Wrong wrong wrong. Ideas can come from anyone in a healthy environment. If you have some ideas which you think have not been implemented and might be able to help improve things, then do voice out. Perhaps you can voice out to your supervisor if you’re afraid to approach the top people. Start small, maybe just introduce it within your team and see how it goes. The important thing here is to share your ideas especially if you have seen them becoming successful in other companies.

For example, whiteboarding or brown bag session, 360 degrees performance review, etc. Useful ideas that you have experienced in your previous jobs can also be introduced in your new company.

Remember that you are in a company to contribute to the business in any ways possible. Furthermore, you will be able to leave something significant and useful for others to learn and spread the next time they switch company.

And let’s face it, most people do not like subjective things since they can be pretty unpredictable. People prefer to have the numbers do the talking. This goes all the way back when calculus was first introduced. Since then, everyone focuses on numbers and anything that can be quantified in numbers. Well, that’s not a bad thing. The bad thing here is, we tend to rely too much on numbers.

Some of the examples I can think of:

• A mutual fund agent wants you to open an account to invest in a new fund, they will come out with all the nice numbers, projected profit, etc – all of them are numbers. And as investors, numbers are important to us so we get influenced by these agents, and go on to buy from them. But one thing that we don’t know is that, behind all these numbers, is this mutual fund agent really trying to help us by giving us the best possible advice? Or is he just trying to get our signature and then disappears forever? What about the fund manager involved? Does he just care about his own money or does he actually invest his own money in the same fund, because he really believes in it?
• A company pays the employees very well but the turnover rate is still very high. The boss would say “We pay them well! Why do they still want to leave?” Well, you can measure the amount you pay your people against other employers, but how do you measure whether they are happy to work for you or not?
• A father buys a lot of stuff for his little son – phones, cars, Macbooks (:P), etc. But he himself has no time to accompany his son due to work. In the end, the son grew up to be rebellious and started to mix with the wrong group of people. To the father, he could not understand why the son turned out this way even after all the money he has spent. But he didn’t realize that “love” is not something which can be measured by numbers.

I don’t know about you but I personally feel that people are becoming more and more ‘addicted’ to numbers. Some even do that to the extreme where only numbers are important. But time and time again, they will know that numbers ARE important but definitely not the most important thing in the world. Relying on numbers do help, but relying TOO MUCH on numbers will bring more harm than good.

Remember that numbers are there to help us make the right decisions and not to make the decisions for us.

p/s…. What happened in the recent economy crash is that there are just too many irresponsible fund managers and traders. We can measure the numbers, but we can’t measure what they are thinking or how responsible they are. That is why, at the end of the day, the people who lost the most are those who focus only on numbers – the investors.

Most people have that kind of mentality. And most of them start counting down for weekend on Monday itself (some do that on Sundays). They just dread going to work! In fact, it’s pretty hard to find someone who really enjoys their work (not to say there isn’t any, but those who think their work is boring far outnumbers those who think their work is fun).

But what if their work is not as boring as it currently is? What if their colleagues and their workplace is fun and very dynamic? If you’re thinking it’s impossible, then perhaps you should find another job. Because to me, anything can be turned into something exciting. Yes, it requires efforts but it’s not impossible. Here are some of the things which I can think of.

• Change the way you think about your work. Don’t treat it like something you are forced to do because you have no other choice (you always have a choice, remember that). Treat it as something more meaningful….maybe you feel your job can help others, or you feel you can help extend the business, or you can help people solve problems, etc.
• Decorate your workspace. I never like the open office concept because you don’t really have a “home” in the office. You’ll just move around all the time. I prefer to have a workspace for myself, and decorate it the way I like it – pictures, drawing, plants, etc. Simple/complicated, it’s all up to me. That way, it’ll make me feel more comfortable in the office. It definitely won’t change the work/assignments, but it’ll change my mood when I’m working on something.
• Mix with your colleagues. It really makes the entire workplace more entertaining if you have close friends around. If you don’t have any, then go make some in the office. Sometimes, when the work is really pushing you to quit, you will think of the nice colleagues you have.
• Work longer hours. If you spend more hours on a single assignment, you won’t feel hard pressed for time. Yes, you do tend to lose some sleep but you can also work at a more relaxing pace. Well, at least working at a relaxing pace makes me more productive and also makes the work more enjoyable. The moment you (or your boss) start chasing for deadline, is the moment your work loses its fun factor.

Of course, all these can’t beat the ultimate “Do what you are passionate about”. That’s the best, if you have the option. But most often than not, we’ll be stuck doing something we are not so passionate about in order to feed our family. So the least we can do to make our work more enjoyable is to do those things listed above.

Transform your workplace, your relationship with your colleagues and your mindset towards everything. It’ll really make things more interesting.

And hopefully, you won’t dread going back to the office all the time. Who knows, maybe there are something in the office which makes you want to go back more!

p/s…. if there’s really nothing you can do to make your work less boring and more exciting, then it’s time to find another job. Reason being, you simply can’t perform in a boring environment.

