Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing : Career Growth In The Corporate World - Ep250: Signs you're a high performer at work

Episode Date: May 4, 2025

✅ (free) Career Growth Guide & Training → http://www.meiphing.com ✅ Join Corporate Survivor™ → https://www.thecorporatesurvivor.co 📌 Mei Phing Lim is a Professional Career Coach and former Corporate Leader in the banking, FinTech and consulting industries. She led multimillion-dollar projects with teams from over 43 countries as the Senior Director at Standard Chartered, while only in her 20s. Mei Phing had worked closely with business CEOs and C-suite level management. Nowadays, Mei Phing teaches 9-5 professionals how to grow their careers with clarity, confidence and opportunities in her career program, Corporate Survivor™. 📌 Corporate Survivor™ is a 12-month career program where you will master everything on how to add value at work, level-up your career & grow your salary. Get recognised for your hard work & sell your value for new opportunities using Mei Phing's 3-Step Framework [Get Clear, Get Confident, Get Visible]. Monthly mentorship calls with Mei Phing where you'll get practical feedback and become more confident as you climb the career ladder. 📌 Corporate Survivor "the podcast" is the best place to start learning from Mei Phing's corporate world insights, experiences and wisdom so you can grow your 9-5 career with clarity, confidence and opportunities. Mini episodes where you'll get a bit of a taster of what you can expect when working with Mei Phing inside the Corporate Survivor™. ✅ FREE CAREER GUIDES ⮕ http://www.meiphing.com ✅ Subscribe Weekly Newsletter ⮕ http://www.meiphing.com ✅ Join Corporate Survivor™ ⮕ https://www.thecorporatesurvivor.co

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.meiping.com. This is Mei Ping, your corporate leader turned career coach. I hope you enjoy, like, and subscribe. Hey, welcome to the Corporate Survival Podcast with me, Mei Ping.

So today is a very special episode because it is the five-year anniversary of me becoming a career coach and corporate mentor where I help nine to five professionals to survive in the corporate world, navigate their people and problems in the workplace, as well as grow their careers with new opportunities with my career program, The Corporate Survivor. So today's episode, I want to share with you

a list of what it actually takes to become a high performer in the workplace where you are a valuable professional that will get a ton of opportunities where you will be paid your value and feel confident and in control over your career and at work every single day. So this is a list from my own personal career, having spent 10 years in corporate, starting as a very lost, confused and underpaid fresh grad to climbing the career ladder, transitioning across multiple industries, and eventually making multiple six figures as a senior director at a global M&C in charge of a team as well as bookie stakeholders across 40 countries.

And this is also a list from my observation of the clients that I've worked with, so over more than 500 clients across 30 job functions on the clients that really get the most results, the clients that really grew their career, became really confident and level up their careers and salaries super fast as compared to the people out there who are still figuring out. So this is a list of the characteristics and the qualities of high performers in no particular order. And let's start with quality number one. So number one, what it makes a high performer is someone who is focused on solving a problem rather

than bringing a problem to the boss. So high performers understand that bosses do not like problems, right? Anything negative is a disruption to the workflow. So therefore, it's a headache for the boss. So therefore, as a high performer, you want to focus on solutions. Now, I'm not saying that you cannot bring problems.

Obviously, problems will happen at the workplace. That is very normal. But what I am saying is the mindset of coming up with solutions, coming up with recommendations and suggestions to solve the problem. Because this demonstrates leadership skills, this demonstrates critical thinking skills, and this also demonstrates that you are ready for the next level because guess what? At the next level, you are going to be in a management and leadership position where

you will need to lead your team to solve problems. So the earlier that you can demonstrate that you understand problem solving, and to be able to give suggestions to your boss to resolve an issue, you will always be seen as a valuable team member. Because just imagine if you are the boss, and you have two team members.

