Small lessons that led to major results
Photo by Joshua Tsu on Unsplash
This is part two of the mini accountant’s stories (#Accountinstories) which started as a LinkedIn project in September of 2021.
Here, I impart major lessons on productivity, team building, and communication among other things. Two of the short posts even led to a long-form blog that got published in Better Humans, a Medium Publication.
Enjoy the stories and I hope you find a nugget or two that will help you in some way.
11/30 The Goose and its Golden Egg
Here’s one of my favorite Aesop fables, re-imagined.
One day, a farmer finds a goose. To his surprise, the goose lays golden eggs. Every day, the farmer would get a golden egg. But he thought that one golden egg per day is not enough. He wanted more.
He thought that all the golden eggs must be inside that goose. So one day, he killed the goose. As expected, he found no golden eggs inside its body.
No eggs. No goose. The farmer was screwed.
I first told this story to a group of seniors when delivering training on project management.
Guess who the goose is?
It’s the people we work with. Sometimes, we expect too much from ourselves and from the people working with us that it results to a killing of motivation, a killing of drive. We want more output that we end up bleeding dry the producer of that output.
It doesn’t have to be that way. All we need is to appreciate each other, know our limits and value our inner goose.
12/30 Mise-en-place
When I was first learning how to cook, every meal was an experiment.
I missed out on key ingredients. I forgot whether I already put pepper or salt. I burned fish or undercooked meat. The result was terrible.
As I became more experienced, I realized the value of order and preparation in the kitchen.
The French call it mise-en-place or “putting everything in the right place”.
But…do you know that mise en place is a valuable project management concept not just in the kitchen but also at work?
I used to handle a team where we use the mise-en-place concept to set things in order before a major milestone or an important reporting period.
The method is simple.
Know what you want to cook or your “outcome”.
Identify the ingredients or your “resources”.
Define the cooking steps or your “tasks and procedures”.
Once everything is set, you can start cooking or “executing”.
In every project or engagement, preparation is already winning half of the battle.
What is the name of your project management style?
Photo by Brands&People on Unsplash
13/30 Carabao English
“You speak carabao English.”
I’ve heard this spoken more often than not, in classrooms and even at work.
The phrase “carabao” English is a reference to one of the Philippine’s national symbols—the carabao. The carabao is a domestic water buffalo and it is a common sight to see in the farming communities. Thus, the phrase “carabao” English came to mean “common” or “poor” English.
“You speak carabao English” is an insult we don’t want to hear but we are willing to laugh at. This fear of ridicule or losing face makes us shy away from speaking up in meetings where English is the main mode. I was guilty of this.
I used to spend so much time preparing for meetings that involve foreigners because of the fear of stumbling over my words. But…getting exposed to work abroad and interacting with English speakers removed that fear.
The remaining challenge…
Some contextual meanings and cultural nuances get lost in translation. Also, I learned English from the books. That’s why, sometimes, I struggle to simplify words. Whenever I look for an alternative to say, I take long pauses.
A colleague once remarked, “You are very careful with what you say.”
It’s not that I’m careful with my words. It’s because I think in my local language first when I’m considering something important. Then, I translate what I mean to say in English. It’s a struggle that only non-native speakers will understand.
But ultimately, I believe that language should never be a barrier to bringing your best self to work. Carabao English or not, speak with confidence and assert what you want.
14/30 The Prize of my Speaking Failures
The first time I went on stage to speak was in sixth grade. It was a storytelling contest in celebration of Language Month. I didn’t win that contest.
I memorized my piece. Every afternoon before contest day, a teacher practiced with me, teaching me how to vocalize and put emotion into my words. But on the day I climbed the stage, butterflies tornadoed my stomach. My mouth was as dry as the deserts of Dubai. I was a stiff, ice-cold statue who can’t look straight at my audience’s eyes.
I didn’t know how I managed to deliver the story. My delivery was definitely not the way my teacher practiced it with me.
I didn’t win that contest but I won something else. The prize would come many years later.
Ever since that day, I have participated in a couple more speaking contests, delivered speeches during events and graduation. But…I’m still not a very good speaker.
When I started working, the prize of my former speaking failures revealed itself. You do not need to be a fluent speaker or orator. You just have to be a good communicator.
What it means in practice…
- You know when and how to listen.
- You ask questions.
- You speak up only when you have something important to say.
- You are brief and direct-to-the-point.
- You use simple words.
- You use body language to show your confidence.
What are your best communication tips?
15/30 Why You Need a Voltes V Team
“If you attack the monster as you are, you will be defeated,” said Professor Hamaguchi to the Voltes team.
