Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing : Career Growth In The Corporate World - Ep241: Every job is a corporate job. This is WHY.

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

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Welcome to the Corporate Survivor Podcast, where we talk about how to grow your career confidence, build your skills and value, increase your salary, and the many lessons we learn in the corporate world. For more career support, click on over to www.mayping.com. This is Mayping, your corporate leader turned career coach. I hope you enjoy, like and subscribe. Every job is a corporate job, whether you realize it or not. More specifically, there is always a corporate element regardless of whatever 9-5 job that you are in right now.

And I think the confusion and misunderstanding that many people have is thinking that, oh, a corporate is just an organization with thousands of people. It must be a big company. Then I'm working in corporate. So if I'm working in a small company or some kind of NGO, it doesn't count. Now, that is not true. And I'll tell you why today. Hey, welcome, welcome back to Corporate Survivor Podcast. I'm Mimi, being ex-corporate leader, turned career coach and founder of the Corporate Survivor, the ultimate career program for 9-5 professionals. Now, why I say a corporation is not just a big company in fact it's any company and more specifically it's an organization so meaning that if you are hired to work in a company regardless of size you have a

specific job scope meaning like you know when you're hired you're given like a list of things that you're supposed to achieve right meaning you have you have a job scope, you have a supervisor, a boss, a manager or director, or even a founder that you report to on your progress. And three, you need to focus on delivering your performance goals so that you can get rewarded for your hard work, whether it's a promotion, salary increment or new opportunities. So needing to achieve these three things, meaning that you are actually in a corporate job because you're not just doing something and then no one's going to evaluate you,

no one's going to make sure that everything gets done. You are still in an organization, but the size and the shape and the nature and the culture of the organization is not the same. But regardless, it's still a corporate. Just like it's a different culture, a different expectation, a different working style,

or maybe a different culture, working in an MNC as compared to SME, to a small company, to a startup, or even to an NGO. But you are still focusing on your career, right? You are still focused on delivering your goals and delivering the things and performance KPIs that you are hired to do, otherwise you would get fired. So every single company will have a corporate element to it, meaning that as long as you have a supervisor, you would get fired. So every school company will have a corporate element to it, meaning that as long as you have a supervisor, you have a boss who is actually monitoring you and making sure that you are completing the things

that need to be completed, it means that you do have someone to report to and therefore there is a structure in that. So having this realization, having this mindset is actually really, really important because when I see many students who join the corporate survivor initially like i said i have a career progress called the corporate survivor many of them come in with the

mindset of like oh maybe i'm not in a corporate right now but you know how can i succeed now that is actually the problem so if you don't think that you're working in corporate meaning that you will ignore all the corporate rules right all the corporate world knowledge that you are supposed to know if you want to set yourself up for success. So now at this point, hopefully I've made it clear that as long as you're in an organization, regardless of size, right, you are in the corporate. So meaning that now you can apply the three-step framework that I teach. So I'm going to give you a TLDR version. If you want to learn more about the Corporate Survivor Program, you can go to www.mayping.com and find out more. So I'll give you a TLDR. Now, knowing that you're in a corporate job, meaning you have a boss,

you have specific KPIs that you need to achieve and need to achieve it well so you can get rewarded. So then you want to focus on the three separate work, which is three things, right? Number one,

you need to get clear on your job requirements. You need to get clear on your job scope because if you don't know what you're supposed to deliver, you're not sure what you're supposed to do, then how can you make sure that it's done? So if you

don't get clear, it's going to create a lot of confusion. You're going to feel lost. You're going to feel like you spent a lot of time working but not achieving anything. So that's the first one. Now the first, I would say, not exactly the second point, it's still in the clarity portion, is you need to get clear on the people that you're working with, right? You need to get to know the corporate structure, the people, different working styles, personality, communication styles, and so forth. Because guess what? If you're an organization, you are working with other people.

Even if you don't have very direct team members, there will be some communication, whether it's with your supervisor, with other people within the company, or even with suppliers or clients as well. So getting clear on the people element is really, really important. Now, once you have clarity on your job scope, the culture of the company, the people who are working there, then you can move into the next phase. So the next step is all about getting confident with corporate skills. Now you can be the most excited and motivated, but if you cannot deliver your performance goals, then you're not going to get rewarded. Like nothing is going to happen unless you can meet your performance goals. So

therefore now you're going to focus on working efficiently as well as effectively to make sure that you can deliver everything on time with the highest quality possible. So this is actually what I call the upskill stage. Now, again, I have found that many people who work in smaller companies who kind of like don't think that they're working in a corporation, they'll be like, heck yeah, right? It's just going to be chaotic. Everything is just based on the urgent basis. As long as I kind of like get it done, it should be fine. But in most instances, it will just create chaos in your workdays and you'll create further chaos in your overall career because you never really had to practice planning. You never really had to practice

strategic thinking, right? Work organization, work structure and so forth. So all these skills, I say, is really, really important regardless of like what is the size of the organization you're in, right?

