1. Immediate Relatives and Friends – A young sales person will usually get the immediate family members to be his first customer.  This will follow by his relatives then friends, and then uh-oh… he is out of networks… Personally, I wouldn’t recommend selling to your relatives unless it is a really fantastic product that really benefits your relatives.  Picture this; if the product (1) wasn’t what your relative wanted in the first place or (2) does not prove it is beneficial or worth to your relative, you will be labelled for life for selling crappy products to them.  That will leave you with two choice, either stand up to the possible mockery in future or be absent from family gatherings.  But of course, not all failure stories end up that way.  However, if what you sold was genuinely good for them, then that is a plus point and they will propagate the benefits to their friends becoming your strong first line network!
2. Reconnect with long lost friends – Take time to look through the list of old friends.  Those during your college days, your previous company or friends from the old neighbourhood.  Browse through social network sites that you have accounts in and see if your friends are there.  You will be surprise at how your friends have grown and changed over time.  That point aside, do some catching up through online chats or an email.  Be genuinely interested in the events of life that they have gone through and not blast your latest offers immediately.  It is easier to link up with old friends as there are common topics to talk about.  This reconnection can reveal a network of different expertise or help that you need (but do not know where to find).
3. Get to know more friends at work – Have conversation with colleagues of a different team.  Arrange lunches with colleagues from those teams.  Not only you break the boring routine of having lunch with the same group of colleagues, you get to know what you do not (or may not know) that is happening (rumours) in the company, open new problem solving ideas and build links (and trust) to with another department!  Birds of the same feather fly in a flock.  It holds certain truth in this phrase.  You will have the same mentality (group culture) if you persist to stick with the same group of friends.  By interacting more with peers of different teams, you build a supportive network and trust and will be useful when an inter-team effort is required!
4. Build relationship by extending your current ones – Lastly, from your existing relatives, friends and colleagues, always take the opportunity to find out more about friends of friends, friends of relatives, friends of colleagues, etc… you know what I mean.  Get to know your friends and his friends.  Take the opportunity to build a relationship with this possible new friend.  Ask to be included in their next friends meet up sessions or even propose to link up with this new friend yourself!  This will help you expand your existing network to a bigger one!

These are just ways to build a strong network to support your goals.  Remember, network is your net worth!  So how do you build your strong network?

1. Capitalize your strengths! – By delegating your tasks out.  Those mandate, boring and those that you feel unhappy about, you get to focus on those tasks that are strategic, exciting and you feel a sense of achievement doing it.  Why?  You are actually working on things that capitalize on your strengths!  When you are capitalizing on your strength, you feel good as you learn faster and complete work faster.  This creates a “always winning” feeling!  The more you win, the more you likely to be productive doing it!
2. You feel great! – Let’s be honest with each other, nobody will be happy working on something that they dislike.  When something that you dislike is being delegated out (especially those that can dragged for days), you would not feel bore down thinking that a pending (boring) task is your to-do list.  However, given that you had delegated out the boring tasks (those that you feel boring working at), now you are left with tasks that you like to do, and you will feel great with these tasks!
3. Boosts team communication! – This is the time to communicate with your colleagues.  Find out what they are doing AND what they are doing best. Find out if they like to work on something else or alternative work options instead of what they are currently too.  You be surprised!  They may be your answer to your problems.  Why?  They may want to take on those tasks that you are not keen working on but they are unsure how to approach you.  They may want to have a share of your work to boost their career profile!  Furthermore, through this communication, you get to know your colleagues and they get to know you better too!
4. You are not the right person to do it – Sometimes, you may not be the right authority to perform the assigned task.  You may not be in the right department to handle the task too.  The problem here is you do not know how to say “no” and pass on to someone else.  You blindly accept the task and handle it alone.  That is not the correct way to approach the task.  Find out if you should be doing it in the first place.  Hand it to someone that has the capability to handle it or the right position to handle it.

