For Employees Only

Dear Employee. I coach and consult to Business Owners, Executive Directors and Managers across the country and here are 7 areas they take notice of and respond positively to. When you, the employee, act and think in these ways, you are often promoted faster, earn more, are the last on the line when redundancies are enacted and so forth. Overall you become highly valuable within the organisation. Here are the top 7 areas I’ve observed that leaders love to see in their people.

1. You move fast. In terms of your overall pace in your work and behaviour, you're always on the go.
2. You start a little earlier and finish a little later. Business owners grumble about clock watchers but they LOVE people who go the extra mile.
3. You demonstrate initiative. Rather than waiting for instructions, you go about your day with your brain in gear, thinking ahead, and deriving plans for the benefit of the business and your department.
4. You’re willing to learn. When the business owner or manager addresses a situation, you're humble enough to listen, you’re brave enough to ask questions about how you could do better and then you apply yourself.
5. You’re enthusiastic. Your colleagues might drag their feet but you, you’re different. You have a spark when you arrive at work and even if you’re feeling the Monday blues on a Wednesday, you get into your work with vigour.
6. You are more valuable than your pay rate. Many of your colleagues fall into the trap of asking for extra money without having applied 'prior' extra effort. But you’re not like this. You know that if you take the time to up-skill yourself, work harder and faster and become more valuable in your work contribution, you’ll be worth a whole lot more.
7. You take responsibility. When you make a mistake you own up to it, learn from it and move on. You don’t pass the blame but take full ownership for your errors.

As a final suggestion, give yourself a rating out of 10 (10 being the highest, 1 being the lowest) as to your current level and commitment in each area. List the two areas that you scored the lowest on and then get to work on improving these. If you do this, you are likely to become a highly favoured and relied upon employee who will go far within the organisation.