Hi friends so are you the hardworking type or are you someone who works late into the
night? Or are you someone who works really, really hard? Okay, yes, well you have different
colleagues at work who have different working styles. Some work really hard, some are a
bit lazy. Yes and we often discuss and describe working styles of people. So this is what
today's lesson is about. Talking about various working styles.
Now the first one is, nocturnal. Nocturnal means or is used for someone who is more active
at night rather than the day. Now when we talk about an owl, we often describe it as
a nocturnal bird because it stays awake at night. Right? They stay awake at night. They
are not active in the morning. so likewise, if you have colleagues who work or who prefer
working at night, now I'll give you an example, many authors prefer working at night when
it is silent and they can sit by themselves and they connect with their thoughts, right?
Because during the day, there may be a lot of disturbance, distractions. The phone, you
know, beeping all the time. So there are people who like to, you know prefer working only
at night. So, probably they really are more productive post ten or eleven at night. So
that is when we say, oh, he is a nocturnal worker or a nocturnal employee.
Okay, the next one I have here is, burning the midnight oil lamp. Now burning the midnight
oil lamp is self-explanatory. As you can see, midnight oil lamp, so someone who works late
into the night. or many times, you have children who, you know kind of don't study throughout
the year and when the examinations are coming closer, they kind of burn the midnight oil
lamp that means they start studying the entire day and go into the night. You know hoping
to prepare and fare well in the exams. So that is when we say, burning the midnight
oil lamp. Now when you have employees who probably procrastinate their tasks. Oh, I'll
do it later, it can wait and when the time comes, when your deadline is near, you realize
you are running out of time and to meet your deadline, you actually burn the midnight oil
lamp. So people who work late into the night. Okay, they start from the day but really work
late into the night. We describe them as someone who burns the midnight oil lamp.
Alright, the next type is bureaucratic. This is also one of the leadership styles but yes
a lot of people like to follow long procedures and may be a lot of protocols in their organization,
if you want them to get some work done or if you want them to do something. They believe
in going with that typical procedure and we call them bureaucratic. now I'll give you
an example if I have to cancel a class and if I just plan to make an announcement, a
verbal announcement and tell them, hey, we don't have class tomorrow because we are nearing
the festive season. So there's no class tomorrow and that is just a simple way of calling off
the class. But if I want to call off the class and if my coordinator says, Rachna, you need
to put an email and then you need to take permission and then I will revert with a confirmation.
That means she's being bureaucratic because she is going by typical procedures and protocols.
So someone who will not budge. Who will not even kind of make an exception, no matter
what the emergency is or the urgency is? He is someone who's very bureaucratic. So if
you have a person like this at work who will only go by procedures or set standards and
will not be ready to make an exception irrespective of the situation, now you know what to call
him. He is someone who is very bureaucratic or you know a bureaucratic employee. The noun
form, we call them or he is a bureaucrat.
Okay, now the next one is meticulous. Meticulous means looking into every little detail. They
do not leave any scope for negligence. So someone who looks into his work in a very
detailed manner. Right from you know storing the data to saving it, to organizing it and
every detail of the data. We call them, meticulous. Oh, he is a meticulous worker or a meticulous
colleague of mine. Well, it's great to have such people because they are so particular
and detail oriented that like I said, they leave no scope for negligence but sometimes
it just could be a little annoying because they look into every minute thing. But for
analysts and people in such fields, it's a great quality or a great working style. It’s
to be meticulous.
The next one is, pioneering. Well, I love such people and such workers or colleagues
because these are the people who always bring something new to the table. So, say, for example,
you are at a meeting and probably a brainstorming session and one of your colleagues comes out
with an innovative way or may be an innovative solution or comes out with a new method of
doing something in your office. well, then he is very pioneering because these are the
people who always bring something new and we all love new things and new procedures
and new changes and nice changes in our organization, don't we? So, well if you have such colleagues,
they are wonderful people to hang out with because you also learn a lot from them.
Right, let's take a look at some more type of people and their working styles. The next
one is, enterprising. Now enterprising is someone who takes the initiative of doing
something. It could be doing something new. It could be doing a task which is not theirs
and someone who is very resourceful to the organization, right. So we call them enterprising.
So, if you have someone who's enterprising, be rest assured that he is always going to
take the initiative to do new things or the tasks that are already there and they also
bring a lot of value to the organization. Yes friends, so great colleagues to have at
your workplace, enterprising people.
The next one says; work one's fingers to the bone. Now, this is just a way of saying that,
a person is very hardworking. So yes friends, there are people who are continuously working
very hard because they want to climb the ladder of success. They leave no stone unturned.
They do everything it takes to complete their tasks and to get promoted. These are people
who inspire you because they are the ones who never give up and continuously work hard.
So if you want to say someone is very hard working or extremely hard working, this is
a good expression to use. So I could say, John works his fingers to the bone. That means
John is an extremely hardworking person.
The last one says, armchair critic. Now armchair critic. Do you know what's an armchair? Like
your grandfather’s chair. Yeah, you out your arms and you just sit. Now an armchair
critic is someone who sits on his chair all day long but has a lot of comments to pass
on his colleagues. He doesn't do much. Yeah, he actually doesn't do much but he's always
ready to comment at his colleagues or the work done by his colleagues or his colleague’s
performance. It’s pretty annoying to have such people because they really don't do anything.
They are not active. They just spend their time sitting, observing and passing comments
but yes we do have people like these. If you do have them at your workplace, just don't
feel too bad, overlook and ignore what they've got to say.
Okay friends, so these are the basic working styles of people and you could use them in
your daily conversation when you want to talk about your colleagues or your friends or your
family members working style. Go ahead and use them. Well, do let me know what is your
working style. I'll be back soon with a new lesson, till then take care and bye.