Sujeewa Rajapakse, Chairman, People’s Bank, says in an interview that In his day-to-day life, working on time helps him a lot to balance his busy schedule. If he has set meetings at different times at different locations in a day, he makes sure that he attends those meetings without any excuses.
Q: How do you manage your time in your busy schedule?
People who have a busy schedule would always manage their time with a better plan and a daily routine. Most importantly, I find time daily to educate and update myself. Most often, I use morning newspapers for that purpose. Once Winston Churchill, a former prime minister in the United Kingdom, said, “Today newspaper is a tomorrow wastepaper.” The reason is that the news we hear would be outdated by the next day and we would be too late to make use of it. If you think about status quo, information evolves within every hour. Latest information is considered a major part of my life.
In my day-to-day life, working on time helps me a lot to balance my busy schedule. If I have set meetings at different times at different locations in a day, I make sure I attend those meetings without any excuses. So, the workload and meetings don’t stack up. In Sri Lanka, working on time is lacking and which we definitely need to improve. We are always under the impression it’s fine to get late for a meeting, which is not.
Q: How can you create a work culture that works on time?
First of all, the group leader or the chairman of the company needs to be the role model for their team. Once the leader works on time, the immediate employees who are working under him would either fall in line or leave. This discipline would have a trickle down effect, leading to the creation of a work culture that believes in working on time.rket?
Any person possesses two types of skills: soft skills and hard skills. Sharpening your soft skills would give you a greater edge over others. Hard skills are teachable abilities or skill sets that are easy to quantify. But soft skills are more often developed by yourself. Communication skills, attitudes, gestures, way of dressing, teamwork, time management skills and many more core skills would fall under soft skills. Soft skills would help you to score better in interviews, even above your professional qualifications.
Q: You have headed positions in both government and private sector companies. What are the key differences you can see in these two sectors?
In the private sector, we work on a performance-based model. We work with qualitative and quantitative data when making decisions. There are annual targets for every employee and it’s their responsibility to fulfil them. This would impact their bonuses and promotions. Company regulations are created so that the board can take decisions in the best interest of the company.
On the other hand, there are long procedures to get “the job done” in government sectors. I cannot make immediate changes as I feel in the public sector. The workers’ mindset in government is not competitive as in the private sector. So, it’s a bit hard to get something done under this kind of working culture.
(Excerpts from an interview with SiyathaTV. Transcript was done by Dilshara Hettiarachchige.)