Tips to Becoming a Better Employee

 

Most people want to become a better employee, if only for pure career advancement reasons, but if you think a bit more globally, be aware that becoming a more valuable employee helps your employer—which can also help to enhance your career opportunities.

The ‘Better Employee’ Equation
The founder of thewriterscoin.com, known simply as Carlos, conceived a simple, yet focused and clear equation to summarize better employee performance:

“Do your job = Good enough.
Do your job well = Good.
Do your job well and go beyond what your job entails = Great.”

This small equation is quite telling. Some employees focus on doing their jobs as required, with a goal of staying employed. In most cases, they achieve their goal, which is modest, although highly important.

Others concentrate on not merely meeting minimum workplace requirements, but performing beyond what’s expected of them. Employees adopting and practicing this approach typically receive high performance reviews and consistent compensation increases.

Then there are those employees driven to be the best—and even to improve on that standard. They commit to going the extra mile, and using creativity and initiative. They feel the necessity to be the best they can be and doing more for their team and company. These are the problem solvers, idea generators, over-achievers, and most valuable employees to their employers. Does this sound like you?

If you want to be the best of the best, here are some suggestions to help you achieve that goal.

• Focus on creativity. Employees who display creativity are perceived as more valuable contributors. Top employers, like Google (which tells its employees to spend 20 percent of their time in creative thinking), realize that creativity can generate new ideas and solve problems. Be aware that there are still many employers more focused on employees performing their day-to-day duties than creativity, but if you can successfully multi-task, your rewards (psychological, monetarily and career wise) will be many.
  
  
• Adopt a “make believe” attitude. Charging forward with a “let’s pretend” mentality may appear to be frivolous, but it’s really not. Brainstorming, by pretending you’re a senior executive or the CEO of your employer, often generates effective ideas that can change outmoded or procedures that simply don’t work. If you’re a workforce veteran, you already know that management doesn’t always have the solutions to problem procedures. Pretending that you’re the one responsible for the company can trigger exciting new solutions to problems and innovative ideas to improve operations.
  
  
• Strive for win-win results. Going the extra mile for your employer can initiate innovative responses to problematic issues facing your company. The results of your focus typically end in win-win situations. Your employer overcomes potentially dangerous challenges and you become a more well respected and valuable team member.
  
  
• Try to imagine something that’s really new. While creativity may involve novel uses for older ideas that will work in contemporary situations, imagining a totally new, innovative approach to company challenges can elevate you to “superstar” status. Beware of approaching this tip with a singularly personal focus (to be recognized for your “genius”) because you may or may not succeed. But like the previous tip, striving for ideas that help your employer, can elevate your status too.
  
  
• Eliminate whining and complaining from your workplace persona. Peer pressure, particularly if it involves whining, gossip and/or vocal complaints, can hinder your creativity, workplace status with management and diminish your perceived value—if you join in the vocal dissatisfaction. Avoid participating at all costs. There is nothing to be gained and much to be lost by becoming a whining and complaining participant. Pump up your self respect and, thereby, your value as an employee by refraining from this damaging, totally unproductive practice. You needn’t become a spokesperson for management; just stand above the petty whining that often infects the workplace.

This article is, in part, sourced from:
http://www.thewriterscoin.com/being-a-better-employee-series-go-beyond/

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