How to Make Every Hour at Work Pay Off
By Sandy Schroeder
If you are struggling to make your mark on the job, you want to learn how to get the most results from the effort you invest.
Business Insider tells us how to evaluate our productivity on the job by matching our work hours to overall results. University of California, Berkeley management professor Morten T. Hansen suggests there’s more to job success than just racking up hours in his book, Great at Work.
Hansen studied 5,000 employees for five years asking them to rate their own work and that of their boss. They also rated individual work habits. Hansen found the top performers figured out how to work smarter, not just harder, and emphasized two key ways to make this happen.
Figure Out How to Talk with Your Boss
Hansen suggested making the effort to establish clear communication channels with your boss to clarify assignments and build rapport. If you are comfortable talking with each other, you can speak up when something seems out of whack or is simply too much to do. Establishing a good working relationship can make all of the difference in productivity. Work gets done faster and better and one good job builds on the next one.
Shoot to Put in More Effort, Not Just Hours
Of course it is important to show up and put in the energy and hours to get the work done, but the quality of the effort invested is also crucial.
To get the most out of your efforts, Hansen suggests “pursuing your passion and having a clear sense of purpose.†If your work makes you feel personally satisfied and you believe you are contributing positive things to society, you are bound to put more energy and focus into your efforts.
Think of the people that you know who are the happiest in their work. The ones that I know who have done well and always seemed happy with their work have obviously found the right job and believe that it’s helping others. I worked with several medical research scientists who fit this description perfectly. They were well suited to their position and they were doing work that they believed could make a difference in the health of our society.
When we enjoy what we are doing and feel we are making positive contributions, better products are inevitable.
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