One team member is always coming to you to complain, boss, this problem happened, that fire happened, this client doesn't like me, that colleague is not talking to me. As compared to another team member who is able to come to the boss and share that, OK, this is an issue that has happened. And the reason why this issue has happened

is because of ABC. And this is what I suggest, the next steps that we do. Boss, can I get your feedback? So just compare these two team members, team member A or B. Who do you want to work with? Who is the person that you would trust? And who is the person that you think is going to stay top of mind when

it comes to career progression and salary increment? I think it is very clear the person who is always ready, who is always calm, who is always confident to focus on problem solving is always going to be valued by the boss. So the second quality of a high performer is someone who is calm, calm in the chaos, and more importantly, understanding the root cause issue. That is how they manage to stay calm.

Now, one of the things in my career that many people have asked me is, Mei Ping, you have managed a lot of multi-million dollar projects. You have worked with stakeholders across different career levels. Obviously, it's a challenging time, because no project is perfect. Nothing ever moves 100% smoothly.

So how do you learn how to become calm, confident, and in control? Now, the secret is actually understanding the root cause problems and big picture, right? So in order for you to stay calm and if you want to become a top performer, obviously staying calm is important because if you cannot stay calm, then you will not be able to come up with any solutions and so forth. So how to make this happen is you need to really understand the foundations. You need to really understand the big picture, understand the goals of the projects that you are handling,

the responsibilities that you're handling, and eventually you will stay calm because you will only focus on the objective fixing of the problem and you do not get emotional. So the quality of staying calm also comes with a lot of being able to not just calm down in a way but I'd say that to be able to manage your emotions because that is going to be super duper critical because again if you imagine two managers, one manager every time there is an issue the manager is very stressed out, jumping from desk to desk, calling 10 of the team members to try to resolve the problem. As compared to a manager who is extremely calm, understands what the problems are, and directly is able to give maybe a three-step guidance to the team members, just say, okay,

actually, this is what has happened. The reason is ABC, and these are the three steps that I would need the team to focus on. Which manager do you think can invoke more confidence, can inspire and motivate their team? And which manager do you think the senior leadership would trust? It's definitely the calm manager, the confident manager,

and the manager who has control over everything else is happening. That's because they really understand their scope of work. They have the skill set and the leadership skills to be able to drive towards the result calmly, objectively to achieve the results without any emotional drama, because emotional drama is just going to create more personal feelings. It's going to feel like a personal attack and all those things are not the most helpful thing. Now, the next quality of what makes a top performer

is someone who understands their boss's point of view. Now, the problem that a lot of people have is that they work very, very hard, just focus on their day-to-day tasks. But they do not connect with their bosses. They do not communicate with their bosses. And they do not connect with their bosses, they do not communicate with their bosses, and they do not align with their bosses. And as a result, they do not understand their bosses'

point of view. You don't really understand what your bosses' priorities are, you don't understand what your bosses' strategy, you don't understand how your boss thinks, how your boss makes decisions. All these are problems, right? Because if you don't understand what your boss cares about, if you don't understand what are your bosses' priorities, you don't understand how your boss makes decisions, all these are problems, right? Because if you don't understand what your boss cares about, if you don't understand what are your boss's priorities,

you don't understand how your boss makes decisions, then how can you ensure that the work that you're presenting, the work that you're spending hours and hours and hours trying to deliver actually meets expectations? So a very, very good high performer, a person that can become a high performer, makes an effort to communicate and connect with the boss to get feedback, to consistently share progress updates,

to understand the boss's point of view so that you can work more efficiently. Because again, if you compare two team members, maybe team member number one is the person that works the longest hours, but do not ever talk to their boss. So they get a piece of project. They immediately get to their desk. So they get a piece of project, they immediately get to their desk and starts working on the thing.

And they wait two months, then they deliver that piece of work to the boss, only then to realize that that's actually not what the boss wants. Maybe there was a misunderstanding on the scope. There was a misunderstanding on what good quality looks like. As compared to team member number two, where immediately when they get the project, the first thing that they do is to have an alignment meeting,

a confirmation meeting, a clarification session with the boss to really nail down what exactly needs to be done to define the milestones, to set up recurring progress update meetings, and to set up specific milestones so that the work can be delivered for feedback to make sure that the boss is aligned and agreeable on what needs to be delivered as they move towards the timeline. Again, if you compare these two team members,

who is actually the better team member? Who would you want to work with if you are the boss? Someone who thinks that they know what they're supposed to do and disappears for two months, do not send any updates and try to figure it out on their own. Or the team member who is proactively engaging, proactively connecting and proactively communicating with the boss, right? So I think it is very, very clear. Now the next quality of what makes a high performer is someone who continues and actively shares about the good work that they have done.

