Home About Seminars Keynotes Coaching Articles Materials News Photos Events Audience Industries Clients Testimonials Rationale Contact Need a dynamic speaker for your next event? Call: 312.282.0704 2007 Leadership Excellence Award	Take The Initiative. Written by Lisa Rich. Companies have devoted millions, perhaps billions of dollars mining deep into their employee base for talent, skills and strengths. They've developed "knowledge management" databases and complex intranets to house employee resumes, recent projects and clients. They know where we studied and what degrees we hold. They know our job title and job description, our previous employers, accreditations and special certifications we hold in our area of expertise. But do they know who we are and what we have to offer? If not, have we made the effort to tell them? Being an employee does not mean you should check your free will, intuition and creativity at the door. It does mean, however, that you must take ownership of your career. Help create the work you most want to do, and share your talent and enthusiasm with others. Think about your skills and talents, learn how to market who you are and demonstrate what you can do for your company. Do this, and you will feel better about your work and the company will too. The Gallup poll conducted by the authors of Now, Discover your Strengths, suggests that only twenty percent of employees across the globe believe their work matches their skill set. We want to feel challenged and experience personal growth and development at the office, but when this doesn't happen we become increasingly dissatisfied and discontent. We take out our frustration on employers, demanding pay increases and added benefits. Yet more money and more perks do not heal our feelings of distress and distain. Employees and employers stunt their own growth and don't solve anything when they accept this temporary, band-aid approach to management. And no one benefits when we defer rather than face the challenge of increasing productivity and job satisfaction by aligning the work of our organization with our own unique talents, skills and strengths. Life circumstances often stand in the way of our nobler goals and dreams. When we don't have a job and need one, survival instincts quickly overshadow the deeper need to learn, grow, and share who we are with others. We want that paycheck and we'll say whatever we must to get it. Yet while we may have fooled a new employer into thinking we love our new job and that it's our true calling in life, we cannot fool ourselves. Maybe we've secured employment with benefits, but the truth is that once we take a job there is no guarantee of a happily ever after. Consider how you can take existing projects to a higher level, or how you might create new projects that promote profitability, add to productivity or efficiency to your company's bottom line. How can you solve problems and make things easier for you and your team? Select projects that require your contributions, time and talent. Offer to help and get involved with work that takes full advantage of your expertise. Soon you'll find that these are projects you feel most committed to, and the work you enjoy most. Volunteer the idea that you might be the perfect person to do "x". Your manager may never have known, for example, that you like to speak in front of groups of people, or that you enjoy meeting new people. Suggest that you'd like the next opportunity to lead a meeting or present at your next company function. Offer your time and propose that you attend the next career fair; tell our boss that you would enjoy recruiting new employees to your organization. Get to know members of the marketing, communications, public relations, human resources or sales departments and see how your department might benefit from a better relationship with them. If you're a great conversationalist and entertaining storyteller, maybe you are the perfect person to represent your company at business networking functions. If you're a good mediator the one who always manages to get your friends, family or teammates to work together and get along, you're the person who should manage conflict-resolution with clients or employees. If you are outgoing and optimistic, you should be the one encouraging employees to participate in group outings, volunteer activities, or other corporate events. Show you are interested in taking on a new type of work and your willingness to do the work. If you are detail-oriented, offer to create new systems that are functional, efficient and easy-to-use. If you like to teach, offer to teach and train co-workers. If you like to write, submit articles for the company newsletter, interview your boss, or research and propose a new area of business the company may wish to pursue. If you like to throw parties, get on the planning committee to create the next holiday party or big event. Approach work with the attitude that anything is possible! If you like to organize people, encourage co-workers to participate in a walk-a-thon or a run, start a volleyball team or plan social outings that take advantage of free cultural events in your city. This is an easy way to know your co-workers better, and a great out-of-office opportunity to build relationships and boost morale. If you like to design, recommend a more functional and pleasing office layout or hold a "best-dressed" office space competition. In each of these situations, management will notice your efforts and will respect your taking the initiative to make the company a little more friendly, a little more productive, and a little more fun. When you suggest projects you can do and do well, you elevate yourself among peers and management. Their perception of you can only improve the more you tell them about your ideas and plans, and the more you can relate what you've accomplished back to issues relevant to them, such as how you've improved employee loyalty and retention, saved money on training or reduced the need to hire outside consultants. Highlight your unique gifts and be sure to speak in terms that are most meaningful to management. Remember, they don't read minds and don't know what your talents and achievements are unless you tell them! Invest in yourself. Read career management books such as Julie Morgenstern's Making Work Work: New Strategies for Surviving and Thriving at the Office, or recommend yourself for a training class to build new skills or expand your expertise. Attend the Excellence in Communication, Inc. seminar, "Build Your Brand! Develop Your Professional Image and Message" and learn to identify and promote your skills and talents, so you may focus on your strengths and determine how to apply them at work. Develop the ability to propose new ideas with confidence and clarity and soon your boss and peers will see you as the bright and talented person that you are. Make the kind of contributions only you can give, and management is sure to notice and reward you. Copyright © 2004 - 2007. Lisa Rich. Excellence In Communication, Inc. All rights reserved. Other Articles: • Perception Is Everything • Speakers Are Leaders
Copyright © 2004 - 2007. Lisa Rich. Excellence In Communication, Inc. All rights reserved.