How a typical meeting usually ends

Rate this comic: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

This is the first time I used the template. So the art is more ’standardized’ but somehow, it took me a longer time to finish this comic. I guess it’s tidier. I just need to train myself more and get used to this. My templates are not very efficient yet.

By the way, I’m in the midst of coming out with a comic blog. Figure it’s better to separate the writing part with the drawing part.

Situation in company where turnover rate is high

A very simple comic I drew right before my flu medicine started to take effect. Really a simple one. It’s been a while since I last came out with a comic. I actually had to clean the dust off my drawing tablet before using it.

I’ll try my best to come out with more decent comics after this. Hope you guys will like it.

If you were me, what kind of answer do you think you will give?

Gossip mongers just want to network with other people? Hmmm

1. Will you confront the gossip monger and tell him you’re not happy?
2. Confront the gossip monger and tell him the gossip is not true at all?
3. Stay quiet?
4. Spread another gossip to counter that gossip?
5. Or start telling each and everyone you know in the office that the gossip is not true?

I know this is kind of touching human psychology but based on my personal experience, it’s not uncommon in our office life. Every now and then, there will be this group of people who have nothing to do but to spread rumors and gossip about other people. They can be quite notorious at times too, to the stage that whatever they said might actually affect your working experience. So it’s perfectly normal if you feel like confronting them and tell them off.

But is that how it should be done?

Based on my personal experience, it’s actually best to do item (3) which is to keep quiet. I understand that sometimes, the fire might get too hot and burn yourselves in the process but I also believe that if you retaliate to something which is not true, it will only make the fire stronger. So in my opinion, it’s better to make it as boring for them as possible, and they will slowly get tired of it and move on to the next target.

And I told this to the job interviewer and he was quite happy with my answer.

What about you? What would you do if you were in this kind of situation?

p/s….I’ve experienced it on 1 or 2 occasions. If it’s ruining my reputation and a colleague told me about it, I will just tell that colleague the real story. That’s all. As long as there are few good colleagues who know about the real story, I won’t really care what others think.

Let’s be honest, most people are not content with what they have and that includes their salary. And most people also think that they are the one working harder than most of the people in the team. So when the news of a peer/colleague receiving a promotion or a higher salary than themselves, all sorts of negative feelings will appear.

“Why is that idiot getting higher salary than me when all he does is talk talk talk?”

“Why is the new guy getting the promotion ahead of old employees like us?”

“Why is he getting a higher increment when our job role is the same?”

Questions like these will keep popping up in the head all the time. It’s normal. After all, we’ve put in so much hard work for the company and it seems like we’re not being appreciated (funnily, some people who always spend their office hours chatting and Facebook-ing also think they’re not being appreciated enough). I’ve been through that before on a couple of occasions and man, I was pretty pissed back then.

But things have changed, and I believe I’ve changed.

Over the years, I’ve given much thought on this issue and I can tell you it’s a very common issue which exists in every organization. But rather than making my life miserable by asking myself questions which I could not answer, I prefer to ask myself a few questions and also try my best to answer them HONESTLY (without any discrimination and with extreme fairness + calmness). It wouldn’t help if you answer these questions when you’re jealous of some people.

• Is the guy really better than me? Or perhaps my performance is actually not-so-good?
• Is there anything I can do to match him or even better than him?
• How much time do I have left until the next performance evaluation? I need to use those time to improve myself.
• Is there a need to talk to my supervisor regarding this? Maybe my supervisor is not happy with something I did which I’m not aware of? Remember, this is to have an honest heart-to-heart talk with your supervisor and not a confrontation.
• Maybe your supervisor has some ideas on how you can perform better in the future?
• Perhaps there are something which this guy has to do, without your knowledge? Maybe he really did go that extra mile?
• Will you be happy after the promotion or the increment? Will you be happy with your new job role or you rather stay where you are now? After all, money is not everything.
• How much is this affecting your mood and overall well-being? Do you think you’re wasting too much time thinking about something you have no answer of?
• And most importantly, do you think there is something that you can really do to change the situation?

Among those questions above, I find the last 2 to be the most important question. If there is really nothing you can do to change the situation, then why do you even bother to think about it? If there IS indeed something that you can do, then do it and change the situation. Get out from that emotional hell you’ve put yourselves into.

For me, even though I know there are people who earn more than me, I don’t really think much about it. Perhaps they are indeed better than me in certain aspects of things. All I can do is to commit myself to do my work, and to get the expected reward from my company. The important thing is that the company or my supervisor should appreciate what I do, and I myself must like what I do.

Whether the company appreciate that guy’s work more than mine, is not really something I can control.

And when I think there’s really no other option for me…..then I might just go find another job and find someone who I think will really appreciate me.

Remember, it’s not worth torturing yourselves by feeling lousy or bad especially on things that you have no answer to. If it’s within your control, then change it. If not, then just ignore it.

DISCLAIMER — i don’t Facebook that much in office. Nothing much in there except other people’s photos. =_=

But is this the right way to lead your people?

In my humble opinion, NO.

I rather lead with respect, and not fear. If your people are constantly afraid of losing their jobs (or afraid of being scolded in front of everyone in the office), they will STILL be able to work hard but the atmosphere is different if compared with people who are working for you because they love to work for you.