“Defeated?” cried Kenichi Go, team leader.
“Correct. You must volt in to win.”
And thus…
“Let’s volt in!” Kenichi rallied his team.
On the screen, the four other team members pressed their buttons.
The upbeat opening theme Voltes V no Uta started playing.
The five individual flying machines lined up to a V-formation.
Slowly, the five machines transformed into a gigantic robot flashing its signature act—the V symbol.
With pomp and glory, Voltes V successfully slays the monster robot.
To the unfamiliar, Voltes V was a popular anime series back in the ‘90s. I remember watching it after school on one of the local channels. I recall it now because even in childhood shows, you will find little nuggets of wisdom that remain relevant at work.
The series revolves around a Boazan empire’s plan to invade Earth and humanity’s last weapon for survival, the Voltes V.
Discrimination was a strong theme. On the planet of Boazan, you’re branded as a slave when you’re hornless, but you’re privileged when you have horns on your head.
But…this is not a post on discrimination.
This is a post on how five different personalities, with individual strengths, coming from different backgrounds and exposure, team up to pilot the Voltes V robot whenever a goal needs to be accomplished. (In the show, the goal was mostly to defeat the monsters that Boazan sent to invade Earth.)
If you’re in an organization trying to accomplish something, here are some lessons from the Voltes V.
Individuals in your teams may clash due to differences. But when there is a common goal, they volt in their strengths and gets transformed into a singular, purposeful body.
You are stronger when you work as a team.
A diverse team equals adventure.
16/30 A Crash Course on Networking and How I Got an F
Three years ago, when I volunteered for an innovation event in Singapore, I didn’t know what to expect.
At work, I mostly deal with nationalities from Asian countries who share more or less the same traits and behaviors. This time, inside that 2-week global event, I saw a mix of colors and identities.
It was my first time. I was nervous to make a mistake or say the wrong things.
But once I got on field, I smiled and made small talk with various nationalities while ushering them inside their rooms or buses. I made eye contact with different eye colors while giving them short instructions. I observed the groups collaborating to produce something remarkable. I later saw the products of those collaborations displayed in booths during the Marketplace event.
At the back of the room, in one of those sessions, I listened with equal and rapt attention as the facilitators explained how to craft a winning pitch. I would later witness the teams deliver their pitches during the Dragon’s Den.
During breaks, I exchanged stories with fellow volunteers from other companies and learned about their work experiences. I should have taken more pictures, exchanged business cards, and swapped contact information with all the people I’ve met. The entire event was a crash course on networking and I failed it.
But even though I was mostly an observer, I already learned a lot from a couple of days of volunteering.
I learned…
- about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)…
- about diversity, equality, and inclusion which are topics that would later become close to my heart.
- about the value of communicating with people of different backgrounds and orientation.
- about being comfortable speaking in English without people bashing your grammar or intonation.
When learning something, you have to be intentional and exploratory. You can choose to be inside the action or outside of it. Both offer a different learning experience. For me, this is learning-on-the-field.
We need more of these types of learning in the workplace.
Photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash
17/30 Is Copying Good…or Bad?
Have you ever copied someone’s behavior because you thought it was the right thing?
We do that as early as childhood which reminds me of a 1999 food company ad.
The opening tagline goes “sa mata ng bata…” (roughly translated ”in the eyes of a child”)
It shows a child watching her mother piling up a lot of the food on her plate. After the mother was done eating, lots of food remain. In a culture that values food, taking more than what you can eat and not consuming everything are bad examples. Thus, the ad points out that adults should actually be role models of good behavior.
We learn what we observe. That’s one of the ideas behind Albert Bandura’s social learning theory.
If you want to know why it works, recall those experiences when you first had an interaction with your teams, seniors, or bosses. Didn’t you observe what they were doing and tried to imitate them?
Observational learning is also happening at the workplace.
You tend to copy people around you when their actions appear safe, generally accepted, and unchallenged. Both bad and good behaviors get into the system that way.
If you want the good to override the bad, you become a role model yourself. Develop a chain reaction of good examples.
We learn what we observe. And if what we observe is already good, we can become even better.
18/30 Why Being Grade Obsessed Is Not a Measure of Future Success
I used to be a test-driven, score-obsessed, grade-conscious accounting student and I can’t help it.
My entire education revolved around competition. My course encouraged competition. I took competitive qualifying exams to stay on the course. I’m on a scholarship which I’ll lose if I don’t maintain a certain quota. I took a competitive licensure exam to enhance my job prospects.
