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Let me start out today with a caveat. Most people who are reading this blog regularly (or, for that matter, attempting to engage in any “self-improvement”-type project) are unlikely to have poor quality work (AKA “Sucky Work”).

That being said, sometimes there are a few who slip through the cracks that are just looking for a quick fix to a bad work situation and don’t look at themselves as a potential cause of their problem.

Let me be plain. If your work sucks (and that includes your work ethic, your output, and your attitude), you can find 10 new jobs and it won’t matter. You’ll be needing another one really, really soon.

Oh, and if you’re not sure if your work sucks or not, check out Friday’s posting to get a good feel for that.

STEP 1 - THE BASICS

Here are the “Good Work” basics that everyone should be doing, but a lot of employees fail:

Be On Time For Everything - Heck, you might even want to be early! Most bosses have a mania about you not being somewhere at the time they’ve asked you to be. Why not get on the good side of that mania?

If you don’t know how to be on time, the Slacker Manager has some tips on being on-time, all the time.

Know The Difference Between Company Time and Personal Time - Nothing grates on a manager more than constantly seeing / hearing some employee on her cellphone talking to friends and family. Even if you’re doing your job!

All managers are certain that, if you’re talking to Aunt Selma on the phone about her bunions, you’re either not working as fast as you can or as accurately as you can. They may be wrong, but you’ll never convince them of it. So, save the personal calls for lunch time or after work.

Learn How To Act Professionally - I don’t care if your coworker stole your boyfriend, poured paint on your car, and wrote your phone number on bathroom stalls. When you’re at work, figure out a way to work with that person professionally, if as little as possible.

And if you have a best friend at work, learn how to work with that person instead of stopping for a 20-minute talk-break every time you come near them.

Don’t Be Sick - Okay, maybe “Be Reliable” would have been better, but there is nothing more annoying to a boss than someone who is randomly (but often) calling in sick at 7:59am on a Monday morning.

Your boss (probably) isn’t stupid. He has had enough employees to know you’ve got a hangover. There is a cure for that. DON’T GO OUT ON SUNDAY NIGHT!

Okay - have you got the basics down? Great. Let’s move on to something a little more complex.

Stop Arguing - For God’s sake, please stop arguing with your boss. He’s just as convinced that he is right as you are, but he pulls the strings. If you’ve got actual, 100% true and proveable facts, let him know what they are.

But don’t argue. You may not have anything to do (especially after you’re done arguing), but you boss does. If he says something you disagree with, let it go if it’s not important. If it is important (to the business, not your ego), set up a meeting to discuss it.

Trust me - there is nothing more annoying than an employee who wants to argue, right now, about everything. Learn how to let it go. Or put your boss’ picture on a punching bag and work off the extra energy. But, whatever you do, STOP ARGUING!

STEP 2 - LOOK THROUGH THE EYES OF THE GUY PAYING THE MONEY

One of the best ways to know if your work sucks is to look at your daily work through the eyes of your boss. You know, the guy paying you to actually work?

While most of us don’t live in a purely results-oriented work environment, your boss is still measuring you on results.

Now, if you were paying your salary, would you think that you’re getting your money’s worth? In other words, does your work somehow provide more hard dollar value than they are paying you?

It might not be easy to calculate, but I encourage you to try. For salespeople, for instance, it’s easy. If they’re paid $50K plus a 10% commission, it is very easy to see if they are making or costing the company money.

Don’t know how to gauge your value? I’ve got a crazy idea - ask your boss! He is, after all, the person who is deciding if you are living up to your value potential.

STEP 3 - THE ADVANCED COURSE

If you’ve passed Steps 1 and 2, you are ready for The Advanced Course. These are things that not only indicate your work doesn’t suck, but that you are the fabled, “Good Employee”:

Seek Extra Work - If you’ve got nothing to do, don’t just try to look busy. Have the cojones to let your boss know you need more work. He’ll actually respect you and good things will eventually come your way.

Yes, your coworkers will all hate you for making them look bad. They’ll all stare daggers at you when the boss says, “Well, Johnson here not only finished his work, but he asked for more. What’s the matter with you?”

But, when it’s cost-cutting time, your name will not be on the top of the, “Company Would Do Just Fine Without Them” list.

Get Rid of Excuses - It doesn’t matter why something didn’t work out for you. Your boss doesn’t care that your cat died and you forgot about a deadline because you cried all over your “To Do” list and the ink ran.

Suck it up and take responsibility. If there’s a problem, come up with a solution rather than sitting around wondering what is going to happen to you and when someone is going to tell you what to do.

As the psychologists say, you are a “self-actualized” person. Take charge of your life and your job. Do a little thinking for yourself and you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Give Your Boss Lots of Notice - Everyone misses deadlines. Everyone screws up. Everyone ticks off a customer. Everyone has spontaneous fires that take all of their time to put out. Everyone has family emergencies (though not everyone has them every week…)

When something like this comes up, give your manager as much possible notice that a flaming mad customer is going to be coming their way. Explain the situation. Explain what you did wrong (and take responsibility for it). Explain what you expect to happen from here.

Bosses hate surprises, but bosses loathe surprises that have to be dealt with in the next 5 seconds. Help them by giving them as much lead time as possible.

Learn How To Make Your Boss Look Good - This is the tough one. Figure out how the things that you do can make your boss look good to his bosses. Generally, your successes are his successes to his bosses.

It sounds like sucking up, but your boss will not forget the employee who makes his job easier (and more secure), unlike the screw-up in the cube next to you. So, when you do something good for the company, make sure your boss knows. And make sure, subtly, that he knows that you are okay with him taking credit for it at his next managers meeting.

The good bosses will make sure you get credit anyway, and the bad bosses were going to take credit anyway. This way, you look like you’re on your bosses side, no matter how good or bad.


Well, that’s it! Tell me about some ways that you have made sure that your work doesn’t suck. Feel free to use your slacker co-workers as examples!

Enjoy the Search!

-Dan


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This entry was posted on Monday, January 8th, 2007 at 9:03 am and is filed under Dan Ramblings, Interesting Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.