Now, every single high performer knows this, because you cannot become a high performer if the boss doesn't know what you've been working on. The boss has no idea that you're putting in the hard work. The boss has no idea you are responsible for a bunch of things, the effort that you have put in, and the people that you're working with. Now, that is why a lot of people, they think that they are very hardworking. They put in a lot of hours, a lot of things, the effort that you have put in, and the people that you're working with. Now, that is why a lot of people,

they think that they are very hardworking. They put in a lot of hours, a lot of effort, then to come disappointed that they do not get the recognition that they wanted. But guess what's missing? It's the face time, right? It's the updates, it's the impression and the connection with the bosses.

So if you want to become a high performer, it is really, really important to focus on your visibility. Now, I'm saying visibility after you have already mastered the corporate world fundamentals, meaning that you have clarity, confidence, and competence, and you're already doing a very, very good job. Now, there's no point getting visible if your work is in a chaos because why

would you want to let everyone know that you are incompetent? No. So visibility comes once you have mastered clarity, confidence and competence and every high performer knows that you need to speak up and you need to talk about all the good work that you have done so that from your boss's point of view you stay top of mind as the person that is contributing a lot, a very, very valuable team member that is ready for the level up and the ready for the career progression, salary increment and new opportunities projects and so forth. So you need to talk about the good work that you have done because guess what? If the boss has no idea the good work they have done, then how can this be reflected

in a performance review? So ultimately you will not be considered a high performer because the boss has no idea, therefore it's not going to reflect in any performance rating, it's not going to get reflected in any performance reviews and therefore you will not become a high performer and you will not get rewarded with the salary increment promotions and so forth. So all this has a snowball effect, right? But what you want to do is to connect the right jigsaw puzzle pieces so that you can get rewarded for your hard work, whether it's a career level up, it's a progression, it's new opportunities, projects, more pay,

more opportunities, and so forth. So this is something that every single high performer understands. Now, the other something that every single high performer understands. Now, the other quality that every single high performer has, and I think this is a bit of an underrated quality, is being able to identify what is the root cause issue when problems occur. So remember at the beginning, I talked

about how a high performer needs to be a problem solver and not a problem reporter or a problem creator. But I think what a lot of people miss out is in order to solve a problem, we must first understand how did the problem occur? What is the actual issue? A lot of people, they focus on the symptoms. Oh, this fire is burning, that fire is burning. We need to start fixing things.

But are you fixing the right thing? Are you looking at the right issue? So one of the things that in my current program, the corporate survival that we do every single month is in our members' Q&A call where I help my members to actually review their current career or work situation in detail to interpret and understand the root cause issue of what has actually

happened versus what you feel has happened. So this is something that a lot of senior management are experienced to do, but depending on your career level, you might not be as experienced yet. So I'll give you an example. So for example, maybe a new manager has entered the team and the new manager is starting to make a lot of changes and there is lack of communication, right? But from a team member's perspective, you might feel extremely frustrated that this new manager is coming in and a lot of things are changing. So you suck it up, you keep quiet and you complain to your peers or you complain to your friends, but you still do the work. But maybe what needs to be done instead is

just a bit of the alignment issue, right? There's some communication and instead the issue could have just been a one-time catch-up session with the new manager to understand what are his priorities and what you need to focus on instead and what is the communication style like. So that could already be resolved versus you feeling stressed out that oh there's there's this change? Does this new manager, new system, new projects I'm happy with, instead of keeping quiet, then we really need to understand the root cause issue

could just be a communication error, right? It could just be a missing one-time catch-up session where if you just schedule that session, the problem will resolve itself in 30 minutes because after that one-on-one session, the new manager, you have clarity on the team's priority. You have clarity on what you need to focus on in the next 30 days, and what is the communication expectations,

and how you're going to be reporting progress to the new manager. So that issue is already resolved. But imagine if you just identify the wrong problem, and you just assume that, oh, this new manager is crazy, and therefore I'm just going to complain to my friend. So that problem is probably not going to get resolved. And instead, the snowball is just

going to become bigger and bigger and bigger. And therefore, you have a lot of negative emotions that is involved as well. Now, there is a last, but not least, a last quality of a high performer that I have personally implemented and have this mindset and this is something that I also pass on to all the students that I work with is to learn how to identify and sell your value.

