"I want to work, and the institution I work is like my own. I will do whatever it takes to take the institution to a higher level."
"I think the institution is exploiting me. They expect to much of me in comparison to what I am paid."
The above two are the opposite poles of the employee who chooses to enjoy his work, no matter what, to serve the clients, as good as he or she can just because they are committed versus the employee who is not trusting the company too much who is afraid of being exploited and who becomes really calculative in the process.
While most of us are not at either ends of he spectrum of loyalty versus distrust, most of us either lean a bit more to one or the other side.
If we think about it, a bit deeper, from the point of view, which one is most useful for ourselves?
If we are generous and loyal, and do even more than we are paid for, we have a much bigger chance to be appreciate by clients. Even if management does appreciate our efforts, what we get from our clients will be such a source of peace and satisfaction, that I think:
Please enjoy your job, do your very best, serve clients no matter what. The risk of people taking advantage of me is never absent but if I become calculative and filled with distrust, it will mainly affect my own level satisfaction and happiness.
So we are much better off, choosing the above approach number one than number two.
I wish you all, so much love and job satisfaction in your life that peace of mind is never far away.
:)
PS: It was Napoleon Hill who said: doing more than you are paid for is one of the surest ways to being paid for more than you do.
"I think the institution is exploiting me. They expect to much of me in comparison to what I am paid."
The above two are the opposite poles of the employee who chooses to enjoy his work, no matter what, to serve the clients, as good as he or she can just because they are committed versus the employee who is not trusting the company too much who is afraid of being exploited and who becomes really calculative in the process.
While most of us are not at either ends of he spectrum of loyalty versus distrust, most of us either lean a bit more to one or the other side.
If we think about it, a bit deeper, from the point of view, which one is most useful for ourselves?
If we are generous and loyal, and do even more than we are paid for, we have a much bigger chance to be appreciate by clients. Even if management does appreciate our efforts, what we get from our clients will be such a source of peace and satisfaction, that I think:
Please enjoy your job, do your very best, serve clients no matter what. The risk of people taking advantage of me is never absent but if I become calculative and filled with distrust, it will mainly affect my own level satisfaction and happiness.
So we are much better off, choosing the above approach number one than number two.
I wish you all, so much love and job satisfaction in your life that peace of mind is never far away.
:)
PS: It was Napoleon Hill who said: doing more than you are paid for is one of the surest ways to being paid for more than you do.
That was quite straight forward – just like when we have an abscess on our foot, we should drain it out.
ReplyDeleteIt will become a bit complicated when we can only “choose one” between kindness and integrity.
For example, you found one of your team members (eg, senior Sister / nurse / who are in charge of purchasing) is doing something fishy on the financial account.
Soon, after some observation, you found that there’s some bad cultures (eg corruption, cheating) going on in the institution (many people is not declaring the actual account but there’s no enforcement, so nobody cares). And you do not keep the proof on it because it is not directly related to you.
(let say) You’re just a junior staff who just return to hometown to serve and hold a technical pose in the unit. You hope to contribute to your institution so that it will go far, and make some positive change in the community.
You noticed that if you disclose the misconducts, you’re going to create conflict among you and your team members, and your direct superior seems knowing and supporting the misconduct. And you too do not like conflict because you prefer to be kind to everybody.
You know that majority of your bigger superior are honest people (of course minority of them might be dishonest), but you’re unsure who is the really clean person, and what are they going to do if you voice out your doubt on these misconducts.
1. It might lead to discipline actions which might cause your team member to be punished. (You’re confused. Some big shots in politics are taking so much of money but actions are not taken. Are you going to punish your own team members because of the relatively small sum of money?)
2. Or, will your superior just keep silence, because everyone else in this community is putting very much emphasize in “kindness to a senior citizen”?
It's just like when you have a tumor on one of the limbs and you're unsure whether it is malignant, and you’re unsure who can you trust to diagnose & how to treat it.
Somehow, these misconduct are like holes on a boat, without fixing, a small hole will lead to a bigger hole, and you know that the boat is not going far in this way. Now you see a few small holes and you heard there’s a lot more leaking sound in the boat. You’re unsure, shall you just jump onto another safer boat? It might be much easier to do so than fixing all the holes.
Do you have a better suggestion? :)
Many thanks for the reply. I agree that my original post was an oversimplification of reality. Reality is often so complex.
DeleteThe situation you mention is a very challenging one. I have been thinking about it for a few days now. I am not sure there is a right answer.
I will summarize my thoughts on it in an upcoming posting on my blog. Thanks again for this thought provoking comment and challenging question at the end.
Hans