How you do one thing is how you do everything

In the space of world-class achievers, we say that “How you do one thing is how you would do everything”.

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to be a volunteer for a number of organisations and endeavours in various roles: Organising Conference Committee, Conference Chair, Committee Chair, Panel Speaker, Journal Reviewers, Executive Committee, Director, name it and it is likely that most academics have done it, this is how it is in the academia world, free labour is expected at every turn.

This year I had the opportunity to be part of an organising committee (among many other committee roles), pretty simple and easy involvement really – we had an initial meeting, and all planned out who would do what and when. Yet, there was one member of the committee who was not taking responsibility and accountability for their share of tasks. On the first occasion that this happened, I extended help and support several times, clearly stating what I could help with and whether they wanted my help – to give the person an opportunity to learn how to get on with their allocated tasks and also not to over-step on boundaries and personal preferences. As a trainer, I have learnt to give people several opportunities to learn, I often take the approach of learning by doing, followed by reflections. My various offers to help, given the deadline was approaching, were met with cold shoulders. The lack of commitment of that person repeated on subsequent tasks until the last task of the committee. The person read all messages but failed to respond, engage or act on any of their tasks. The last event had kicked off and the person was still not engaging in their tasks, I stepped in to run the show – with no apologies, nor thank you ever from that unprofessional academic. The worst part was since it was the last event I had to thank the whole organising team and mention the name of that person as well. Needless to say, that person made it to my naughty list of so-called professionals. This means, should we ever cross paths again, the first measure would be for me to refuse to collaborate in the same team as that person explaining clearly the reason why, or if the collaboration is absolutely necessary to set terms and boundaries beforehand and make it clear that I will not be accommodating.

This is just one of the many examples of unprofessional behaviour in volunteerism in a professional setting – it is very easy to get away by doing very little and getting credit for the hard work of others. One thing I have started to do is to call out these behaviours, and why?

• I own the credit for my hard work, not the whole team piggybacking on my time and effort.
• People should behave professionally in a professional setting, whether that is paid work or volunteerism – if they cannot act responsibly and professionally in a volunteer position, they should step down.
• How you do one thing is how you do everything – unprofessional behaviours in volunteerism speaks volume of a person’s character.

People need to realise that how they do one thing is how they do everything – their core and their essence do not change when they are at work, undertaking professional training, expanding their professional reach and professional growth, working on collaborative projects, doing DIY, relaxing, praying, volunteering for the community, having family time or in a relationship.

I often remind my coachees and mentees that how they speak, make decisions, and act at home, is likely to be reflected in how they speak, make decisions and act in other spheres of their lives. Your true self cannot be hidden for long, and if you are not authentic to yourself, and simply putting up a show in certain situations, then you are not true to yourself and need to prescribe yourself some self-care and growth.

Responsibility and accountability are two disciplines that are hard to cultivate and even harder to maintain. Again, in the space of world-class achievers, we measure ourselves on our performance on bad days. No amount of excuse is enough to self-sabotage yourself and project yourself as unprofessional and close doors on your own success. People often wonder why things are not working out in their life or why only certain aspects of their life seem to be okayish – that is because they are putting up a show most of the time and are not authentic since their authentic self is not one that is likely to be accepted in a professional environment or in the society as a whole.

Now is the time to decide to show up with integrity!