Dear All,
Thank you all for your inputs and for sharing examples that have truly enhanced my understanding in identifying the difference between smart and hard work.
Dear Dinesh and Uma, I really appreciate the examples you provided.
To others, I would like to mention that while I do possess some knowledge regarding hard work and smart work, it still remains a question mark in most organizations. This is the reason why I have posted to gather more views on the subject.
Anyways, thanks to all who have given their suggestions and views on this.
Regards,
Raghavaprasad.N
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
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3Thank you all for your inputs and for sharing examples that have truly enhanced my understanding in identifying the difference between smart and hard work.
Dear Dinesh and Uma, I really appreciate the examples you provided.
To others, I would like to mention that while I do possess some knowledge regarding hard work and smart work, it still remains a question mark in most organizations. This is the reason why I have posted to gather more views on the subject.
Anyways, thanks to all who have given their suggestions and views on this.
Regards,
Raghavaprasad.N
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
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It appears that you got me wrong. I did not find fault with either getting things done through contract labour or temporary staff as per the needs of the organization or using technology in doing work. What I said is even to get things done through others, one should have sound knowledge of job and the processes which one can acquire only by working hard himself to ensure that the job done by others conforms to desired quality standards, failing which he runs the risk of accepting all that is done by others, however shoddy it is. For example a tailor should know the tailoring job well to ensure that his stitching assistants and buttoning assistants do their job qualitatively, failing which he may face the jibe of his customers. Similarly, a captain of the team in any team based sport shall know the game as much as any member of the team to direct their efforts to win the game and he acquires the knowledge of the game by sweating it on the field for months but not by observing someone playing. This is true of any function or business, raised dons the foundations of team work. There is no denying the fact one should keep himself as well as others happy and help others in an atmosphere of team spirit, which you probably must be doing and it is essential too.
You said that you believe in doing right things. Even here it involves hard work. I cannot resist appreciating the learned member Mr.Dinesh Divekar who so tellingly brought out the distinction between hard work and smart work in his crisp one liners in his post. Thus applying this principle ‘doing’ a right thing is hard work but using discretion and intelligence to identify what is right thing to do is smart work. Many professionals may end up making wrong decisions by not using their faculties smartly. Thus when you said that you do right things, you must be also working hard in doing it without being consciously aware of it and in selecting right things to do, you must also be working smart without being consciously aware of it but probably wrongly crediting the rewards and recognition which you got to the praise and flattery which you lavish on your bosses while they must be actually rewarding you for all the good things you do and for helping others but not fall for the flattery, though everyone wants to hear good things about himself. There may be some HODs who grant these rewards and recognition for flattery and praise as you said but they only can damage the organization in the long run as they cause the talent to leave the organization as you rightly observed. Such success, acquired by any one has only short life as he may wilt under circumstances that challenge his competencies.
What I want impress up on is that smart work means that one needs to work hard intelligently and that hard work cannot be dispensed with altogether in any activity of human life. I therefore regret to share the view that smart work is devising means to find spare time for buttering bosses to gain rewards and recognition.
In the harsh world of market driven and intensely competitive business which survives so long as it’s cash boxes are ringing and which cannot ring without someone sweating out there, the terms right perspective, quality of performance, time lines and customer service will not be rhetoric or only verbose but exist for real and no business can ignore them and if it ignores, it does so at it’s own peril since it cannot ask it’s employees to work by merely giving them cheques with their salaries written on them but which bounce for lack of funds. Cash, money and profits are not rhetoric but real in business and since they cannot grow on trees, they need to be generated by solid performance at ground level.
B.Saikumar
HR & labour law Advisor
navi Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
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You said that you believe in doing right things. Even here it involves hard work. I cannot resist appreciating the learned member Mr.Dinesh Divekar who so tellingly brought out the distinction between hard work and smart work in his crisp one liners in his post. Thus applying this principle ‘doing’ a right thing is hard work but using discretion and intelligence to identify what is right thing to do is smart work. Many professionals may end up making wrong decisions by not using their faculties smartly. Thus when you said that you do right things, you must be also working hard in doing it without being consciously aware of it and in selecting right things to do, you must also be working smart without being consciously aware of it but probably wrongly crediting the rewards and recognition which you got to the praise and flattery which you lavish on your bosses while they must be actually rewarding you for all the good things you do and for helping others but not fall for the flattery, though everyone wants to hear good things about himself. There may be some HODs who grant these rewards and recognition for flattery and praise as you said but they only can damage the organization in the long run as they cause the talent to leave the organization as you rightly observed. Such success, acquired by any one has only short life as he may wilt under circumstances that challenge his competencies.
