Monday, August 16, 2010

TALKING ABOUT YOUR WORK

(The following story was submitted for the 2010 1st Quarter issue of JAL Focus, a company newsletter).

In an article written by Vhris Argyris which was published in Harvard Business Review, he said that the “Twenty-first-century corporations will find it hard to survive, let alone flourish, unless they get better work form their employees. This does not necessarily mean harder work or more work. What it does necessarily mean is employees who’ve learned to take active responsibility for their own behaviour, develop and share first-rate information about their jobs, and make good use of genuine empowerment to shape lasting solutions to fundamental problems”.

Communicating your work, whether it is at home, office, or anywhere else means interacting your work with your environment. In an office, interaction among each employee across the organization is an important tool in improving the individual productivity and organizational performance. It’s like a workshop where each role studies, develops and flourishes. Exposure to different type of employees enhances the progress of career path by selecting the possible best improvement in empowering your job. In here come the bright new ideas and proper solutions in improving the present job approach and managing the challenges along the way while moving forward the completion of your pan. All together, embarking in this team approach strategically positions the framework of your group’s direction in the correct path towards achieving the corporate glory. This is the mere importance of sharing your job knowledge to your peers, leader and group.

Interacting with other in the work place builds an instant connection, revolutionizes your relationship at work and transmits the messages to your colleague. It allows you in enhancing the horizons of your opportunity to excel by obtaining an array of different doors to choose, and inspiring other people to look at your contribution and performance making your boat in a smooth sailing. On the other hand, if you will work by yourself like an unspoken individual and will keep the useful information in the box like an insecure and incompetent employee who is fear of losing job, then you are generating a loop of miscommunication wider and bigger. The adage “Knowledge is Power” is common and natural idea of a novice employee that initially he believes during his early year. The paradigm says if employee shares that power, then the employee loses his advantage. It is true in one point but in a long run, you can take in the other way as sharing knowledge is a positive process where individuals mutually gain ideas, experience and information.

Keeping your knowledge, opinion and experience interrupts its potential to develop and improve. Virtually, you will not receive adequate feedback, support and suggestion from other which could be the right time in opening the room for improvement. It hampers and jeopardizes your goals as one team towards achieving company objectives. You become liability of the company by intentionally creating embedded information just to protect your career. Remember, you are part of the organization and team - you should be counted. On the first place, if you are really good employee and striving hard, you will not lose ideas and knowledge - and you will go places.

Communicating your work starts in yourself, it means understanding what your work all about is. Whether you’re a leader taking charge of a large group of workers or a staff is working along with you, learning your basic work, roles and goals is as important as putting the business in good hands. However, knowing your job well alone is not enough. Adding to your good orientation in work is your behaviour of communicating your work to other. You have to get along with your environment, gain what good it can offer to you and share what good your group can have by sharing your knowledge, assistance and resources, and pass the message and information to your colleague. As mentioned by Vhris Argyris, good business doesn’t really mean having the best output in terms of quantity and quality. What it really takes is matured employees who are responsible in their works, duties and self.

Alex V. Villamayor
May 2010

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