What I Learnt From Working in Offices

Caveat: This entry was not written at when it was published.

When I was serving my National Service back in 2003--2006, there were some things that I learnt that has served me pretty well throughout my time in the working world.

``MT, that's cool and all, why talk about it now?''

Let's just say that after being made a manager with more than a handful of souls under my charge, I start to get a little introspective in thinking about what enables me to be a good manager, and what can enable them to be good subordinates.

I also need to remind myself that the proper term for people under a manager is ``subordinates'', not the more expressively dramatic version of ``Minions!''.

So anyway, National Service. I enlisted on Boxing Day of 2023, and was promptly sent to Pl. Tekong for Basic Military Training. I went through the course as best as I could, even with shitty skin, and passed through impressing my Officer Commanding with my positive attitude despite being excused from all field activities, and having to take hospitalisation leave at some point due to abscesses. I was then sent to a Unit populated by senior officers in a heavily office setting.

That's where I learnt those useful lessons.

I'll just summarise it roughly here, in no specific order:

• Always strive to make your Boss to look good by feeding them with good data;
• Debate all that is needed, but once the decision is made by the Boss, it will be what will be done;
• Relating to the previous point, respect the chain of command and associated Standard Operating Procedures/General Orders/established work processes;
• The clerks and the secretaries---they are gatekeepers, so treat them well, no matter how inferior their nominal rank may seem;
• When a phone call comes in, pick it up within three rings; and
• Pay attention to any and all documentation generated---if it is not documented, it did not happen.

The thing about my time working in that office as an ``augmented'' administrative support assistant (i.e. ``project executive'') was that it was much closer to how the real world office was like, sans the ease of simply leaving any toxic environment (National Service is compulsory---it was not possible to just ``quit'' before the stipulated full-time service was up).

That kind of environment allowed my headstrong self to learn how to bite my tongue and survive, before finally thriving in whatever small way that I can.

After my time from National Service though, I learnt a few more lessons, again listed in no specific order, and in a rough way:

• Not you, not here, not now---any forms of challenge against the processes/procedures should be done later, and not whilst in the midst of trying to execute the process;
• Redress seeking should follow the chain of command, even in the civil world---it is not the case that the Biggest Boss will always resolve things according to one's way, since it is more likely than not that the said Biggest Boss will still bounce everything back down the chain of command to the appropriate level to be resolved;
• Be firm, assertive, but not rude, and respect the command decision if the Boss has already decided; and
• It's just a job, and don't take it too personally.

Corporate life is strange, and the people that make up the corporate body, I will readily admit that some of them are ``lifers'' who will happily sit in their role for twenty years without any intention of doing anything more than being automata following the procedures/processes as strictly as possible. But that doesn't make them innately ``bad''---it just means that one needs to be a little more patient and creative in engaging them in ways such that their actions end up helping instead of hindering our agenda.

I think that's all I want to write for now. Till the next update.