Smart Vs Hard Work

I have always wondered whether a smart approach works better or a hard working approach. In today's world are we looking to be smart or should we be hard performing workers?

The short answer is to be “work hard smartly”. Hence choose which activity will provide the most value in plethora of activities you are responsible for and complete/implement that first.

The key objective should be to recognize the requirement and value.    

This is a fine line to tread on, as what you feel the most valuable activity may not be echoed by others.

Remember, what you like/love doing, what you do well, and what is perceived as being done are three different activities. Find that sweet spot. Value is what which affects the most.  

Similarly pick the activity which will affect the maximum (Actual value), and is most talked amongst your seniors (Perceived value).

This is where being a smart worker helps “To find the best value affecting the most is the smart way of working.”

Once you have the activity in your mind, which brings in the maximum value, you now need to switch caps, from smart to a hard worker cap.  

A colleague of mine was invited to an impromptu meeting and he realized he had not considered the activity as highly important for his team. Clearly a difference of approach (Actual Value and Perceived Value) resulted on him in not studying the processes and approach. He was aware of the topic however details towards the solution were missing. All this time he was working on an extremely important assignment as perceived and understood by him.

The participants were senior members of the team hence this was one chance to shine. Not being fazed by the unscheduled agenda, low knowledge level, he immediately vouched to write the minutes of the meeting, and started jotting down the points discussed. He further took the initiative to summarize the meeting and ask the pro’s and cons of each approach discussed. Slowly the meeting turned with him coordinating between individuals, solutions and documenting the discussion. Finally he was elected to implement the solution as “test” in his team. Smartly played!! The minutes of the meeting helped him Recognize the requirement, further discussions helped him define the value hence create a bridge between Actual and Perceived Value.

  

He later backed the idea with hard work on the implementation that ensured that his name is on the right cards.

A KISS(Keep it Short and Simple) approach always works smartly. Hard work goes on keeping abreast with knowledge and knowing what to say and when. However when you present to senior management, you need to KISS. Prepare visual approaches like graphs, charts, tables rather than verbose slides, as most senior managers won’t appreciate to read through the entire slide.

Explaining visual tools like graphs, more than often leads to questions, generation of alternatives, which end up in an engaging conversation rather than a monotone.

Remember, holding the attention span in such presentations is the key. More importantly, catch the key words of the management.   

Back it up with minutes after the meeting to ensure all are on the same page.

We should realize that gone are the days, where we were told to keep our head down and just perform the activities told. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence, better processing systems, opportunities in organizations are dwindling with each individual required to provide more. At such times, keeping your head down and working hard may not be the real key to success. Rather to learn, look around and grab opportunities which you can see. Of course, spend time to recognize the value- add which the organization perceives as.     

Hence strike the balance by smartly recognizing the requirement, followed with hard work on implementation.