It sounds crazy, doesn’t it! An employee who is actively wanting to be a lazy employee, an employee who only wants a simple life. I am sure we all have someone in mind already.

But for an aspiring worker seeking to climb the ladder, I am sure you must think I am absolutely crazy but on the other hand, let’s think about this for a moment.

There was a part of my role which the process had not been amended for years. It was very manual, extremely time consuming and pressurising! Each morning travelling into work, I knew it was 'panic stations' straight away for the first 3 hours and 'complete madness' if my colleague was off. Even though I was still learning the process, I began to change it bit by bit, step by step. Throughout the change, I had the mind-set of "what if both of us are off!?" Nobody else would know how to do this process, which then impacts on several teams!

This is when I came up with "think lazy, think simple" as I wanted to implement a process which anyone in the business could come in and do the process without assistance from an experienced employee.

I worked tirelessly to make that part of my role as easy as possible. I will admit, it took a lot of hard work and learning, but I got there in the end.

So, by thinking lazy and simple - I turned a complex pressured process into a walk in the park process. 

Time and time again i hear the same words.... "Too busy to look into that at the moment" but, when a successful idea turns into reality, people often say how they couldn’t live without the new idea.

It is always a challenge to balance the day-to-day workload with development however, there is nothing stopping you from working outside your core hours! I have been in these situations before, I have had an idea but no time to explore it nor support from others.  So what do you do in these situations? The answer is simple, you have two options.

One option is to take a risk. You spend the time developing the idea, in the hope it pays off then work your ass off to catch up on your daily work.

Option two is to work on your idea outside of work. There is no harm in stopping back late / coming in early to develop your idea.

In either option, once the groundwork is done and you can present your idea to management. What I find interesting is the amount of ideas which come to light of the back of other people’s ideas. This is why investing in ideas and, more importantly, sharing ideas is key.

Staff regularly come to me with an idea, as they know I will do two things. one thing is that i can visualise the idea, playing it out in my head, seeing if and where there will be an issue with our systems.

The other reason is that I will support them in building their idea. Not every idea is great but an idea which does not work might inspire another idea which does work.

It is one of my bugbears, people who do not share their knowledge or when you need to go to someone else to get something done.  

I try to be a "one stop shop" in more than one way!

When someone asks me to do something, I will action their request but, (if time/permissions permitting) I will also show them how to do it. 

This builds the company knowledge pool and helps others understand why some processes take time and helps them understand the chain reaction to their query.

If systems and time permit, do not be afraid to teach yourself!

I am lucky as we have a test system. I can expand my knowledge without fear of breaking something or causing issues further down the line.

I think we can all agree this is a straight forward and easy to understand point to make. If a company did not have its customers, the company would not survive.

I have witnessed many customer initiatives over the years yet I still hear the same comments from people..... "I do not talk to the customer". 

In my view, it does not matter if you directly deal with the customer. A company is one big machine and we all play a part to ensure it works smoothly. A delay during a process can have an impact on the customer.

You will see the classic quote at the bottom but in all honestly, it is true - weirdly, you cannot be too serious in office life.

Having said this, there is a time and place to be serious. The difficulty is to find the correct balance! 

It's okay to make mistakes. Sometimes we judge ourselves too often and too hard. And forget that mistakes are inevitable. The important thing is to learn from them! 

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Change is good! Change is a sign of reliability!

In life, we have all experienced being stuck in a rut, this is emphasised more in the working environment as people do get comfortable.

Everyone strives to know the full ins and outs of their job however, those who embrace change end up with a wealth of knowledge and who, ultimately, become an asset to the company.

One of the most dangerous comments an employee can say is "it has always be done like that and it works".

Regardless of if it works or not, a process should periodically be reviewed. New people/technology come into the office which might speed up a process.

Thanks to my excel skills, I took the staff roster from a 2 day process down to 10 minutes (depending upon holidays etc). Getting the process in was a battle, as not everyone likes change. Instead of taking over the process, I simply handed over a new process, explained how the macro worked, what manual interaction there was and that is it.

A short but important point. 

Never be afraid to question a person who has seniority over you. If you do not fully understand something or you have a different view point, then express yourself.

There has been times when this has happened to me. I remember the first time I questioned a (very) senior manager and I was surprised by the response I got - "good point, look into it", admittedly this was said through gritted teeth but, thanks to my question, we looked into the broader picture. On the flip side, there has been times when management have disagreed with my question/point however, due to me asking something and their response, I have gained a clearer understanding of the matter.

Remember, these questions should only be relevant ones, ie: not ones which can be answered via the likes of google.

Another short but powerful point.  If you don’t ask, you don’t get. It’s that simple.

If you want something, you need to put the work in to get it. Do not sit there and say to yourself "I should have that" or "they should offer that to me" because, at the end of the day, how do others know what your thoughts are.  If you think "they should offer 'that' to me" then say something. Explain why you feel that way.

Communication is a powerful tool. Your work results will be seen but unfortunately, can be overlooked. make sure people know what you are aiming for - spread the word.

I used to shy. I would happy crack on with my work and hope this would speak for itself. Yet time and time again I witnessed others either progressing or getting to do something different. This is how I know that I must voice what I would like to do (at the right time of course). If the manager comes out and asks, I will volunteer (workload depending).

Quote for this section: shy bairns get nout (a north east quote)