With all these reasons (and those mentioned in Achieve Personal Productivity Through Delegation!), it is really beneficial to start delegating tasks to your colleagues.  It will be unwise to put a boundary on delegation.  You never know how much benefit you can reap off through delegation. Keep options opened if tasks are assigned to you.  You will be surprise that your colleagues may want to have a share of your work to help them boost their career profile.  You never know too! J

1. You get work done faster than what yourself can – The first benefit of delegation, is things will move faster than you would when you do it alone.  Things will be completed faster as you distribute tasks and allow them to run concurrent to what you are doing.
2. You need not work on task that you find boring or unhappy handling it – The second benefit of delegation!  The boring mandate tasks are assigned to someone to do it.  You may not like the tasks assigned to you but somebody may like it.  You will be surprised that your colleague actually loves the printing of the sales documents or preparing the travel documents for you.  It is strange but it is true.  With something that is boring to you (where you will be unproductive doing something you do not like) being delegated out, now, you can focus on things that can keep you happy thus bringing up your morale and productivity.
3. You can focus on things that are strategic – When the boring and mandate tasks (in your perspective) are assigned to colleagues who love doing it, you are not free to focus on the things that are important to you.  Now, you have more time to meet strategic clients, business development, build relationship or attend to your customer’s needs!
4. You may uncover things that you may have missed out if you were to perform the task alone – Through delegation, with someone who is passionate about the delegated task, he may be able to uncover loop holes to the task and may manage the task better than you if you were to be doing it alone.

A word of caution, delegation may seem to be the choice for personal productivity.  It works really well when the task delegated fits directly with the prospective colleague.  However, most of the time, it is not the case.  Chances are likely that you will face resistance from the colleague as he will be taking on more responsibilities.

Another point that you should be careful is the abuse of delegation.  Delegation is not about shifting responsibilities.  It is to allow you to be free of work that is counter-productive to your overall productivity.  You will still need to hold responsibility of the output delivered from the delegate colleague.  If you have the mentality that delegation is shifting responsibilities (and put blame on others when they cannot deliver), unfortunately, this is the incorrect way to view delegation.

We hope you can see the benefits of delegation in relation with personal productivity.  A good fit in the delegated task is the key component to delegation.  With much boring, unhappy, mandate, etc type of tasks been freed up, now you can work on more meaningful and important tasks that will greatly enhance your personal productivity!

1. Do not write about your employer’s trade secret – The number one taboo of any organisation.  Never reveal your employer’s trade secret online.  That includes offline as well.  This is unethical and you can be brought to court for unethical malpractices of the employee.
2. Do not reveal your employer’s name when you are blogging any topic about the employer – As much as you can, do not include the names of your employer (the company name).  First, you will not be in the radar of the employer’s human-resource department online searches.  That will keep them off site.  Second, you will not end up in any defamation suit by writing negative posts about your employer.
3. Do not bitch about your colleagues online – Bitch about your colleagues and the pub or water dispenser.  Leave it there and then.  Do not bring it online.  By writing about negative comments of another individual in the organisation, you are leaving a negative impression of you online.  This to the eyes of the readers will illustrate your true character (that is to bitch about others).
4. Do not write about all the crazy parties you have – Most of us like to share about our fun part online.  That is why blogging is fun to us.  But be careful about what you post online even thought it is those partying pictures and videos.  You do not want to be seen by your employer cursing and swearing while you look totally wasted.  You do not want to be seen jumping into the river naked after you finished ten bottles of beer.
5. Think twice.  Be selective in what you write online – Remember, whatever you post online will be replicated and stored in different servers across the world.  It will be difficult to remove all the things that you posted online.  If privacy is an issue to you, it is best to stay away from social networks and blogs.  If privacy is not an issue to you, our advice is still keep minimal and be selective in the things you post.

