By: Syazwan
Communication & Accountability
In our previous article, we touched on what managers view as the most important trait in successful workers and the first step towards achieving this state (See Pt.1 to find out more). Now, we will be going through the other two components, communications and accountability, that complete this triumvirate of factors that will push you heads above your fellow peers.
Structure
As per the previous article, we will be providing relevant information and anecdotes surrounding the factors mentioned above. Given the current circumstances, we approached this from a dual perspective of working in office and via telecommuting.
General - Refers to both physical & virtual forms of work
Physical Specific - Physically working together in a shared space
Virtual Specific - Working through telecommuting
Communication: Speak to your managers, co-workers and fellow interns
General
Communication is a pivotal factor in any organisation, generally the better you communicate to those around you, the better you are able to get work done. Paul J. Meyer, the pioneer of the self-improvement industry has said that “communication - the human connection - is the key to personal and career success”. Being able to communicate effectively not only helps you get your point across and understand the requirements for different tasks better but it also forges stronger relationships between you and your fellow co-workers. This then translates to enhanced clarity, understanding and a deepened sense of belonging among everyone involved, which creates a strong impact on how they will view you, especially when this is done at the beginning. Vincent, Y3 NUS BBA (BA), has this to say, “I think the most important thing during the first week of work is to make more friends (See Pro Tip 1) in the office”. The importance of being able to establish networks early on in your work would benefit you multifold in the long run be it through being able to ask for help more easily or to be connected to other individuals in the organisation. Effective communications is a necessity if you really want to make an impact in your work as you learn to band together the strengths of different people cohesively where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Another important aspect of communications is to ensure that everyone is well informed on the progress of the tasks assigned to you, which is easy to overlook as you get increasingly loaded with work. This would involve ensuring that the relevant stakeholders in any task or project you are working on are aware of its progress. For example, this may mean CC’ing and BCC’ing the relevant people in ‘update’ emails on different tasks. It is good practice to have a list or digital sticky note of the relevant people for easy reference. This will ensure that those involved know what is happening and more importantly, it highlights how well you keep others in the loop in a virtual office setting, indicating advanced communications skills.
Pro Tip 1: Making friends during the first week or so of work may be a daunting task. One simple way to do so is to go out for lunch with your fellow co-workers or interns. This presents a nest of opportunities for you to speak to them on a personal level, understand the company and their work, while building interpersonal bonds which will surely help as time progresses. If no one has initiated a lunch session, be bold and be the first to initiate it. Making friends early in your workplace goes a long way down the road when different projects require you to speak to different stakeholders that they may be able to connect you with.
Physical Specific
In the physical office, it is often easier to communicate as we are able to speak face to face, baring the full spectrum of emotive expressions. Even so, there are ways to leverage on this ease of communication to enhance the impression you make in your workplace. Shi Fanfei, Y3 NUS BBA (HCM), comes into internships with, “a proactive and inquisitive mind, speaking to people and asking questions” to really understand how the processes in the organisation are conducted. By being unafraid to stand up and speak to those around you, be it for work-related or personal conversations (where appropriate!), is where a physical environment shines, the close proximity and work-orientation puts you in the right gear to network effectively.
Virtual Specific
The advent of technology has brought us closer, allowing us to Zoom in and speak to almost anyone from almost anywhere in the world. This brings with it, its own set of advantages and disadvantages when compared to a physical work environment. The key benefit here is the ability to connect with others from the comfort of your home through a digital screen, yet this digital screen is its biggest weakness as well. Taking away the sense of actual face to face interaction, where we can better judge body language and other expressions, really takes a toll on how we communicate. For example, virtual meetings have risen astronomically in this COVID-19 climate, and it is our duty to ourselves to make the best out of it. We can do so by focusing on the key aspect of interconnectivity that virtual meetings provide while opening up our reserves of empathy to exercise greater patience in our interactions (See Pro Tip 1). At times, it may be easier to be misunderstood in virtual contexts given the lack of the full spectrum of human expressions but what we can do is to be more understanding, to avoid unnecessary conflict that would deteriorate the benefits of virtual meetings.
Pro Tip 1: There are a variety of methods that have been prescribed to improve one’s capability to express empathy and understanding for others. We have compiled the top three most relevant suggestions for you to implement in your work and personal life.
Actively Listening
Listen with the intention to understand. If in doubt, repeat what was said to the other party to affirm what was mentioned. The focus here is to understand and relate to how the other party is feeling and what they are experiencing.
Explore differing points of view Try to understand why there are disagreements between yourself and other parties rather than to retaliate. Taking the time to appreciate the differences in thought of the other party would allow you to understand their position better and come to a more amiable outcome.
Understand the ‘why’ Remember to always ask yourself ‘why’ when faced with difficult or disagreeable situations. Taking a step back to assess the situation and uncover the root cause can go a long way in understanding and in developing the empathy required in such stressful times.
Pro Tip 2: Instead of checking Instagram every five minutes, why not call up a colleague and set a virtual meeting so that both of you can work while being connected. This reduces the likelihood of either of you being distracted (unless you both are the distractions!) and provides an opportunity to bond with your co-workers. From what has been shared personally, they too are bored out of their minds working in (relative) isolation, so onward and foster relationships virtually!
Accountability: Track your work
General
Accountability is an interesting dynamic that is often overlooked, but is fundamental to success. By being accountable and accounting for our tasks and responsibilities, we place ourselves in the prime position to execute them in the best way possible. “Keep a learning journal and be conscientious in recording down the new things you learn during the internship”, is what Natalie Lee, Y3 NUS BBA (HCM) says has helped her in being accountable for her work and personal growth. This can be further expanded to include keeping track of the work you did so that, when required, you can provide a neat list to your manager to peruse (especially useful when you are asking for a recommendation letter!). Hence, accountability, while seemingly an individual undertaking, is a venture that we should seriously pursue to continually be ahead of our work and to document our progress throughout the experience.
Pro Tip 1: Not really a pro tip but a definite urging for everyone to start being more accountable of the work that you do, don’t rely on just your memory to note things down. While the original Chinese proverb goes, “The faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory”, we feel that “Digital cloud note taking is more powerful than the strongest memory”.
Conclusion(!)
We hope that from this base of tips, you, the reader, are able to gain a better understanding of what can be done at the initial stages of work/internships to stand out and be aligned with the organisation you will be working for. This is definitely not an exhaustive list of tips and some of the better tips may be more specific depending on the role, organisation or industry that you work in.
We urge you to continue to communicate, reaching out to others to constantly learn and grow to not only benefit the organisation but more importantly, yourself. To end off, we have a quote from Will Rogers, an American actor, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”.
If there are any other topics related to HR, feel free to drop us an email at nushcsoc@gmail.com and we may consider it as the topic for our next article. Until then, thank you for your support of the NUS Human Capital Society! :)
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