There are three elements to work: quantity, speed, and quality. While each is important, what young employees—who are learning—and their supervisors—who are teaching—should prioritize actually differs.
If we don't fully understand this difference, it can lead to miscommunication in guidance and a loss of opportunities for the student's growth.
Things New Hires and Young Employees Should Keep in Mind
First of all, new hires and young employees should focus on “speed” when doing their work. While you’re still inexperienced, no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to do a perfect job.
Of course, since we haven’t established a set way of doing things yet, it’s hard to work efficiently, isn’t it? But that’s not a bad thing. In fact, precisely because it’s still a work in progress, it’s important to act quickly and go through a process of trial and error.
When you're young, you should focus on getting your work done as quickly as possible. Reply to emails promptly. Don't let paperwork pile up—forward it right away. Finish a task that's supposed to take a week in just five days.
"By acting quickly, you can catch mistakes early." This is the most effective growth cycle for young employees. Precisely because you’re still learning, make sure to respond quickly so you have time to have your work reviewed by your seniors.
Doing so will put your seniors at ease and give them the breathing room they need to teach you. While you’re still young and unable to ensure both quality and quantity, you should focus on speed above all else when doing your work.
Of course, not being late is also part of prioritizing speed. If you can combine these three qualities—"being punctual," "responding quickly," and "taking action promptly"—you’ll become a young professional who is trusted.
Things Seniors and Supervisors Should Keep in Mind
The situation is different when seniors or supervisors are in a position to provide training. The key factor to prioritize is “quality.” This is especially true in jobs like construction management, where a decline in quality carries the risk of leading to major accidents or losses.
Here are some common mistakes people make in education.
Since it was time to leave, I told him, “I’ll take care of the rest,” and sent the new hire home alone.
In this day and age, when we have to move forward with overtime regulations, I suppose it can’t be helped.
Of course, as part of the work-style reform movement, it’s important to consider how to ensure employees go home on time. However, if that strays from the original purpose, it becomes putting the cart before the horse.
This is unacceptable from an educational standpoint. That’s because the company is lowering its standards to match those of young people.
Young people lose the opportunity to learn what it means to do a perfect job. After all, before they know it, the work is already finished. It can also foster a sense of irresponsibility, as they come to expect that their seniors will finish the work for them once they’ve made some progress.
"If we do this much, the adults will take care of the rest." If that kind of mindset takes root, I’m worried about the future. As a result of giving young people a lot of work, we end up with nothing but unsatisfying tasks in return.
If we end up churning out that many subpar projects, it creates a dangerous situation for construction management, as it could lead to quality issues or workplace accidents. What we need to do is narrow the scope and volume of work so that workers can gain experience completing projects that meet high “quality” standards from start to finish. Even though the goal is the same—to let them go home early—it’s a completely different matter.
For example, if there are days when you can say, “You’ve achieved this much today, so you can go home now,” that’s a wonderful sign of growth. This encourages the younger employees to raise their game to match the level of their senior colleagues.
Above all, I believe that relationships in which people respect each other’s “differences in mindset based on their roles” are what build an organization’s strength.