To sum up, your information in social networks and blogs is public and can be viewed by the whole wide world (WWW).  That means, your current employer, and future employer.  You will also have problem removing all these information in future.  So before you write anything funny, make a dumb comment or post a not-so-intelligent partying video, do think twice.  You do not want those things you wrote in becoming something that hurt your career progression in future!

Sure, you can share the fun and stupidity that you have committed at last Saturday night’s party.  Sure you can talk about how insensitive the human-resource department and your employer when it comes to employee welfare.  However, all these can be read by someone on the internet.  This someone can be your employer or your human resource department.  All these information is published online (unless you make them personal).  You never now who is going to read these profiles you have online.  You do not want your boss to find out that you are bitching behind him, right?

That is for your current employer.  Your prospective employers and the recruitment agencies will also check on you with these profiles.  They will make assessment of who you are based on your profile.  They want to find out the “other side” of you.  They want to know, are you what you say you are in your resume and interview.

These profiles with the social network sites and blogs can be used as a double-edged sword.  On one hand, if you put great credentials about yourself such as your professional certifications, work experiences and achievements, your prospective employer will be more confident of you.  All these give the employer a positive impression of you.  On the other hand, if you focus on the negative aspects of work (talking about dumb bosses, boredom, bitching about colleagues, etc.), you likely risk getting a negative impression of you.  This goes for profiles that emphasizes on too much partying too!

Furthermore, these profiles are stored on the social network sites and blogs, which mean they may not belong to you even though they say your information belongs to you.  They can “delete” your record by marking it unreadable by the public.  They can make copies of record in some other data storage.  What does it all means?  Your information is still available online somewhere and it is difficult to remove them totally from the internet.

To sum up, your information in social networks and blogs is public and can be viewed by the whole wide world (WWW).  That means, your current employer, and future employer.  You will also have problem removing all these information in future.  So before you write anything funny, make a dumb comment or post a not-so-intelligent partying video, do think twice.  You do not want those things you wrote in becoming something that is used against your career progression!

1. Interact (and socialise) with your manager often – Take time to communicate with your manager more often than you are doing now.  Socialise with him and interact at any chance you have.  The purpose is to move you into his “radar”.  With you in his radar most of the time, the higher chance that he will place you in the recommendation list.
2. Find out what tasks that are important to him and help him achieve it – Take time to observe your boss.  Find out what are the main tasks that he feels it is important to help me go further.  By helping him achieve his important personal interest and goals, you are selling favour.  This goodwill will be beneficial to you as he will consider you in the recommendation list when the time comes!
3. Avoid direct confrontation with your managers – Although many advisors say that it is wise to disagree with your managers to prove your right.  But that is not the case all the time.  Your manager is always right!  If you do want to offend your manager, or want to have a direct confrontation with him, it is best to think twice of the consequences of doing so.  If you really want to do it, do it gracefully and in a gentle manner.  Do not disgrace your managers.  Give them some room to breath too.  Confront in a positive and constructive manner so that both of you can benefit.  By offending him negatively, he will immediately strike you off the recommendation list and you can pray hard for the following year’s bonus.
4. Target your effort to valuable tasks – If you can, shift yourself into tasks that are valuable.  80–20 rule applies here.  Do 20% of the work to yield 80% productivity.  Valuable in the eyes of your managers.  Remember, managers do not see non-valuable or mandate work that most of the time necessary to do.  Valuable tasks focus on valuable deliverables.   Your managers can base on these valuable deliverables for the recommendation list.  Therefore, do not ignore this and focus on valuable tasks!  If you are not

Remember, you want to stay in your manager’s radar.  In order to achieve that, you will need to do valuable tasks and important tasks that are important to your manager.  Be on the right radar, not on the wrong radar.  Do not offend or get into direct confrontation with your manager that will only end you up in the radar.  If all these are done, they should be sufficient for the manager to place you in the recommendation list and of course a better chance for a bountiful bonus!

