Alusine Barrie - Doing The Minimum At Your Workplace: Here's The Problem

You may know the colleague who always strives to do the minimum. Whatever task he/she can dodge they dodge. They always turn work in late. They have the mentality of 'now the cat is a away, the mice can finally play'. They are always behind deadlines. Someone has to do their work. And of course there's always a  neat excuse. Let's just say they have perfected the art of doing very little to be of use to their employer and teammates. Et cetera, et cetera...

Does the description remind you of anyone? Maybe it's you, that certainly was more of me not too long ago. The challenge when we strive to dodge doing our work with diligence and quality is that we become too costly to our managers/teammates and  lose value in their eyes. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind...

Reduce the cost of managing you - when your manager constantly has to keep an eye on you and has to chase you to get your work done, you're costing them more because every minute spent chasing you is a minute they cannot spend doing the work they're supposed to be doing. You should strive to make sure your employer spends the least time possible chasing you to get your work done. 

Your value to your employer is a function of the benefits you bring and the costs you reduce - position yourself such that you are always working to increase the benefits your team/manager derives from working with you and or reducing their costs therein. Remember that value means what is valuable to your employer/team, not (just) what is valuable to you. If you optimize to be this kind of employee, you'll automatically strive to do the maximum rather than the minimum.

There's no security in doing the minimum - The thought process when we do the minimum or procrastinate on our work is often that we are being smart or gaining from the experience. However, the results are almost always on the contrary - doing the minimum hurts you. Your manager struggles to trust you to do your work without being policed, they are afraid to put you up for new opportunities, you will be micro-managed, you'll be paid the minimum etc. 

Remember “Folks who never do any more than they are paid for, never get paid more than they do” Elbert Hubbard

It's simple, strive for excellence at all times, whether or not your manager is around.

Regards,

Alusine Barrie.