Totally different working environments and the end results will be totally different too. Let’s try to summarize the 2 types of leadership.

Lead with respect

• People willingly work for you
• The environment will be friendlier
• The people will be motivated and work with good morale
• Turnover rate will be lower since a good and respected leader can really keep his people

Lead with fear

• People will only work with you because they have no other choice
• The environment is quite hostile and negative since everyone is afraid to lose their jobs (or get scolded publicly)
• People will be moody and pretty much demotivated, even though they will still do the work
• Turnover rate is very very high since everyone will try their best to get out from there

From what you can see, most of the things associated with the latter are bad things and yet, there are many leaders out there who prefer to use this way. Perhaps it’s due to the way they’ve been brought up in the corporate world, or perhaps it’s due to their ego. But either way, it’s bad for the employees and also the organization itself (having high turnover rate is not a very good thing to have in any organization).

For me, the keyword here is “respect”. Respect other people and others will respect you. If you cannot even understand that simple word, then I doubt you have the rights to lead.

p/s……. and in an extremely stressful environment, the last thing you want to do is to force people to do things they don’t want. Everyone has their limits and as a leader, you need to know that.

Why?

Just compare these 2 individuals. Which one do you think you will want to be in your company, if you happen to be the boss?

• Person A – always want to contribute. When free, he’ll try to learn new things by doing self-studying. When he has completed his tasks, he will ask if you need any help. Or when there’s really nothing much to do, he will just go online and read some useful articles to boost his level of knowledge.
• Person B – always pretends to be busy. When free, he will open a small window (or big one for some people) to watch Youtube, play Facebook or even play games. All these activities are during office hours. When he has completed his tasks, he prefers to keep quiet and take a break…..like playing his games.

Now, tell me, if you are the boss, which kind of employee do you prefer to hire? Surely, it has to be the first person since he’s a proactive person who is always looking to improve himself.

If I were the boss, I would worry more about his SOCSO claim

But the funny thing is, the number of people in Category B far outweighs the number of people in Category A. Just look around your office, how many people actually belong to the first group, the proactive group? I believe not many.

Does that mean you should join the rest?

You shouldn’t actually. You should be proactive and don’t sit there playing game. Why?

• Your bosses will not be happy if they know, and they will know if they actually check.
• If others are not proactive, by being proactive, you will be regarded as a better performer.
• Improving yourselves by learning more stuff is way way way better than playing mindless Facebook games or watching useless Youtube videos. You can’t carve out a career out of those 2 (er..actually you can, but that’s another topic altogether).
• Those activities can be considered as misconduct since you are using company properties to do things which are illegal. You can face quite harsh punishment from there. So better be careful.

Last but not least, try to put yourselves in the shoes of your bosses. If you’re in their position, will you be happy if your employees are those not proactive people who need to be ordered around ALL THE TIME, or you would prefer to have someone who is willing to help out with stuff?

I believe the answer is pretty obvious.

But those signs are already very drastic signs…..and by the time you know it, sorry to say, it’s already too late. You’ll most likely be caught in it.

Not a very good sign either...why must they cut the cubicle?

Well, there is still hope. I do believe that there are other less significant signs that one can observe to know whether one’s company is doing well or not. And these less significant signs normally appear before the obvious signs.

And here they are, some of the not-so-good signs if you notice them occurring in your office.

• Everyone is watching Youtube.
• The list of online people in Facebook, most of them are your colleagues.
• Your colleagues are playing games during office hour. Some are watching movies. Their excuse? Nothing to do.
• Your office space is getting a bit crowded. Many people who are supposed to be in client’s site, are back in the office.
• Or, your office space is becoming less crowded because people are being laid off or forced to go on unpaid leave.
• You always see a group of people going into a meeting with the bosses, and after the meeting everyone looks gloomy, with a letter/envelope each in their hands.
• Your office network is getting slower everyday. Someone is busy streaming or downloading.
• The biscuits in the pantry have not been refilled for a couple of weeks.
• The supply of tissue paper has been replaced by toilet paper.
• Your bosses start to monitor everyone’s behavior and what online activities they are doing in the office.
• Your sales guys are having extended tea breaks……..far too often.
• Your office is getting darker – in terms of lighting and also aura.
• There’s no more weekly or monthly updates from the bosses. They just don’t care anymore.
• Most of your management people left.
• Your management is arguing with you over a claim which is worth RM 5.
• Removal of some of the employees’ benefits.
• The plants in your office are dying. Nobody is taking care of them.
• The lunch breaks are getting longer, from 1 hour to maybe 3 hours.
• Your company starts to take in any kind of projects….including those that are completely out of scope or not within the industry.
• etc….

The list can go on and on and on. For some of the companies, it can be quite different since different industries have their own share of problems and issues. Mine is looking more from the IT industry (I gather the information from various sources).

So if you happen to see some of those signs in your company, perhaps it’s best for you to plan your way out. Things might get better or worse from there…….and most of the time is worse.

And by the time you get things like pay cut, retrenchments, etc ……it’s already too late.

By the way, if you have any other signs that you want to list out here or share with us, do feel free to contribute in the comment box.