I had the privilege of working under 6 different managers in my career till now. Mostly i was an average employee who finished the tasks assigned to the best of my knowledge and time. It’s been learning experience and while technical knowledge was learned via training and projects, work management training was done via observing the superiors.
Here are a few lessons that i have learned along this journey.
A. Practice what you preach.
I remember that during the interview process for a job that i obtained eventually, i was told that salary hikes were on time and that it was a high percentage since the initial salary was less. But when the salary hike was overlooked and the final hike was a mere small change, it was very depressing. There was a huge loss of motivation and morale in my work then.
I have therefore made sure that challenges in a job are described to the new hire so that there is no confusion later.
B. Working smart not hard helps you in the long run.
I have done countless night outs and working over the weekend whenever a project deadline was looming near but i have observed from a few superiors who just love the long hours. I realized later that if you put your terms in your work and have a balance in life, productivity will increase. There will be more satisfaction in your work then and even your clients will be satisfied with you.
C. Leadership comes via influence.
Superiors who led by influence were the ones whom i loved working under. There was an onus on me to perform better so that my leader work was reduced. Those who led by threats, etc got the below average work from me.
What have you learned from your superiors. Please drop a line in the comments section.
