. The boss might have said something funny and the executive let out a hearty laugh. To his surprise, everyone around him was taken aback by the laughter. Later when he asked his boss if the laughter had ‘embarrassed’ him, the response was: ‘It was pretty loud.’

Is there no space for a good hearty laugh in the office environment? A good hearty laugh is rare, and something that is rare shouldn’t cause embarrassments and problems, right? Why do we hesitate to laugh out loud in the office? Is it something we should keep in check, like our negative or overwhelming emotions?

Let us delve deeper and look at the angles this has.

Relieving the Tension, Boosting Productivity:

Simply put, the act of laughing out loud not only improves the atmosphere (even momentarily) but also induces various physical and psychological responses in the body. When we laugh, we increase our oxygen intake, release endorphin (the feel-good hormone), stimulate circulation and reduce the physical symptoms of stress. In other words, when we laugh, we take the focus away from the stress, and bring the focus to the present.

When the focus is on the present, it is naturally going to lead to an increase in engagement and productivity, spurring collaboration and creativity, boosting mental clarity and focus. An occasional laughing out loud not only relieves the tension at an individual level but also at a collective level. Where laughter is not frowned upon, there is a safe space to express ideas and drive them forward. This brings us to the next point.

The Humane Touch:

We often make assumptions and mistakes. What we thought was the perfect strategy might turn out to be not so perfect after all. In such situations, laughing at our own selves is sometimes the best solution to soften the blow. This could work especially well for leaders and people in upper -management positions. Laughing at one’s momentary incompetence and lapse of judgment humanises us. It lets the other team members and colleagues know that we are all humans at the end of the day, and prone to making mistakes. Laughing out loud about it can thus ease the tension and make the space feel safer as mentioned above. Laughing out loud is like laughing at the problem and telling it that no matter what, we shall not get bogged down.

But beware!

While laughter in the office space is not something to be frowned upon, and happy employees do the work happily, one should make sure that this happiness is shared by all. In other words, there are times when it is appropriate to laugh. But there are times when laughing out loud might reduce the confidence of a person, or it may make them feel disrespected or it might be just too crude a thing to laugh about. Context matters, as we pointed out in our earlier article as well. The point is to make a safe-space with laughter; the point is to laugh with someone, not at someone.

Laughing out loud in the workplace is a great tool to boost the three Cs: camaraderie, collaboration and creativity. It is a tool that can encourage a free flow of ideas. And simply, it can be a tool to relieve tension at an individual and collective level, humanising us all, and realising that no problem is insurmountable.

How to Advance in Your Career Even if You Aren’t the Boss Yet

Is there a way to advance your career even when you are not a manager, the BOSS yet? Career-advancement is a topic which often just relies on titles and the number of rungs one has climbed on the corporate ladder. In such a scenario when titles on paper matter so much, one might end up feeling stagnant even though the value one attaches their work is high.

Some people might be quite content with their current roles and they might be fearing a certain stagnation; they might be thinking: is this the limit to what one can do before their nature of work changes? Is there no way to continue doing the work they love and still advance in some other way?

Take for example a journalist who might enjoy reporting, and might be fearing the supposedly higher position of an editor where they will have to put a stop to their regular reporting, and actually manage teams and departments. Or a salesperson who loves to interact with clients and engage in selling, and as they become managers, they have to forego the sales part and end up handling administrative responsibilities.

There are many people who might be willing to take up a new challenge and yet, also might be fearing the new kind of responsibilities that come with such a higher, management position.

Is there a way to get over the stagnancy, to advance, without having to embrace a managerial position?

 Is there a way to advance in your career even if you aren’t the boss yet?

Turns out there are a few ways. Let us take a look at a few of those.

Look for In-Role Growth:

When a promotion to a managerial position seems to be on the horizon, it is a good idea to talk to your seniors and mentors within the company and be honest about your values and what kind of advancement means more to you. There are roles and opportunities which can be tailored especially for you. There are roles like an in-bound consultant and/or the expert, where you can have a ‘promotion’ within the role, get around the sense of stagnancy and yet continue to do the work that you value. All without or with very minimal managing to do.

A way to stay in the company, get promoted without having to take up a managerial position is to become a mentor or a trainer for new joinees. You will not only get to use your expertise, but also impart it to others. This can be as “satisfying” as the promotion you didn’t go for.