Like I said, as long as it is a corporation, it's worthwhile to have a more structured way of working so that you can work smarter and actually enjoy work-life balance. So once you have clarity, once you have confidence and competence, then you can move on to the final stage. And the final stage, ultimately, why are we working so hard for? We want to get recognized

for our hard work and hopefully get rewarded with growth, right? Whether the growth looks like a promotion, it looks like salary increment or new opportunities, we all want to grow as well. So this is the part where you want to get visible, you want to speak up, you want to make sure that your boss, your supervisor or manager, director is aware that you're doing a good job and they can say, hey Mei Ping, awesome work. Now this is how we're going to help you grow in the next 12 months. So that is actually what you want and going through this three-step framework is so important to make sure that you are focused and you don't keep telling yourself the incorrect knowledge that, oh I'm not in a corporation so heck care this, which is not true. It has to be, hey, I'm actually in a corporate right now, even though, you know, I don't think my company is

a corporate, but as long as, you know, it's a company, it's an organization, it is corporate. So once I apply this knowledge, which is the three-step remember that I've met, I've mentioned to you, then you'll find that your work days become a lot smoother. Now, I'll end with a very interesting story, which is, as I said, right, many people think that, oh, you know, corporation has to be like a big company and so forth. Now, last year, I welcomed many students

to the Corporate Survivor Program. And one of the most interesting students that joined the program actually was a school teacher. I would say was, she is right now still a school teacher. Now, you might be thinking, maybe what the heck, like, you know, a school, like working with the government, it's not even considered a corporate, right? But the point I'm trying to make here,

as I said earlier, is every job, there's a corporate element to this. So what is the corporate element for a school teacher? It's because every single job, right, even as a teacher, this particular corporate survivor member of mine

has specific things that she needs to achieve every week and every month. So there are certain key milestones and key goals that she needed to achieve. And not only that, she also has a supervisor who is overseeing her to track on her progress where she needs to gain feedback from and need to update to make sure that her supervisor can evaluate her performance and bring it upwards to the management of the school. So even though you think that, oh, it's just a school, right? So what the heck?

Actually, not true. As I just said earlier, right, you notice that there is a clear job scope with specific deliverables. There is a supervisor, right? Maybe it's not in the context of being called a director or manager, but in this corporation's context, it's not in the context of being called a director or manager but in this corporation's context it's a supervisor and guess what this particular student has not gotten a promotion for many years the reason is because she has never considered the corporate element at this current job so once she joined the program and when we had our one-on-one

career strategy call recently she told me that after going through the lessons, she realized that there is a corporate element to this job. And once she had that realization, she started applying the lessons that's taught. So basically step one, step two, and step three, phase one, phase two, phase three, you can go to www.maping.com if you want to look at the course

curriculum and the strategy that I teach. So after she went through that, she realized that okay, there are so many things that I have failed to do because I thought my job was to just appear at work every single day. And that is actually not the case. So once she had that realization, she's currently in the process of implementing. And now we have a much clearer strategy for her to gain clarity on her role, gain feedback, as well as to sell her performance and her contributions for this year. So fingers crossed, she will get promoted as well. So this is just one example of what I call a very, very out there sort of like career

that most people do not think that it's a corporate or there are lessons that can be learned from the corporate world to apply to be successful in this role as well. Like I said, a school teacher is kind of like out there because it's an education organization. But like I said, there is still a corporate element to this. So like I said, if you are in an NGO or smaller company or an SME, don't lose track, right? There is still a lot of value learning how to navigate the corporate world

because you are in a corporate job after all right if you have a boss you need to make sure that your boss is aware of your hard work you need to impress your boss that you need to get rewarded because you want to get paid more you want to progress in your career you want to have more opportunities then basically you are working in a corporate world so i end the episode by reminding you again that once you have the realization that, okay, actually this is a corporate job. And the reason why I have not been progressing as fast as I should have, the reason why I'm not growing as fast as I should have is because I've never really seen this job as a corporate job. So now pick up that skill, pick up that knowledge of like, okay, this is exactly what I need to understand about the corporate world. This is what I need to understand

how my boss, my supervisor, my manager and director thinks. This is how leadership thinks. And these are the skills that I need to pick up if I want to be successful at any company, any organization. So I think like the moment

you have that realization, it makes you so powerful because now you're coming with the mindset of like, you know what? I can do it at any job. I can succeed succeed at any company i can succeed at any career because guess what regardless of where you work geographical blah blah it doesn't matter where you work you are still working in an organization meaning everything that you learn

you learn from me in the corporate survivor the lessons the strategies the practical feedback is something that you can apply at any job and the more that you apply the more that you that you practice, the better you get at it. And I'll end this by telling you something I told my student recently. It's kind of like a feeling of once you see it, you cannot unsee it. And once you have that awareness, you'll be able to pick up the signs and pick up the things that you're supposed to be doing a lot faster, a lot faster and a lot better the next time around. So hopefully this episode gives you some empowerment and give you some perspective that yes, there's a lot of value of realizing that, hey, actually I am in a corporate job right now. And now that I've

realized it, now it's time for me to go and pick up, go and learn how to survive in the corporate world, how to navigate the corporate world and how to actually grow my career in the corporate world so that I can be successful at any job. I can work with anyone. I can work in any industry, any career, no problems because I have upskilled myself with a skill that I can bring on and on and on in the next 10, 20 or even 30 years in your career.

So with that, good luck. And if you want to learn a bit more of what I teach, you can go to www.mayping.com. You can download the free five-day guide and training. It will give you some perspective. There's also a mentoring call, a bonus mentoring call that you can watch as well, where I help my corporate survival members

to problem-solve their latest career job search or even workplace situation. So I think you'll find it super-duper helpful. So you can access all of those below at www.mayping.com. And I'll see you in the corporate survivor bye