Most people appreciate the importance of honing skills, working well with one’s manager, finding mentors, setting strong goals and getting the right experience in order to advance one’s career. However, there are other things that are equally vital. Here are a couple of critical questions to help you reflect on how to increase your chances of personal and career success.
WHAT WILL YOU STOP TOLERATING?: Some typical things not to tolerate are sloppiness, tardiness, toxic people, time wasters and mediocrity (in yourself and in others). You teach people how to treat you so don’t do anything that will give others the excuse to disrespect or treat you badly. Be friendly with everyone but who do you want to be associated with? Avoid office cliques because they generally do not have a good reputation; but there should be nothing stopping you from having a network of high performing colleagues in your workplace to learn from.
WHAT BAD HABITS WILL YOU DROP?: It takes courage to do this especially if you’ve had these habits for a long time. But it comes down to a simple choice, carry on as is or take action and free yourself to become better and do better. Have a ‘stop doing list’ which should include all the time wasting activities; for example being on social media endlessly on company time, keeping company with the complainers and office gossips or even keeping up what may seem like a harmless habit like wanting everything you do to be perfect. Procrastination is also one to ditch!
HOW WILL YOU PRE-EMPT YOUR STAGNATION?: Doing well in one’s career isn’t just climbing the corporate ladder. Growing your career can also involve gaining diverse experiences even if it means making lateral moves to stretch yourself and become more competitive. You can do this by using your strengths more, improving your time management so you can be involved in more things. Purposely put yourself in challenging situations, try new things, seek more stretch assignments and look for opportunities to work in not so familiar situations. Identify new skills you want to develop, how you will go about developing the skills and how you will know you have gained such skills.
WHAT BOUNDARIES WILL YOU CREATE AND ENFORCE?: Establish boundaries that can keep out unhealthy influences, stresses and negativity. Avoid in particular those who always create conflict, complain or are plain hostile. Enforce boundaries that help you maintain your sanity and be more accountable and meet your commitments. Boundaries that enable you focus attention on what is crucial. Do what helps you keep your sanity and takes unnecessary pressure off you. If a colleague oversteps the boundaries, have a constructive discussion about why you have set those boundaries and that you’d appreciate others respecting them.
Honestly answering these questions and any additional ones of your own will help you remove a lot of the toxicity and pitfalls that can stall your career or at worst flat out kill it.
Now take action: What one action will you do to avoid professional stagnation?
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Don't just be a job holder
What do you consider to be your purpose in your organisation? Many would say they are there to do a job. Fair enough but being a job holder is not good enough. When you act like just a jobholder, you get lost in the ‘average’ crowd and make it difficult for your superiors to entrust you with anything important. Don’t leave yourself behind; Play your ‘A’ game. Here are some ways to start.
MAKE YOUR WORK IMPORTANT: If you see your job as’ just a job’ and do it as such, you could end up on the margins of the organisation or even let go if the organisation is not getting what it needs from you. Don’t just hold the job, run with it, take pride in your work and give it your very best. Stay on your toes and ensure that your output contributes to what makes the organisation tick and perform well.
BE ESSENTIAL TO YOUR ORGANISATION: And not just in your job. There are two types of essential people in any organisation. The first group are those in positions considered critical and the second are those who become so by virtue of their contributions. When you are essential you don’t limit your assignment to that under your authority. You push yourself and let people know from your attitude and results that you will never let them down or get involved in triviality.
SHOW RANGE: You don’t have to be a jack of all trades but need to show versatility Have a body of work that includes everything you create, effect and impact positively. Your knowledge, experiences and accomplishments should tell the story that you are evolving and growing in terms of the depth and breadth of your contributions and increasing level of responsibility.
ALWAYS TRIUMPH: Triumph suggests difficulty, hurdles, even obstacles. You need to be seen as someone who can get the job done no matter what is happening around them or the challenges you face. Most people can do their job well where things are plain sailing but can you do as well when things are stacked against you? You must give confidence that you persevere and come through whatever difficulties you meet.
BE A THIUGHT LEADER: When an organisation does not generate enough new thinking to drive improvements it becomes stale. So consistent improvement should be your philosophy. You must always be aware of the challenges that your organisation or team is grappling with and engage with it. Keep up with trends so that you can add your insights. Set time aside to do some quality thinking and propose ideas worth listening to.
Now take action: What one new additional responsibility will you take on?
MAKE YOUR WORK IMPORTANT: If you see your job as’ just a job’ and do it as such, you could end up on the margins of the organisation or even let go if the organisation is not getting what it needs from you. Don’t just hold the job, run with it, take pride in your work and give it your very best. Stay on your toes and ensure that your output contributes to what makes the organisation tick and perform well.
BE ESSENTIAL TO YOUR ORGANISATION: And not just in your job. There are two types of essential people in any organisation. The first group are those in positions considered critical and the second are those who become so by virtue of their contributions. When you are essential you don’t limit your assignment to that under your authority. You push yourself and let people know from your attitude and results that you will never let them down or get involved in triviality.