Now a lot of people, they feel stuck at their jobs is because they are working every single day but they find it very difficult to explain what they have actually done, what they have achieved. Now, if you cannot explain to me in 30 seconds, what is your main role in this company, what is your biggest contribution, and how you add value, it tells me that you have no idea. So therefore, even if you have a chance to interview or during a networking event, or maybe happen to meet someone at a senior level that can give you the opportunity that you want,

even if you get that chance to have that meeting, you may not know what to say. Your mind might go completely blank. So this is something that happens to a lot of people. But high performers know that you always need to be prepared because opportunities may pop up. And when the timing is right, you want to make sure that you always need to be prepared because opportunities may pop up. And when the timing is right, you want to make sure that you are ready to always sell yourself.

So you need to really understand how are you contributing in this role, what is the value that you bring as a professional, and to make sure that you have it on top of mind at all times. And this is something that every high performer is able to do. They will be able to tell you very quickly, this is what I'm doing right now. These are my top priorities.

This is how I'm contributing to the team. If you speak to any top performer, they will be able to confidently tell you that. Because this is also how they are going to sell their value during interviews. Because the clearer you are in terms of the contributions, the achievements, and the value that you bring, the more conviction you can communicate that

to a new hiring manager during an interview. Or even when you're talking to C-suite, you're talking to the big boss, right? The reputation and the impression that you can create by being confident and being someone who actually knows your value and being able to clearly articulate and communicate why you deserve the next career level up,

why you deserve that progression. That is something that will allow you to go a very, very long way. And personally for me, that is also how I have managed to climb the career ladder. And I was promoted every single year at the Global MNC, which really has never happened before. For example, I moved from director to senior director

at San Chartered Bank in one year. A lot of people think maybe six, seven years to do that. But I've done it based on all the things that I've just shared with you. Again, it's a list of the qualities of high performance, but it's definitely not the full list. So if you want more of that, you can definitely drop a comment. Then I'll make another episode to share more of the qualities

of high performance with you. But I think the good news is that these are all skills that can be developed. It's not that anyone is born naturally with it. It's not. It's something that can be developed. And you can develop that as well. And this is how I help my corporate survival members

to do, particularly in our monthly members' Q&A calls where we deep dive into understanding the root cause issues, how to navigate people and problems at the workplace, and how to better make career decisions and to trust yourself that you are making the right decisions by correctly assessing what is happening to your career and the next steps that you need to take. Because if you cannot identify the right problem,

then you cannot fix the right problem. So therefore, any action that you take, well, it feels that you are moving forward, but actually you're not really moving forward. So in order to fix the issue, you need to first understand, actually, what is the problem? What is the problem that's happening at work? What is actually happening in my career,

so that you can actually feel more in control? And this all starts with a lot of awareness, very deep understanding of the corporate world. And that's why in my career program, The Corporate Survivor, I focus on helping you to survive in the corporate world, helping you to navigate people and problems at the workplace and to grow your career with new opportunities. Whether it's a promotion, it's a pay rise, it's a new job. All these things are your career level up and your career progression. So if you want to find out more about the program

and you want to watch a sample member's Q&A call to identify the root cause issues and how the framework that I teach my clients to go through to be able to level up in their career very quickly, to feel calm, confident, and in control over their careers, you can definitely check out more info at www.nottmapi.com. So with that, I will say thank you

so much for supporting the next phase of my career as a career coach as I move from my past life as a corporate leader with more than 10 years of experience in the corporate world. So I'm so thankful to you. Thank you so much for being here. And I look forward to seeing you in the corporate survivor. Take care.

See you soon.