Looking Elsewhere:

You can be a ‘bigger fish in a smaller pond’, or you might as well look for a ‘bigger pond’. As an article by the Muse goes on to explain, one might need to take a leap and look for other options where there is scope for growth in other aspects. Growth and advancement in career can be found in:

  • A leap to a bigger company/brand
  • A leap to a bigger market
  • An increase in your client pool

In simple words, it could be as simple as switching to a company that has a larger reach and more prestige. But if that sounds like a turning your back on your current company that has given you so much, and a risk at your well-earned independence, then the next option might look more pleasant.

Take the Independent Route:

If one feels that they have enough experience, networking skills and potential clients ready, a great step into career advancement is consulting. An independent consultant will have the autonomy and hands-on work to learn more and more on the job. They will have the liberty to pay attention to their work and their clients. At the same time, they will also have a better sense of control, as opposed to someone who might be on managerial position constantly needing to check on their team members.

And consulting is something that can be done full-time or part-time: it could become a side hustle, and eventually, perhaps a full-fledged retirement plan.

The position of the ‘the boss’ comes with its own perks and advantages. Some of us might be game for it, while some of us might be looking for growth and advancement in other ways. Some of us might be getting a little impatient and looking to overcome the sense of stagnancy. At the end of the day, it is all about being honest about the kind of work which has more personal value for you. It is about keeping the learning curve rising. Any kind of role, whether that of a managerial or non-managerial kind will have its own set of challenges; it’s up to us how we want to shape our career using those challenges.

Factors to Keep in Mind While Deciding if You Want to Work In-Office or Remotely

Last year we saw the emergence of a full-fledged remote working scenario. Gradually, with the improvement in the situation, we saw the arrival of the ‘hybrid’ system of working, as we have charted out in one of our earlier articles. As of now, we have a whole lot of us returning to the office.

There are some organisations which have offered the employees an option from among remote work, in-office work, or even a combination of everything. Some offices have called back everyone in full strength. Some offices have an in-office time-table for each set of employees spread over the week, and some offices have a policy of dividing remote work and in-office work evenly.

To the ones who are fortunate enough to have a choice of deciding if they want to continue remote work or go back to the office, what are the factors that should be kept in mind?

To the ones looking for a new job and wishing to weigh in the pros and cons when it comes to choosing remote work or in-office work, how should they decide?

To the ones feeling stuck at their jobs, is it possible that a different format of working could be just what was needed?

In this article, we give out some pointers to keep in mind while deciding if we want to go for remote work or go back to the office, or have the best of both worlds.

Safety Concerns:

If you have been provided an option about working remotely or in-office, one major deciding factor would be the safety policies of the company. What kind of safety precautions have they adopted? How well is the office space maintained when it comes cleanliness and hygiene? What are the surroundings of the space like? How are the meetings conducted in the office space and do the employees follow the protocols?

Does the space make one feel safe, literally, or is coming to the office likely to become a daily source of anxiety for one’s personal safety?

These are some basic starting points to think about when making a decision.

Job Description and Company Values:

Some jobs like those in hospitality, defence, healthcare and other public services don’t have an option to choose. But there are some jobs, like those in advertising and marketing, and other corporate jobs, where depending upon the responsibility, one would be able to reach a compromise. These are also the jobs where once in a while an offline, in-person session would work well, perhaps to brainstorm and set the agenda, and later disperse remotely to work on them at one’s own pace.  

There will also be values and culture of the particular company which would come in play here. Some companies, with a more conservative, bureaucratic structure might expect its employees to be around and establish great networks with seniors, clients and collaborators. Some companies on the other hand might be looking to just get the work done, irrespective of networking patterns.

It thus becomes necessary to keep these factors about the company in mind and deciding whether one wants to go for remote work or in-office work.

Communication Preferences:

Again, depending on the profession and company, the communication style amongst team members and departments would differ. Information about the tools the organisation uses for remote networking, the expectations of how and whom to report from the employee would make a difference in how the work gets done. These are the questions the individual will have to ask to the employers, as we have mentioned in an earlier article about the new kind of questions one should be prepared with amidst the new normal.

Here, one also needs to factor in the communication style of the individual. Are you someone who likes to take their own space to get a task done? Or are you someone who likes to discuss and brainstorm? Are you someone who can handle delays that come with not having immediate offline access to a head or team member? Or are you someone who has a lot of autonomy and finds notifications, out of the blue virtual meetings a hassle? Are you someone comfortable with technology or prefer the old-fashioned way to work?

The communication style involved at the level of the organisation and that of the individual when mingled, will give a fair sense of the choice one needs to make.