SHOW RANGE: You don’t have to be a jack of all trades but need to show versatility Have a body of work that includes everything you create, effect and impact positively. Your knowledge, experiences and accomplishments should tell the story that you are evolving and growing in terms of the depth and breadth of your contributions and increasing level of responsibility.
ALWAYS TRIUMPH: Triumph suggests difficulty, hurdles, even obstacles. You need to be seen as someone who can get the job done no matter what is happening around them or the challenges you face. Most people can do their job well where things are plain sailing but can you do as well when things are stacked against you? You must give confidence that you persevere and come through whatever difficulties you meet.
BE A THIUGHT LEADER: When an organisation does not generate enough new thinking to drive improvements it becomes stale. So consistent improvement should be your philosophy. You must always be aware of the challenges that your organisation or team is grappling with and engage with it. Keep up with trends so that you can add your insights. Set time aside to do some quality thinking and propose ideas worth listening to.
Now take action: What one new additional responsibility will you take on?
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Get better at execution
Everyone agrees planning is important but ability to execute the plan well is equally important. A good plan gives you a headstart but good execution is your commitment and follow through to making important things happen. Here are my 7 ‘S’s of strong execution;
SET UP: First thing is to be clear what is the defined problem or issue you are trying to overcome or solve. This clarity helps you plan how to move forward. The key question to ask yourself is ‘’What am I aiming to tackle and what workplan is fit for that purpose?’’
STANDARD: Be clear what results you are committed that ideally exceeds expectations. Prioritise the right activities that will ensure the quality you desire. Keep an eye on even the small things and check that any tasks you delegate will be delivered to a high standard too. The key question to ask yourself is : What will be my best and most effective work I can and should do?’’
STORY: Take responsibility for understanding why you are doing what you are doing; (And don’t say it’s because your boss asked you to do it). When you know the purpose you approach the task with the end in mind and can think through what you have to do, what you will require for the purpose to be served. The key question to ask yourself is: ‘’Why is what I am doing important and worth doing well?’’
SPEED: Be clear when you need to do the work by. Define meaningful progress checkpoints so that you keep a good pace and keep on track. Build in some time slack for dealing with unforeseen events that might risk slowing things down. If you need other people’s involvement, get their commitment and involvement early. The Key question to ask yourself: ‘’When do I need to get this done by and how can I ensure I deliver on time?’’
SHOCKS: Plans don’t always go totally accordingly to plan. So anticipate potential obstacles and challenges and have a strategy for dealing with them. A Key question to ask yourself: ‘’What could derail or delay progress and how will I address those?’’
SUBSTANCE: Know from the start what is tangible evidence that you are implementing to a high standard and getting the right results. What will you measure and how? A Key question to ask yourself: ‘’How will I know I am doing this task well?’’
SMARTS: Take time to reflect on how things went, what you can learn in order to set even higher standards and do even better next time. A Key question to ask yourself: ‘’What new thing did I learn that I can apply next time to improve my execution?’’
Now take action: How can you execute your assignments better?
SET UP: First thing is to be clear what is the defined problem or issue you are trying to overcome or solve. This clarity helps you plan how to move forward. The key question to ask yourself is ‘’What am I aiming to tackle and what workplan is fit for that purpose?’’
STANDARD: Be clear what results you are committed that ideally exceeds expectations. Prioritise the right activities that will ensure the quality you desire. Keep an eye on even the small things and check that any tasks you delegate will be delivered to a high standard too. The key question to ask yourself is : What will be my best and most effective work I can and should do?’’
STORY: Take responsibility for understanding why you are doing what you are doing; (And don’t say it’s because your boss asked you to do it). When you know the purpose you approach the task with the end in mind and can think through what you have to do, what you will require for the purpose to be served. The key question to ask yourself is: ‘’Why is what I am doing important and worth doing well?’’
SPEED: Be clear when you need to do the work by. Define meaningful progress checkpoints so that you keep a good pace and keep on track. Build in some time slack for dealing with unforeseen events that might risk slowing things down. If you need other people’s involvement, get their commitment and involvement early. The Key question to ask yourself: ‘’When do I need to get this done by and how can I ensure I deliver on time?’’
SHOCKS: Plans don’t always go totally accordingly to plan. So anticipate potential obstacles and challenges and have a strategy for dealing with them. A Key question to ask yourself: ‘’What could derail or delay progress and how will I address those?’’
SUBSTANCE: Know from the start what is tangible evidence that you are implementing to a high standard and getting the right results. What will you measure and how? A Key question to ask yourself: ‘’How will I know I am doing this task well?’’
SMARTS: Take time to reflect on how things went, what you can learn in order to set even higher standards and do even better next time. A Key question to ask yourself: ‘’What new thing did I learn that I can apply next time to improve my execution?’’
Now take action: How can you execute your assignments better?
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