'Work It Right' is a weekly column that provides practical and insightful advice on navigating the complex areas of work culture, career development and professional management.

We are heading toward the end of the year, and soon the end-of-year business evaluation process will kick in. Are we on track? Will we achieve the outcomes planned? Yes? No? 

We are used to perceive creativity as something without rules and boundaries. But perhaps that is only applicable when creativity is still within ideation stage. At some point, the creative ideas need to be executed. That’s when constraints must be taken into account. 

In the sea of misunderstanding and misalignment in the office – also known as “office politics” – what can you do better on top of consistently being professional and doing your job well? 

We often think that we are being supportive by offering help to others. In reality, however, are we really that helpful? More importantly, do others find us helpful?

What should we know about people with a fixed mindset? 

How often do we wish that we had more time to deliver all the things we need to? Or wish that we could cram more things into the little time we have? And then, after a while, we wonder why we are exhausted yet accomplishing so little?

You have heard your team member say, “I will try my VERY best,” referring to your request to make improvements on his work deliverables. But six months down the road you are disappointed that nothing has changed. What happened?

When we talk about career, we typically sweat the “big” things: Career path, compensation and benefits and many others on our wish list. The “small” things are usually put on the back burner. But do we not all agree that small habits are the foundation of big things in life, including our career?

That long-awaited promotion finally comes, and is that not a great feeling -- to finally be acknowledged for our hard work and achievement. But when the celebration is over, the first day as a boss can be really daunting.

Before jumping into the question above, let’s answer this question first: What does a work-life balance actually mean?

Work It Right is a weekly column that provides practical and insightful advice on navigating the complex areas of work culture, career development and professional management.

It may come as a surprise to some that communicating our ideas to others in an effective way involves more than words, with greater focus on how we speak, as opposed to what we're trying to say.

Many employees shy away from office politics as if it were catching, but it's essentially about misalignment and not inherently bad. Here, Aninditta Savitry shares her tips on how to reframe office politics, eliminate negative emotion and approach it as a challenge instead.

When asked during job interviews what has motivated a candidate to search for new opportunities, “comfort zone” is invariably stated as the reason. Whether it is because of complacency, boredom or stagnant growth, many believe that a workplace comfort zone is prohibitive to personal development and so warrants finding a new job.

Personal relationships, whether they be friendships, romances or family, have always been an elephant in the room in the corporate world. Everybody knows about them, gossips about them, but the attitude is largely “don’t ask, don’t tell”.