Helping your colleagues in your workplace is a helpful act unless it is not.
This is a real-life happening from one of my product teams related to workplace help.
I have a technically excellent team member. We will call him P.
P has been working on an important project with a steep deadline.
But recently, P decided to help another team member for almost the whole day on another project with lesser business importance.
He missed his deadline on an important project. The business is still suffering the consequences of P’s choice.
P is a great team member with excellent technical skills. But he could not stay on course.
Was P sacked?
No. But he had to be reprimanded.
“It is okay to help the others if it takes 10-15 minutes of your time.
It is also okay to help others if it takes more time but does not impact the project in focus; otherwise, that help is a waste of business resources!”
~ Some day in Feb 2021
Any respectable business works on defining priorities and performance. You disregard the priority, and you are a poor performer.
In my team, it is acceptable to make mistakes. But not the same mistake twice.
When working on an important project, you get everything done to deliver that project.
Nothing more, nothing less.
That’s the fundamental responsibility. That’s what makes you a performer and provides the perks.
In business, helping others is great, but not always. Not at the cost of your performance. That’s not running an extra mile; that’s an inappreciable performance glitch!
Note to Self ✅
- When you are working on a project, stay on course. Or don’t participate in the project.
- Helping others is noble only if it does not impact your performance. Put your oxygen mask first.
- Mistakes are acceptable if used as stepping stones to learning and improving the core craft.
Think for yourself.
