【Easy to Understand】What Determines Whether Someone Is "Good at Their Job" or "Bad at Their Job"?

"That person is really good at their job, aren't they?"
"That person is really bad at their job, aren't they?"

Hey there, I'm Hikaru.
Today, I'd like to share my thoughts on the differences between people who are good at their jobs and those who aren't.

Let me jump right in — have you ever been told, "You're not good at your job"?
Some of you may have heard it, and some may not.
But what standard is it based on?

Is it a comparison with someone else?
Is there some kind of evaluation criteria?
Is it about sales numbers?

No, the answer is…

Now then! What would you do?
You've just been told, "You're not good at your job."
Think about it for a moment.

Do you understand what that person actually means when they say it?
Are they saying it because you truly aren't performing well,
or are they saying it to fire you up, even though you're actually doing fine?
Can you tell the difference?

Now, let's say it was said because you genuinely aren't performing well.

The first reaction some people have is:
What did I do wrong? Where did I make a mistake?
Did I say something wrong? Am I approaching things incorrectly?
These are the people who look for the cause.

On the opposite end,
you have people who say things like: "I am doing my job. I did what I was supposed to do."
"What are you even talking about? You're the same way."
These are the people who refuse to accept the feedback and instead blame others.

Now, I'm not saying one is "better" than the other.
From my perspective, the moment someone is genuinely told "You're not good at your job,"
they are already someone with a low evaluation.

Even if you are told that, there's no point in thinking about it the way I described above.
I think the real problem exists at an even more fundamental level.

What I'm trying to say is:
People who have earned a certain level of positive evaluation
will never genuinely be told "You're not good at your job."

That's because in their day-to-day work, others are already thinking things like,
"That person really works hard," "They're so thoughtful," or "They really think things through."
Their evaluation is already high.
People with high evaluations tend to have small mistakes overlooked, compared to those with low evaluations.

Try to picture the people around you.
Say, for example, you forgot to bring something important to work and left it at home.
You forgot something.
For someone who already has a high evaluation,
it ends with, "Can't be helped — just don't forget tomorrow."
But for someone with a low evaluation,
don't they end up hearing, "What are you doing?! What are we supposed to do now?!"

To go back to what I was saying earlier:
Being told "You're not good at your job" is a sign that your everyday evaluation is low.

So, what kind of evaluation? Evaluated on what?
You're curious, right? Let's take a look.
For example:
"Are you cutting it close every morning when you arrive?"
"Are you greeting people properly in the morning?"
"Are you walking around looking half asleep?"
"Is your appearance neat and tidy?"
These things are basic, of course.
But when you're compared to others,
the moment someone thinks, "Hmm, something seems a bit off about that person," your evaluation drops.
I think this much is the same in any workplace.

From here, let me share my thoughts as someone who works in a blue-collar role.
"When carrying things, are you grabbing the lighter items while leaving the heavy ones for your seniors?"
"Are you able to say 'I don't understand' when you don't understand?"
"Are you proactively jumping into tasks?"
"Are you waiting around for instructions?"
"Do you think of yourself as just a helper?"
"Are you thinking through problems together with your team?"
These are roughly the things that come to mind.

If you're lacking in any of these areas, your evaluation won't rise.
And if your evaluation has already dropped and you try to recover,
you'll need to put in more than twice the effort of someone with a high evaluation just to get back up there.

Here's how I visualize it in my head.

■ "The Evaluation Point System"
I don't actually say this out loud, but I think of it in terms of points.

Of course, everyone starts at zero.
When your evaluation goes up, your points increase.
But if your evaluation doesn't rise, you don't gain points.
And it's not that you simply stay at zero — you go into the negatives.
That's right: minus points.

Take "greetings," for example.
[Person A] Greeted others properly. +1 point.
[Person B] Failed to greet others. −1 point.

"Appearance"
[Person A] Neat and tidy. +1 point. Total: 2 points.
[Person B] Sloppy. −1 point. Total: −2 points.

Current standings:
[Person A] 2 points
[Person B] −2 points

Now, "proactively taking on tasks":
[Person A] Was waiting for instructions. −1 point.
[Person B] Took initiative. +1 point.
Person B's evaluation went up!

But look at the totals:
[Person A] 1 point
[Person B] −1 point

That's the result.
This is why someone whose evaluation dropped first has to work twice as hard.
And even after working twice as hard, they've only just managed to catch up.

The higher your points get, the harder it becomes to go into the negatives.
This is just how I think about it.
I'm not actually counting in my head, "How many points am I at right now?" — but if I were to put it into words, that's the image I have.

Most of us working in Japanese society work alongside other people.
As a result, we inevitably tend to compare people to one another.
It's a tough reality…

But! Let's try to look at this positively!
We tend to compare people to one another… but who exactly?
That's right. The people in the same company — the people right there beside you.
You are absolutely not being compared to everyone across the entire country.
Which means, at the very least, you just need to put in a little more effort than the people around you.
It's only a handful of people, right?
Nobody's telling you to become a top athlete.
Nobody's telling you to become the number one seller on note.
It's the people right there next to you.

If you can become just a little better than those people, you'll naturally become someone who is "good at their job"!

Of course, after five or ten years in a role, what's expected of you will change — but first, take that first step!
That's what matters most.
A small +1 point. Building up +1 points one at a time.
People who are good at their jobs weren't good from the very beginning.
I believe they are people who accumulated those small +1 points over time.

Understand your own evaluation clearly, and keep pushing forward!!

https://note.com/ms_1985/n/n3ced0037f969