Beyond Revenue: The Small Habits That Make a Big Difference at Work

 For around an hour, I kept on writing a summary of the book, Traction, that I read recently. While looking for some pictures of the book, I found some good summaries. So, dropped the idea of writing it again. Instead, I thought of writing down a few things that I had learned in my first job.

A company goal of having x amount of revenue or customers can be achieved, or it gets achieved anyhow since everyone — your founders, investors, and CXOs — is looking at that, but a few things related to the culture can be done only if the day-to-day small things are in place. Things as small as responding to a calendar event, showing up in meetings, meeting what you committed, responding to work messages, etc.

1. Showing up in meetings on time: In my previous organisation, a few people would show up 5–10 minutes late for the meeting and would start the meeting without even apologising or even casually saying “sorry” about it. Being late sometimes is ok, but making it a habit — is it fine? Being late to almost every meeting means that you do not show respect towards other colleagues.

2. Responding to meeting events: Always respond to the meeting invitation. It helps other colleagues stay informed and also plan better. Sometimes, when a team member wants to discuss something important and others do not show up, it delays the timeliness of some important tasks.

3. Followup on what you commit: If you commit that you will be doing something by x date, then either achieve it or communicate well in advance so that other variables dependent on it can be taken care of. Your thinking that your task works in isolation and does not affect anything else is not good for the overall organization. This behavior creates stress and anxiety.

Despite working for 5 years, these small things still remain relevant to me since they actually constitute your day-to-day activities.

What makes a difference to you more at the workplace?

#bestpractices #workplace #respect #communication #teamwork