KEEPING YOUR JOB POST-COVID

AS the economy opens up, in what we hope are “post-pandemic” times, everyone has to adjust to new ways to managing life. We need to manage our home life and make sure that our kids get educated. Our finances will be stretched. The relationships we are in may be harder. However, the biggest challenge is our work life and career.

Are you happy at work? Are you satisfied with your work and career, and are you confident that it will remain intact on the other side of the Covid-19 pandemic?

I reckon that everything rests on your levels of commitment to make things work under difficult circumstances. I do not mean if you are merely “interested” in making things happen.

I mean truly committed!

John Assaraf, a New York Times bestselling author and one of the world’s leading authorities in behavioural sciences, said there was a difference between being interested in something and being committed to it.

In a nutshell, he said if you were “interested” in something, you would do what was convenient, but if you were actually “committed” to it, you would do whatever necessary to make it happen.

Right now, you cannot only do what is easy or expedient. You need to be committed to doing anything and everything it takes to make things better for you and those who depend on you.

Through my consulting work, I can attest that every successful person, whether they are a salaried employee or an entrepreneur, has shown total commitment to what they believe in or the business they run.

This mindset manifests in everything they do, even outside their sphere of work.

The classic definition of being committed at work is about the enthusiasm an employee shows towards the assigned tasks at the workplace. It is the feeling of responsibility that the employee has for the goals, mission and vision of the company.

How do you show commitment right now?

Flexibility

Can you adapt when work presents you with an unexpected turn of events or are you rigid and obstinate in the way you do things? The capacity to modify when needed is always important at the workplace, but more so now.

The way businesses and organisations are being forced to operate means that glitches, challenges and obstructions will be the norm. Being nimble enough to adjust and to shift gears to surmount any of these issues reduces their impact.

So, being flexible makes you extremely valuable in the current climate.

Reliability

At the workplace or even in your social circle, there are people whom you can rely on. But there are also those who usually run late, fail to deliver what they promise or often come up short.

I am sure you know how they make you feel!

When you prove that you are a reliable and dependable employee, it showcases you in a positive light to both your leaders and colleagues.

It makes you an eminently suitable candidate not only for promotions but, more importantly, to be retained when there are cuts or retrenchment.

While this may sound terribly old school, rudimentary things such as being on time, every time, signal that you are a reliable person. Habits like taking lastminute time off and without advance notice dent your dependability.

Being dependable also shows in your work. If you are reliable, you will deliver work on time and meet the required standards. When you regularly miss deadlines or send in shoddy work, you become the first name on the firing line.

Uprightness

This trait has now become more critical than usual. Employers retain team members who are honest and ethical in all their work responsibilities. As an employee, your actions reflect on the company and contribute to its brand.

By working to build a positive reputation, you help the company become stronger, which gives you the job security you covet.

Don’t ever forget that it is hard to build trust and easy to lose it, especially when you are caught lying or fiddling. You need to show that you are somebody who can be trusted with important tasks.

Flexibility, reliability and uprightness form the benchmarks for your show of commitment.

If you want to retain your job, it all starts with your attitude.

Limiting beliefs, self-doubt and the the tendency to conjure up excuses can easily make you lose your job now.

If you want to know whether you are just interested in your career or actually committed to it, then think about what you have done today, this week and over the past year. Your actions will reveal the answer.

Your sense of purpose is shaped by the things you believe in as well as value. When you have a strong sense of purpose, you will develop a personal code of behaviour. And, your connection to that purpose will help you live by these beliefs and values.

The question remains, are you truly committed to succeed in a post-pandemic world?

If you are reliable, you will deliver work on time and meet the required standards. When you regularly miss deadlines or send in shoddy work, you become the first name on the firing line.

The writer is managing consultant and executive leadership coach at EQTD Consulting. He is also the author of the national bestseller

‘So, You Want To Get Promoted?’