3 steps to becoming a better professional

You want many things in your career at different stages. Sometimes it’s a raise, promotion or better recognition at company. Every 6 months or whenever your review process is you’re expecting to hear some positive news and celebrate that at the bar or pop Champagne with your significant other. However, sometimes you don’t get the results you want or expect and your hopes can crash like an icicle falling from 10th floor. I’m not here to share any magic recipes, but there are some tips which can increase your chances to become more valued at the company.

People come to work to solve problems for businesses, customers and clients. And they usually do that in teams. I’ve seen many individuals with different work ethic and for me, it’s pretty straight forward — people with good work ethic are the ones that you can trust and rely on while solving problems. They come to the meetings on time, they understand that at the end of the day they are here to do the work and to create value for the company. Their measure of successful day — value delivered and time well spent. On the opposite side you have people who will always find an excuse of why they’re late or can’t do something. They are the first who start to sweat about small stuff like broken coffee machine or chocolate cookies being not fresh enough. Nobody’s perfect, but if you can become someone who is known for good work ethic you’ll be surprised how much recognition you can gain on your name.

Count how many times in the last month you asked someone about how were doing or what did they do during the weekend. I would guess it’s at least 10. The problem with these general conversations is that they’re too shallow. In the worst case you’re just trying to avoid awkward silence while standing next to coffee machine or bathroom and none of you are interested in conversation. From my experience I’ve noticed that 1 gym session, a night out or dinner together with your co-worker is better than 100 questions about his or her weekend. Tell stories, share interests and find what connects you with other people. Once you get some things in common, every time you meet that person again you can go deeper and explore the topic while keeping it interesting and engaging. Moreover both you can actually get value from conversation. Who knows, maybe at some point person you’ve shared interest in Yoga classes will be your ally and support your ideas in the next company meeting.

Here is an exercise for you. Think about your typical day in the office, what kind of value you delivered to the company? It might be hard to measure that for some roles and positions, but you should give a try. Value that companies are delivering to the market is a sum of value delivered by teams. From teams it goes to individuals. So here you go, you can make an impact on your company if you focus on work and tasks that deliver at some kind of value. List all your activities and define their value. Maybe the ones with low value could be eliminated or delegated? Having value-driven mindset will not only help you feel like you’re making impact, but will also please your manager and company.

Remember that you’re not a machine. Find the right balance and start small. It’s not about setting high standarts in all areas right away. It’s about being more self-aware and improving continuously. Find your pace and work on it to make it better.

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