Measuring performance becomes difficult when no direct profit is tied to the things the individual does.  It becomes a quality of deliverables.  Generally, it also depends on their management if they like the employees a not (favouritism) which results in recommendation of the individual. Quality itself is hard to measure and people have different likings in their employees.  So, before you start jumping on the pathetic bonus you are receiving this year, let’s look at some things that will land you a lower chance to get a bountiful one this year!

1. You are doing well in the organisation and area of work but that is not important to your organisation or your management – The first complain that you will receive in all non-profit driven organisations.  Yes, you had been doing well for what you are doing.  You ensure that the servers are running 24 / 7 a day, no down-time.  You always deliver reports timely.  You always ensure that you filed the right document in the right folder.  But all these are not important to them.  Importance is relative to each of us!  If you do feel this way that the organisation is not paying for your hard work.  Time to rethink ways to make you pay well instead!  Work smart, not hard!
2. What you are doing does not appeal to the management – The first point goes to this second point.  Of all the operational work you are doing, making sure that things are fine and normal, it is not important to the management.  It does not appeal to them.  It does not bring them further.  If that is the case, take a moment to understand your management on what it is important to them.  Remember, they are the ones that will put you on the recommendation list and it is always wise to do things that appeal to them!
3. You are working in the wrong department – The department’s function is generally operational and supportive.  They don’t bring in profit.  They don’t bring in strategic value.  They need to be there and someone has to do the job.  If you are in it, it’s either you learn to appreciate that this is the type of department you are in and you will definitely get a smaller share of the bonus pie.  If not, it’s time to move out to someplace that offers better!
4. You have limited exposures in front of your managers – The key thing of getting managers to recommend you is to increase your “exposure” rate in front of them.  They need to know you.  If you spend most of the time avoiding your managers, they will not know you and will not likely put you on their recommendation list.  They will only put those they know and those that bring value to them!  Make some time to interact with your managers.  It can be work or off-work stuff.  The key thing is to increase your “exposure”!

These are some reasons that you are not getting a bountiful bonus than your peers.  Take some charge and make changes to your working style.  Re-think of what is valuable and important to your management.  Increase the chances you interact with your managers and you stand a higher chance of a bountiful bonus this coming work year.

1. The person maybe more capable then what you think – There are times when you take a glance of a person and he will give you that no-confidence look.  The assurance that he is able to give is almost zero.  But amazingly, at times of crisis, or critical situation, he is able to deliver as what you want.  He may not be able to shine in his normal self, but at extreme situations, he outshone everyone in his capabilities.  Now looking back, if you did feel he is incapable, you may feel that you’ve already made a wrong judgement from the start!
2. The person maybe less capable then what you believe he to be – Usually such people are good in delivering quality lip services.  They promise the whole universe for you.  But when it comes down to the crunch, they are unable to deliver what they promised to you.  They dodge questions.  The shift responsibilities.  However, the problem is, you never know if they are capable in the first place.  Unless you are really really good in determining a person’s true character.  What you should do is to give yourself time to observe this person.  Make him win your trust in his capabilities.  Take his words at face value till he can uphold what he is capable of.
3. You never know who you will end up with – By having the wrong impression of a person that he is not capable enough, you are likely going to look down on him or his achievements.  Now, with the world so small and the industry that you are working in small as well, there will be a likely chance that you will meet the same person again (especially in a small country).  Don’t offend the person as his achievements one day may be greater than you.  You might need his help in future too!  Do not be a snob now!  You will regret for doing that in future.  Learn to be modest when you are meeting people.

Our immediate advice to you on judging people is, do not judge people in the first place.  We are no good judge ourselves and it’s best to keep our modest opinion on others to ourselves.  Give some room for doubts.   Learn to observe the person more, find out if he honours what he committed to do.  If a person is always underperforming in your eyes, give some room for doubts.  He may not be what you believe he is to be.  Learn not to jump into conclusion after meeting the person.  Time will truly tell if the person is worth what type of person he is.  Again, the saying goes, “Don’t Judge the Book by its Look!”

