Being Easy to Work With

"Being easy to work with," is such an underrated career skill.

Traveling to work in the very busy metro, I started wandering about my biggest professional takeaway in the last ten years. This is what I came up with - being easy to work with. Amidst all the hustle, we tend to forget being someone people actually enjoy working with. It might not be something you can put on a resume, but being easy to work with can totally change the game for your career.

So how can one become easy to come with?

I can think of three things.

1. Responding: Very early on in my career, I remember hearing from Luis Miranda that he responds to all his email. From being part of the startup team at HDFC and IDFC private equity to founding Indian School of Public Policy (ISPP) and ton of work in supporting high impact nonprofits, I think he is as important, awesome, busy and accomplished as one can get. So, if he can do it, so can I. And, I know how annoying and a sheer waste of time it is to keep following up with people or get no response when reaching out for information or support.

2. Being respectful: While such a given, unfortunately in most Indian company culture, this isn't. And, that makes the professional experience simply unpleasant. Just like shouting at kids rarely yields good results and mostly gets them to act out, same is true for adults. One of my favourite amongst Amazon's leadership principles is Earn Trust. Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume.

3. Not getting guarded or defensive: I enjoy working with colleagues who are great to acknowledge any mistakes, have an attitude that says "let's figure out how to solve the problem" and "let's fix this" attitude versus becoming defensive or shrugging shoulders to say that's not my job.