At the end of the day, it is the personal priorities, goals about one’s career, working style, and the extent to which the company work culture fits with these aspects that will help the person to make a decision about working remotely or in-office.

How to Make the Irrelevant Experience Relevant

Are you at a place where you feel your work experience so far has been ‘irrelevant’? There are many reasons why someone might be on this juncture: a late start, having a degree that doesn’t always have the best hiring rate, a sudden career-change, or any life situation that impelled you to switch directions.

There’s more nuance to this. We are living in a gig economy, in a remote-working scenario. Young people these days have a penchant for trying something new frequently, which results in them jumping jobs quite a lot. Hence, even without a conventional reason, many of us might end up gaining skills and experience which may seem ‘irrelevant’.

Of course, gaining experience and skills is always a positive thing, it is always indeed a ‘gain’. There is always something to learn, as we will see further in this article. So, why is it that we are talking about experience being relevant or irrelevant?

A blogpost on People Matters goes on to tell how most companies are looking for productivity and not necessarily creativity, consistency and not necessarily coincidence. They are looking for expertise to reduce the expenses that come with training someone, and looking for someone who can fit into a readymade role. Is there a way to make the ‘irrelevant’, relevant?

There are some outliers like Apple which actively look for the so called ‘irrelevant’ work experience to bring in new perspectives. Take this example given by the same People Matters blogpost of a ‘software engineer’ at Apple who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, worked with motorcycles, taught English, made fine art photographs, taught himself computer programming, made his way through early tech start-ups and finally ended up at Apple. But this is more of an exception rather than a general rule.

So, this leads us to questions like:

  • Is there a way to include ‘irrelevant’ experience in your resume and interview career narratives in the first place? Should you? And more importantly,
  • Is there no way to use your ‘irrelevant’ work experience in a way that renders it relevant?

Should you Include Irrelevant Experience:

As an article by Zipjob spells out, there is one school of thought which says you shouldn’t list your irrelevant work experience since that could potentially cloud the other important details. This is something people with a vast work experience can keep in mind. The simple solution for them is to tailor their resume and interviews according to the job description and the position.

The tricky part is for someone who doesn’t have much (relevant) experience to begin with in the first place. That is when it becomes necessary to include whatever you have in an already limited resume and experience narrative. It becomes necessary to prove your relevance, so to speak. How do you do that?

Making the Irrelevant Relevant:

Simply put, every job, every activity does teach us something, be it hard skills or soft skills as we mentioned before. As the Zipjob article aptly points out, employers today are not just looking for ‘drones to fulfil highly-targeted tasks…they are looking for competent, accomplished team-members to help achieve the company’s goals…’

Thus, when preparing for the interview and deciding on tailoring your resume, the basic steps to take are:

  • Look at the job description and note down the key responsibilities and concerns.
  • Next you move on to thinking about your previous work experience and linking your older responsibilities to the potential new ones.

One of the keys strategies here is to think beyond the job title(s) you have held so far. It is about thinking in terms of your responsibilities and tasks, and not just your day to day. If you had a responsibility which is similar to the one you are to handle now, or which had skills which can come in handy, then that is the responsibility you want to highlight in your resume and interview.

An article by Muse gives a great example:

“Maybe you’re an office manager trying to become a marketing coordinator…In addition to your administrative responsibilities, you manage your company’s Twitter feed and help with trade show coordination. That’s marketing! So, be sure to highlight the marketing stuff you’re doing—or have done in other roles—even if it was not your primary job function.”

What Stays Relevant:

The strategy discussed above will naturally veer us into telling how problems were solved and results were achieved. Whether the skill or the experience is relevant or not, solving problems will also be relevant, and letting someone know that your problem-solving skill is transferrable is anything but irrelevant.

As we push this further, we will be able to turn any ‘irrelevant’ experience in the ever-relevant soft skills. Problem solving is necessary everywhere. So is team-work, conflict resolution, adaptability and flexibility, critical thinking, communication, writing and public speaking skills, presenting, networking, and the list goes on. They are always relevant and always used, no matter how different the fields are.

At the end of the day, companies want employees who can get work done and continue to learn. What matters is how you structure your experience so far into a narrative that tells what led you to this point. To repeat and extend what was said earlier, most companies might be looking for productivity and not necessarily creativity, consistency and not necessarily coincidence but if you can convince them that this is what you can offer with your current supposed ‘irrelevant’ work experience, perhaps it is not so irrelevant.