Today, we are presenting an individualistic idea that will suit you when it comes down to the decision making.  Which means some might feel it is selfish idea or against their principles.  Whatever the case it’s fine with us.  Take it at face value and have a thought about it.  We must recognize one thing that is the pension days are gone.  Loyalty is not a selling point in keeping talents to stay.  It is the cash power that the organisation is willing to give to those that perform.  Therefore, think for yourself when you need to make a decision or take on tasks.

When you are assigned a new task, will it benefit you in anyway?  Example, the task is to track all employees’ daily activities.  Is this a task that is beneficial to you?  Does it help in your career progression?  When the time comes that you need to leave the organisation, can you put in the resume stating that you “track all employees’ daily activities” and have accomplishments such as, “I’ve caught 2 employees surfing Facebook daily”?  Of course, there are ways to package your job responsibilities in your resume in future.  But at the baseline, does such task bring any value to you?

Think if your organisation or your business function was to be disperse (be it for whatever reasons, such as sales is bad, merger and acquisition, or no longer find it strategic to continue the business function) and you need to leave (made to leave) the organisation, can you list down your selling points as a prospective employee with full of skill set?  What will they think if of you with your current job responsibilities?  Will your work experience (and the decisions make to contribute to the work experience) be useful to your prospective employer?  Think about what the market out there is wanting!

And remember, your decision is accountable to your family.  Of course, your decision may be accountable to your organisation.  But when you are being removed from the organisation, you no longer need to be accountable to them (you might even curse and swear at them!).  Instead, you are now accountable to your family in bringing the cash to feed them!  Do you have the right skill set to secure a new job and feed them?

The principles here are individualistic.  You work for yourself and your family.  Some may argue that this is a selfish mindset and hinders organisation progression or do not consider the emotions of other colleagues.  Agreed and disagreed.  Take this advice at face value and do things that you deem fit.  It’s not a 100% perfect solution and you might want to tune it here and there to make it perfect for you (and your character).  At the baseline, we are advising you that whatever you do, think for your career goals.   Do not blindly follow instructions from your bosses.  You may end up getting no where eventually!

1. Keep your emails – The most simple thing you can do at work.  Keep all your email conversations and archive them if you run out of space.  These electronic emails will be useful as evidences and proofs against biased remarks made against you in the event that calls for it! J
2. Document all conversations in the workplace – Document all verbal and phone conversations in an email and send it to the party that you spoke to get their consensus on the conversation content.  Being the same as keeping emails, it will become useful as evidences and proofs in future!
3. Be sure to have someone to standby you in any major decisions make – Find someone to back you up in any decisions you make.  Why?  First, you want to have a witness in your decision and when things go against you, you have a witness to standy you.  Secondly, you may not be able to make a major decision alone.  If you do, you might get yourself into trouble and that may be used against you in future.  Therefore, get someone to share the risk with you!  If it involves management, the troublemaker will have to think twice as there are consequences to it. J  (Part of deterring these troublemakers is to make them think of the consequences and the risk versus effort taken)
4. Attempt to covered most of your loop holes in your work – We cannot cover all the risks.  But at your best effort, cover all risk and loop holes.  You do not want to be uncovered of loop holes by your back stabber, right?
5. Always hang around with the “neutral” guys of the organisation – Avoid the “bad” or “loud” guys of the organisation.  It’s birds of the same feather flying in a flock.  Generally, “bad” or “loud” groups tend to be at some kind of office power competition (of any kind).  Therefore, you can avoid being becoming a pawn in the struggle by not joining the group.  However, having said that, it’s still up to individual preference on their social circle. J
6. Be neutral in most situations – Being friendly and not siding to anyone leaves you safe from most office power struggle.  If you do have a point you want to drive across, be firm but at the same time give room for alternatives to those potential back stabbers.  Give them options to choose that will beneficial to them.  If you do not do that, you may end up making enemies instead!