We already  know why excessive overtime is not good for us and why we should not give in to the common workplace culture of excessive working. What we need is work-life balance. Most of us struggles in achieving it. One way to achieve it is by smartly managing our time in the workplace. This is why we need to have efficiency. This is where the Work-Smart Culture comes in. As part of a working team, we have to be aware of the values we have to personally uphold for the betterment of the whole group.

The work-smart culture

What we want is a workplace that promotes work-life balance and efficiency which can be done if the employees and the company itself encourages the following key components.

1. Goal-Oriented People

Everyone in the team needs to be committed to a goal. Even when everyone is moving through different direction, everyone should always be moving towards the same company goals. Goal is the most important thing in working smart. Goal is our work direction, without direction, working hard is in vain. Thus, it is a good idea that everyone in the team knows where he is going with his given task. It is not good to be blindly following orders without knowing what they are for. Learn how to set smarter goals by reading this helpful article

2. Proactive Workforce

Another key component is proactivity. Every individual in the team should practice being proactive. Each one should be able to stand alone and provide solution to the problem at hand. Should be able to anticipate conflicts that would arise and be ready for them. Proactivity focuses on the solution rather than the problem, on preventive measures rather than corrective measures.

3. Employees with Initiative

Employees should also not always be dependent on the leader. Each one should have initiative on how to do his tasks instead of being solely dependent on the leader’s instruction. If everyone on the team knows what he is doing, the project progress goes faster.

4. Innovative and Creative Individuals

Just like in the story of Hardy and Smarty, an employee should be able to think outside the box and create efficient solutions to problems. Imagine if the whole team practices creating solutions that would make things easier? Imagine if the company encourages ideas rather than constantly giving conventional directives? What if the workplace encourage creativity first rather than fear of making mistakes? How do you think it would affect the working environment? Necessity is the mother of all inventions. We do not hire smart people to tell them what to do. We hire them to tell us what to do.

5. People-Oriented Employees

People are assets. We all have different skills and personalities. These will help the company to achieve the goals. Thus, the employees should know how to effectively interact with each other. The leader first and foremost should know his subordinates’ strength and weaknesses. This plays a large role in task delegation.

6. Balanced Mindset

Of course a balanced mindset is also important. Everyone should realize the value of rest. This way, no one in the team gets burnout. Everyone plays a significant role in project completion thus, no one should be left behind. It is always a good thing that everyone practices balance and also keep his mates in check. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

7. Efficiency and Productivity

The team should focus on efficiency and productivity rather than the workhours. For in efficiency and productivity relies project costs and schedule. It is better to do it faster tomorrow than do it without certainty and direction tonight. Every work-hour counts so each employee has to make sure that every hour he spend in the office is productive, otherwise, the hour lost was just an added cost to the company. This would also boil down to a good time management. Each employee should know how to make use of their time effectively.

8. A good Leader

Finally, a good leader. Note that I did not use the term boss. A boss just directs, a leader guides. A good leader keeps the team in check every now and then. He provides detailed suggestion on how things can be done. He’s like the watcher of the paddler’s team. He make sure that the team is going in the right direction in the right pace. A good leader can make or break the work-smart culture. Do you know that one of the reason why employees resign is because of their boss?

Personal commitment to working smarter

While not all workplace encourages the work-smart culture, the least you can do is to practice efficiency and productivity personally. It is easier said than done especially when your work environment itself makes it hard. Don’t lose hope though, the culture might just start with you. So take that baby steps towards the right working mindset. How? Find out on my next post. 🙂

Do you have ideas how to promote efficiency and productivity in the workplace? Drop them in the comments below.