What I want impress up on is that smart work means that one needs to work hard intelligently and that hard work cannot be dispensed with altogether in any activity of human life. I therefore regret to share the view that smart work is devising means to find spare time for buttering bosses to gain rewards and recognition.
In the harsh world of market driven and intensely competitive business which survives so long as it’s cash boxes are ringing and which cannot ring without someone sweating out there, the terms right perspective, quality of performance, time lines and customer service will not be rhetoric or only verbose but exist for real and no business can ignore them and if it ignores, it does so at it’s own peril since it cannot ask it’s employees to work by merely giving them cheques with their salaries written on them but which bounce for lack of funds. Cash, money and profits are not rhetoric but real in business and since they cannot grow on trees, they need to be generated by solid performance at ground level.
B.Saikumar
HR & labour law Advisor
navi Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
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Dinesh Divekar has given crisp one-line examples, and Sikumar has provided a comprehensive response. Therefore, I will just share a link and let the readers decide.
Even directors of companies sometimes do not act smart when appointing their CEO. They neither work hard nor base their decisions on other factors, leading to disastrous results. For example, read this long article at [Fortune Tech](http://fortune.com) ([Search on CiteHR](https://www.citehr.com//results.php?q=How%20Hewlett%20Packard%20lost%20its %20way%20Fortune%20Tech) | [Search on Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=How%20Hewlett%20Packard%20lost%20its%20wa y%20Fortune%20Tech)).
(Note: The provided links are updated to the site home.)
From United Kingdom
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Even directors of companies sometimes do not act smart when appointing their CEO. They neither work hard nor base their decisions on other factors, leading to disastrous results. For example, read this long article at [Fortune Tech](http://fortune.com) ([Search on CiteHR](https://www.citehr.com//results.php?q=How%20Hewlett%20Packard%20lost%20its %20way%20Fortune%20Tech) | [Search on Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=How%20Hewlett%20Packard%20lost%20its%20wa y%20Fortune%20Tech)).
(Note: The provided links are updated to the site home.)
From United Kingdom
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Hard Work & Smart Work :
I would like to give a very simple example of hard work and Smart work
You must have come across a Magnetic Pin Box in your office,
Take a case that all the steel office pins have fallen down and you have to put it in pin box
A hard work :
Pick up with hand .- it may hurt you & will take more time
A Smart work :
Just attach it with magnet and pick it up – it will be done easily & in few seconds
Same work but in different way, this is smart work , I hope the concept is clear.
From India, Pune
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I would like to give a very simple example of hard work and Smart work
You must have come across a Magnetic Pin Box in your office,
Take a case that all the steel office pins have fallen down and you have to put it in pin box
A hard work :
Pick up with hand .- it may hurt you & will take more time
A Smart work :
Just attach it with magnet and pick it up – it will be done easily & in few seconds
Same work but in different way, this is smart work , I hope the concept is clear.
From India, Pune
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Dear Raghav,
Here is a simple example differentiating between hard work and smart work:
Sweating that comes from your body indicates hard work.
Sweating that comes from your brain indicates smart work.
Both types of work should be handled with confidence and interest to achieve success.
From India, Madras
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Here is a simple example differentiating between hard work and smart work:
Sweating that comes from your body indicates hard work.
Sweating that comes from your brain indicates smart work.
Both types of work should be handled with confidence and interest to achieve success.
From India, Madras
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Ritika has given another striking example of working smart, clarifying the concept further. Here, the smart work involves using a magnet to attract pins, while the hard work entails thinking about how to pick up many pins scattered on the ground at once to save time, physical strain, and avoid injury. This includes fetching the magnet, attracting the pins to it, and then emptying the pins into the pin box. Smart work, as she rightly said, involves doing things differently but not avoiding doing the tasks themselves.
Thanks, Ritika.
B. Saikumar
HR & Labor Law Advisor
From India, Mumbai
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Thanks, Ritika.
B. Saikumar
HR & Labor Law Advisor
From India, Mumbai
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Thank you all for your valuable inputs about hard and smart work. Although nowadays, smart work is the only one getting rewarded (my own thought), I appreciate all for your comments.
Thanks once again.
Regards,
Raghavaprasad.N
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
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Thanks once again.
Regards,
Raghavaprasad.N
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
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Dear Mr. Saikumar,
I request you to share your personal email ID so that I can drop a message on this issue and share my views instead of disturbing the smart members in this forum. Since you are a labor law advisor, I need a lot of clarifications from you.
Regards
From India, Hyderabad
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I request you to share your personal email ID so that I can drop a message on this issue and share my views instead of disturbing the smart members in this forum. Since you are a labor law advisor, I need a lot of clarifications from you.
Regards
From India, Hyderabad
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And We say we work Hard.ppt