YOU are pressed by your boss to come out with tangible results, or you'll be put in some place. That was a low threat, but still, you're preparing for the worst situation, even if your boss is showing his best dog smile. You wish your boss had made it point blank rather than put you in a worrisome situation.

You were surprised by his action. It was not his old, lazy ways of managing things. You were surprised when he emerged from relative obscurity and into the limelight of your personal attention. Usually, he gives his year-end congratulatory speech to everyone in the department, telling everyone to "keep it up."

You were confused. What's there to "keep it up?" Is he referring to manhood? That's the trouble with department managers who don't know what their jobs are, except that you can't tell it directly to their faces.

That's the true story of Arman, who asked me for career advice. He's in his early 40s working for a telecom supplier company. He's in a common-law relationship with a bank supervisor with whom he has two wonderful, bubbly sons in grade school.

Arman, who finished college in seven years, has a lot of friends who care about him as a family man with almost nothing, except for a 16-year-old Honda motorcycle under his name that often starts on a fifth attempt before you can drive it. In other words, he's in a precarious situation, short of contributing material resources for the family.

Low-hanging fruits

Arman is an accounting clerk used to receiving only direct instructions from a boss. Nothing more than that. He used to give his ideas before, but almost all of them were rejected without a hint of an intelligent discussion. He has no choice but to swallow his pride, if only to keep his job.

The job of an accounting clerk is important. There are four essential qualities of an accounting clerk. These are critical thinking skills, attention to detail, flexibility and integrity, according to the PEG Staffing and Recruiting. "These qualities do not guarantee success, but they do promote a positive work experience for most accountants, which greatly increases the likelihood that a clerk will do well in their position."

I told Arman not to worry about the rejections. He must keep it up, injecting many ideas to perk up the working relationship with the boss. This time, however, he must focus on defining those low-hanging fruits that are simple, easy to do, and can produce high-impact results. Back to basics — note that an accounting clerk is part of a team that controls spending.

It is a fiduciary obligation of the accounting department to control unwarranted spending in good or bad times in any organization. So, what can Arman do? I told him to consider suggesting a corporate-wide energy conservation program that includes requiring all departments to turn off their lights during lunch hour.

This must be complemented by turning off the aircon system 30 minutes before the close of office hours every day. Start with it, and document the result after one month. Calculate the savings, and surprise everyone with the result. This and more would surely build one's confidence.

One caveat, though. Just because costs can be reduced, should we do it? "Not always," says Kevin Phillips in AccountingWEB. "Most cost-cutting exercises start with low-hanging fruit — the things that are considered non-essential and should have little impact on day-to-day business." A good example, according to Philips, is to look for the "business equivalent of that gym membership you signed up for but then never quite made it into the gym."

Value or non-value adding?

Waste is an obvious place to start. And if we're looking at the equivalent of that gym membership, you might as well take a second or third look at the everyday office supplies. Do we really need three-ply toilet paper compared to two-ply?

The trouble is that when you replace it with a two-ply variety, would it encourage more usage because everyone is not happy with it? What are the other options? Be imaginative because there are a lot more. Take a good look at the company's overtime rate.

In some companies, there are acceptable work schedules that allow regular overtime hours, at an average of two hours for each person. This happens all the time when management is not actively conscious of making a serious distinction between essential and non-essential things.

Under lean thinking, they are often called value or non-value adding. There's no middle ground. Take it from Henry Ford: "If it doesn't add value, it's waste." It's as simple as that. Try it. It would be a satisfying experience.

Rey Elbo is a business consultant in human resources and total quality management. Contact him on Facebook, LinkedIn or X (Twitter) or email elbonomics@gmail.com or via https://reyelbo.com

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