WHY EVERY TASK AT WORK MATTERS, NO MATTER HOW SMALL THE BOSS SAYS IT IS - DO IT WELL!

WHY EVERY TASK AT WORK MATTERS, NO MATTER HOW SMALL THE BOSS SAYS IT IS - DO IT WELL!

It's very common to have one's boss come up and say something like "hey so and so, I have a very small task for you..." Uhm okay BUT truth is no task is too small or trivial, if its a task then it's work and if it's work we go for it guns blazing no exception, we go for the jugular right away!

It's your low-hanging fruit, a chance to exercise your swing, hit it with a big stick and complete it in record time. We get appraised all the time in the workplace every second of time spent in the employer's premises during the employer's time has a bearing on the result of our appraisal hence the need to bring our "A" game  to the work situation always.

There are mundane routine tasks which feel like a grind and are so boring that given a choice we would avoid altogether or pass over to somebody else, if we couldn't pass them over we push to the back-burner
until they accumulate to a point where they are required to be done without fail like the end of a reporting period where one form or another of audit would take place.

Examples of such tasks are sequential filing of serialised documents where missing or cancelled copies must be accounted for, such documents are generated on daily basis and easily find their way into desk trays among other documents where they usually get mixed up with other office documents. This is otherwise a very simple task of filing away documents as and when they are completed and cleared for filing yet due to our laziness and disorganisation (any litany of excuses won't pass here) they accumulate and the task becomes worse than the timeous orderly handling and processing even if it's a boring exercise.

Another example of such small tasks which can go undone for a longtime is the completion of manual ledgers and records, before prescribed  serialised documents are filed they usually have to be recorded in these ledgers and the information in them tallied for reporting purposes.

However ledgers in many cases get completed irregularly or once the pressure is on to present them. If a superior or internal auditor requests to see a particular ledger randomly we begin to sweat all over and rush to fill out the ledger entries under pressure increasing the chances of making errors. What otherwise would be an easy task of pulling out a file and handing it to the person requesting it becomes a mission and we keep giving excuses and making delaying tactics.

Now the scenario above not only looks clumsy and incompetent to the boss but it says we are not even capable of maintaining prescribed documents and do simple tasks as filing, so what to the boss is supposed to be a small quick task for you becomes a mission because of failure to grasp that even the boring mundane tasks are not optional, they are fully a part of the job as your favourite tasks.

We must therefore always have in our minds the mentality of service to those to whom we report and are accountable to. Every task coming our way should be met with verve and energy to execute with gusto.

Many resumes and curriculum vitae are awash with promises of delivering beyond expectations with minimum supervision, ability to work under pressure and going the extra mile yet many an employee shy away from all the things they promise once they are hired.

The tune changes to matters of rights and welfare, we demand our free time religiously, if it's time for that hour long lunch break we drop everything and enjoy our "own" time even detaining a client waiting to be served for just  a few minutes into our lunch time. If it's my time to knock off I walk out with a straight face, when somebody brings me a pressing task for attention I simply tell them my time is up for the day and walk away, when it's the boss bringing the task I grumble and mumble all the way through feeling abused, coerced and unfairly treated.

One then pauses to rewind and recall the interview which we went through prior to being hired where we promised magic and supercharged action on the job, we ask "Is this the same person who made all the promises at the interview?" If so them we ought to do good by our promises and claims for ability and competence.

It is in executing the small tasks with acumen, passion and skill that we prove and position ourselves for bigger responsibilities, bigger responsibilities are what we call eh-promotion! When we are promoted we get satisfaction of the recognition of our efforts and ability. It all starts with faithfulness in the small things that we are put in charge of greater things having proven ourselves able, competent and committed to our work at least making good on all our contractual obligations and mandate.


It is good to stand up and be counted, to rise to the occasion every time without exception to pour out one's talent, gifts, skill and acumen into the task at hand and realise results being registered, growth being recorded and common success. Common success based on collective objectives does translate to personal success and development.

As Jim Rohn once said, "Repetition is the mother of skill", it is in doing things over and over that we practise and sharpen our skill set, the more we try doing it better, evaluating our last performance we learn from our mistakes we learn about ourselves and become mature in our work.

The small work tasks we get given by the boss in line with the scope of our work are part of the basics and fundamentals of the job hence the boss calling them small. Small task  definitely does NOT mean irrelevant or unnecessary task but rather it describes the degree of complexity of the particular task.

So we have now put the "small task" tag into perspective and realise that it by no means let us get away with mediocrity or call for held back effort. Next time we hear the boss say "I have a small task for Jack or Jill.." let us make sure to sit up understand the instruction and execute like a pro, hitting it with a big stick!

THE GOLDEN WORD FOUNTAIN (TGWF)