I believed that good grades were my keys to success…until I got a bad grade. But that bad grade didn’t stop me. I just got better at studying.
When I started working, my grades didn’t help. I was still shy and awkward. Lacking social skills. A poor communicator. More than half of the things I learned at school didn’t stay with me. I can’t pull technical stuff out of thin air. I needed to reread some technical guidance to understand what I’m dealing with.
I get it. Educators need a grading system to measure your learning progress, but grades reflect only your academic competence and do not measure your character and potential. You need more than academic competence when you start working. Your character, attitude, and overall personality also matter.
Why am I telling you this? Because I care so much about education. I believe that education is an enabler. I believe that education can be a more powerful enabler if it’s delivered the right way and if both educators and students possess the right attitude toward it.
This is one of the reasons why I’m passionate about learning and sharing what I learned. Now more than ever, the learning environment at work is rapidly changing. The education system that feeds students to their jobs should also adapt.
If you’re a young college student, why don’t you stop obsessing about grades and invest more in your soft skills? Experience the world outside the classroom. Take on side projects. Volunteer. Be open to other learning opportunities.
If you’re a young professional who shared the same experience as mine, why not start equipping yourself with the right soft skills you need in your current job and your potential dream job? It’s not too late to re-learn and re-educate yourself, as I am doing now.
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
19/30 How to Avoid Nosebleeds When You Write
“Stop giving us nosebleed,” you may hear that from your friends or colleagues as a joke.
Nosebleed, as used here, means giving people a hard time understanding things.
What mainly causes people to react this way? It’s when you use difficult or flowery words or words with double meanings.
One time, I discovered an old copy of one of my college thesis. While reading through it, I cringed at my word usage. I used “rudimentary” when “basic” would have been enough.
There was a reason for this. I remembered one of my teachers telling me to keep reading to improve my vocabulary.
“Learn new words every day,” she advised. The best way to remember a word is to use it in your writing.
But take that advice with a grain of salt, an idiom here which means, don’t take it too seriously unless you plan on becoming a novelist or a hard-core writer.
If all your writing is for work, you only need a simple rule: Keep it simple.
It’s a straightforward rule, but a lot of us struggle with this, myself included. I’m also guilty of being elaborate on my emails. I construct complex sentences that wander around without getting to the point, or which are too wordy (like this one).
I’m trying to fix that. If you have the same struggles, here are some other communication tips that might work for you.
When you send emails, be specific. Highlight the action items. The fewer sentences you use, the better.
If you have an urgent ask or you need a simple response, use chat apps instead.
If you need to explain, call.
If you want to provide feedback, do it in person.
To be an effective communicator, you don’t need a writing background. You just need to learn the easiest words and ways to get your message across.
Why do you need to? Well, communication is a transferable skill. You can add value with it anywhere you go, with any profession you have.
20/30 Four Work Lessons From The Squid Games
If you remember your childhood games well, you must have come home once looking battered and dirty.
You were free and happy.
The worst thing that you’ll get is a scolding.
If you play games as an adult, you would expect to feel the same joy and freedom.
The last thing that you’ll expect is to die.
Squid Games will break your expectations.
Gore and blood aside, you can learn a thing or two from the characters of this show.
You can even apply these lessons at work. (Spoilers ahead, read only if you’ve watched).
- Give yourself a stop-and-go signal. The mechanics of the first game “Red Light, Green Light” involve stopping when the signal turns red and going forward when the light turns green. Act with speed and energy when you move forward to your goals. Know when to pause and get rest too. Or else, your exhaustion will kill you.
- You can apply creativity when solving problems. When Seong Gi-Hun picked the umbrella, he thought he was screwed. He has to carve out the umbrella’s shape out of the circular honeycomb without breaking any of the pieces. The time is ticking. Before the time’s up, he started licking the honeycomb. Other players followed him. By thinking creatively of a different solution, he passed that game.
- Learn from the wisdom of experienced people. In the game of Tug-of-War, the main players won the game by listening to the strategy of the oldest person in the group. When you want to achieve something, ask a person who’s already done the same. You can learn from his or her experience.
- Trust is not earned through force. Jang Deok-su built his team through a display of brute strength. When a fight broke out in the night, he led his minions to violence. But on the night after the third game, Gi-Hun challenged Deok-su with a question, “Those scumbags you got over there…they’re people you trust?” That got Deok-su thinking. He didn’t sleep well during that night.
If you’ve watched the show, what other lessons popped into your mind?
Which of the stories resonated to you the most?
Feel free to leave a comment. Discover also the first ten stories in Part 1.
