What I’ve Learned About Overcoming Challenges:

Overcoming obstacles and difficulties in life is closely related to stepping out of your comfort zone. Life in general is like an obstacle course, presenting us with new challenges every day.

There are two types of people: those who choose to take action and those who prefer to leave things as they are.

I consider myself to be in the first category. I have always chosen to move forward and face every challenge, no matter how complicated it may seem at first glance.

Stepping out of my comfort zone has meant seizing the opportunities that have come my way. Where others might have given up, I have risen to the challenge. For example, I was promoted to a management role within six months of my first job.

Challenges also arise in your personal life, and the choices you make can determine your growth. Choosing to grow when others are having fun, taking financial risks when others are saving, or working a second job when others are binge-watching Netflix

These choices can be immensely rewarding. They bring new knowledge, professional growth and respect from your colleagues and friends.

So, don’t hesitate—accept the challenge and step out of your comfort zone, no matter how complicated it may seem at first.

What I’ve Learned About Communication:

I believe that communication is closely linked to the ability to listen to what others have to say. Effective communication starts with listening. Give the other person time to express themselves. Don’t interrupt.

Asking questions is another important aspect of communication.
Many of us are reluctant to ask questions. We fear that it is a sign of incompetence in certain areas. But it’s quite the opposite. By asking the right questions, you will learn more about new topics, show the speaker that you are interested in their subject, and acknowledge that they are the expert (or at least more knowledgeable) on the topic being discussed. This will make you more interesting to the people around you.

When it comes to communication, there are a number of rules that I try to follow. I recommend that you avoid the following:- Dictating what the other person should do

– Telling jokes without knowing the person very well (everyone has a different level of humour).

– Emphasising yourself at every opportunity (I did this, I tell you this is better, I am an expert in 1-2-3, as the boss I tell you this…)

– Taking credit for other people’s work

– Talking about things you haven’t confirmed (very close to gossip)

– Approaching people unconstructively, pointing out their shortcomings without justification

Try to be a friendly and pleasant person and communication will be very easy.

What I’ve Learned About Leadership:

Even though 90% of my work experience has been in management positions, I have to admit that it was never really my intention. At times it seems absurd because I have changed jobs specifically to get out of a management role, only to find myself back in a management role within three months.

Leading is not the same as managing; it is not something that is easily achieved or learned. True leaders are remembered by employees long after they have left. When you think about your various jobs and bosses, you can easily distinguish who was the leader and who was just the boss. You will have good memories of the leader and less good memories of the boss.

A boss can gain authority through imposing, but a leader does so through their way of being.

A boss can gain authority through imposition, but a leader does it through the way they are.

Who is a leader to me?

– Someone who leads by example in terms of behaviour, communication, commitment, work ethic, personal qualities, attention, etc.

– Someone who gains authority by providing support and by demonstrating the way in which things should be done.

– Someone who takes responsibility first and likes to share when they succeed.

– Someone who says “we” rather than “I”.

– Someone who can get you to complete tasks without raising their voice or imposing.

– Someone who doesn’t tell you what to do, but helps you to do it, developing and improving your skills.

– And finally, a person who is not afraid of being replaced, because they do not see themselves in competition with the people around them.

What I’ve Learned About Work-Life Balance:

This is very important. It is essential to maintain the motivation to work and the desire to grow. I have no doubt that there are people who put their career first, often to the detriment of their family life, whether they have one or not.

I have always tried to find a balance between work and family. When I go to work, I give it my all and try to do everything I have planned for the day so that I can go home after eight hours without any regrets about unfinished business.

Why maximum plus one? Because I need to push my abilities. If you plan less, you might not want to accomplish more than you have planned. It’s better to leave some tasks unfinished in a day than to do less than you could have.

Another rule is to leave work tasks at the workplace when the working day is over. Of course, you can share your work experience with your partner. But don’t take work home with you and don’t take time away from your family to complete work tasks.

Spend the weekend with your family. It doesn’t have to be anything out of the ordinary. But you need to give each member of the family time to nurture the relationship.

While the family relationship is vital, the couple relationship is even more so. When children are born, they get most of the attention. That’s why it’s important to make time to go out with your partner. This means dedicating one evening a week to your partner. We practise going to the theatre, the cinema, a walk in the park, a meal out or just a nice evening at home. We also go on city trips 2-3 times a year, just the two of us, to visit other countries and cities.

What I’ve Learned About Mistakes:

When I fail, I try to accept what I have done and learn from it. Every mistake is an opportunity to improve.

The most important thing for me is not to make the same mistake twice. Everyone makes mistakes, especially at the beginning. When I take on a new role, I accept that I will make mistakes, and probably a lot of them. The same goes for a new task. It’s important to admit that in advance. If I admit it, it will be easier to start. If I do not, I may constantly avoid starting the task or making decisions about it.

If you’re wrong, say so and be accountable. Admit it. Say you made a mistake. People who want to help you, will undoubtedly understand you, and this will help you:

– Learn from your mistake;

– Avoid making the same mistakes in the future;

– Not hinder the process if it depends on you;

– Likely resolve the issue at an early stage, preventing it from becoming a bigger problem later.

For me, another important factor is learning from how my superiors solve problems. This means observing their approach to problems and understanding what is important to them. This helps me know where I can make personal decisions and where I need to seek approvals in the future.

What I’ve Learned About Innovation:

Innovation should be seen as something that helps us simplify things. However, most people prefer to stick to the old ways. They are resistant to innovation and reject any suggestions for implementing new solutions. This is because using old methods allows us to continue doing things the way we are used to. Something new in the workflow requires us to learn new things and reduces the expertise we had in the old workflow.

Much of this negative approach is due to the introduction phase of innovation, where people have to use both the old and the new methods. In other words, they double their efforts.

In my experience, I have faced situations where we introduced innovations to team activities. Each time, we encountered resistance from the majority of employees who refused the innovation and did not acknowledge that, in the end, it would reduce their effort.

We tried different approaches: either implementing the innovation abruptly and radically changing the workflow or introducing the innovation slowly and gradually. In both cases, the level of resistance was high. The abrupt method was applied to innovations with a smaller impact. Major innovations were implemented gradually, with small steps, so that the end-users could understand their importance.

In the end, what I have learned about innovations is:

– Before we create an innovation, we have to make sure what problems it will solve and what the final contribution of that innovation will be. It is essential to do a very thorough analysis of the current situation.

– Next, we need to have a clear understanding of where we want to go and what the workflow will look like after the innovation has been introduced.

– Communicate about the innovation from the start and get buy-in from the key players who will use it. It is important to be realistic and communicate about the results that will be achieved, not about the first implementations of the innovation.

– Implement the innovation and monitor the results. Unfortunately, there are times when the innovation complicates things and does not solve the problems it was intended to solve. In these cases, we need to acknowledge the failure and either make changes to the innovation or revert to the previous workflow.

For example, at a previous job, more than a year was spent developing an application to automate the correspondence management system and decision approval workflow. After implementing this workflow, it became apparent that the time taken to manage correspondence and approve decisions was increasing. This was due to the continued receipt of paper documents and the need to scan documents to input them into the automated system. In addition, storage space for documents on the network drive was increasing, while archive space was not decreasing. In the end, the decision was made to abandon the application, rethink the workflow, and make adjustments to the application to address the newly identified problems.