You are surrounded by co-workers up to eight to ten hours a day. When you are awake, you will see more of your colleagues than of your wife, friends and family. You might have employees that look your way during the same time. If you have a choice, choose to be a good example. Why? You say. Well I will tell you the importance of being a good example right here in step 11 of my 12 easy steps to become a great employee. Be a good example.

Positive influence!
There is always someone that, no matter how unimportant you might feel, is looking your way. They pick up on what you say. If you have worked in a company for a while you will have new employees that think that you know it all. If you are a manager, everything you say is analyzed to find the true meaning of your message. If you have people around you, either at home or at work, you will spread your mood and it will be contentious. If you are positive you will have positive co-workers. This is of course not just black and white but the general idea proves itself over and over again in the office landscape. And why you should stay positive is….

Negativity is a plague.
Negativity is like the flu. It spreads as soon as someone is within ten feet of your frown. Positivity does not spread as fast as negativity. People love to be negative by nature, as it gives us something to complain about. That is why you need to try to stay positive around other people. I prefer having positive and happy people around me, and I believe that you also prefer going to job where positive people work. And yes you can be a part of the process to keep the spirit up.

Positive/Negative is that all?
No. That was just the basics. When baking or cooking you always have a basic recipe. The stuff you put in afterwards make all the difference. To be a true good example you’ll need to follow the office rules. Dress according to your job. You should consider how you dress, especially if you interact with customers. No offending text or images. Leave your statements at home. It is nice to have an opinion of your own, but at work, you represent a company and should therefore promote the company opinion. Who sets a good example at your job? Can you learn from this person?

Falling from the top.
I once got the advice: “Treat people good on your way up, because you might meet them on your way down.” – You might not be remembered by everyone if you have a positive self, but be sure, you’ll be remembered if you are negative. I had an employee approaching me after I just had a job interview with an upstanding young man; he told me, do not hire him under any circumstance, he was his boss earlier and he was an …hole according to my employee. And of course he did not get the job.

Clockwork.
Show up on time. According to a survey held at my office, 30 % are negatively influenced by people arriving late for work. So if you turn up late, 30 % of your co-workers are so annoyed at you that it might result in a worse performance by them. I bet that if everybody managed to be on time, the mood indicator might go straight to bright green.

Alcohol.
I am not telling people not to drink, I even have a beer or two(five – who said that??) on suitable occasions. This paragraph is mostly directed to managers, team leaders or anybody that is standing above the first step of the career ladder. Do not get drunk at social events. A boss underneath the table before midnight is never a pretty sight. Do take part and have fun, but know your limits.

Turn on your radar.
Have a focus on negativity tendencies; know when your alarm should go off. Turn on your radar. Everybody in a work sphere is responsible for good work conditions, not just the manager. If you hear negative conversations, do not take part of them unless you can focus on the positive. If the mood is dropping around you, do something to lift the spirit. Yes you are allowed to praise your fellow co-workers. It should be in your best interests to fight negativity, since you spend so much time at work during each day. Do never ever badmouth your co-workers. If you have problems talk to your manager.

So all in all, remember that what you do and say and what you don’t do and don’t say it will all have some impact on other people around you. That is all you need to know actually, and if you think about it, how would your dream co-worker act? (That should give you a clue.)

“Negativity is like a contentious virus, positivity is the cure, which should be injected as a vaccine up front.” – Me

What do you do to be the good example to others?

<<< Previous
1 – 2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10 -11 – 12 Next >>>

This might be one of the most important steps so far. Knowing you business is quite different from knowing how to do your job. As step 10 of my 12 easy steps to become a great employee, this one is about getting to know your company.

Let’s start with markets.
Do you know anything about the market segments where your company operates? What is the mainstream customer? What is the competition like? How do the markets work? Let us pretend that you are a car salesperson. You will probably know a lot about the brands that you sell. Do you know about the competing brands? Learn about them as well; take especially notice to their weaknesses, as it might be an ace up your sleeve. If you work in telecom, learn about the products of your competitors. How does your market evolve? Is there any trend you’ll benefit from knowing about? Are there new products out there? If there is any magazines about your kind of business subscribe to them. There is a lot of trends and happenings that moves around within your market, if you manage to keep up, you suddenly have the ace of spades in your deck.

The company hierarchy.
I do not know if you work at a large or a small company. This part will be easy if you have one boss and a co-worker. Do not need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out who is doing what in the smallest of companies, but there are a lot of companies out there with hundreds or more employees, with different departments and even different locations. Is the latter is you case you might prepare to do a little research. Not all companies have a good structural map of their company, giving you an extra challenge finding your way in the maze.

Start by identifying key players. A key player might not be a key player for the company, but rather people that could help to get your job done. If some of your tasks get stuck in a bottleneck at a different location or department it would be nice to know who have the power to push it through. It will be helpful to know the flow of internal matters to identify these people. Make the right friends. Include them on MSN or some Instant messaging system. In this way you will be able to communicate if you feel the urge.

Learn about the alert routines. If some system goes down, you should know who to contact. If there is a fire, you should know who to contact, besides the fire dep. Take initiative to learn about all possible people that need to be contacted in case of emergency. This is very important if you are alone. I remember my first evening shift as a team leader. I work at a call centre and the phones suddenly stopped operating. I did not know who to call, and needed to call around to different managers, letting them know that I did not know the routines. This was on my very first night when I was in charge. I learned from this experience to always know who can fix what. Now you have a chance to get the head start that I missed.

Find the path. I recommend ALWAYS go first to your manager if you have a problem, even if the problem is with your manager. If that does not lead to a solution, and only then go to your manager’s boss. That is why you should know who bosses who around. It might also be nice to know people with influence and get to know them, especially if you have a thought of promotion in the back of your mind.

I love this one: “I look at what the phone company does and do the opposite.” – Craig Newmark

Know the trade.
You might be good at your job. You know exactly what to do. Still there might be more to learn about your trade. It would be nice to know more about engines if you sell cars. Or if you support broad band internet customers, it would be nice to know how the internet works, from server to dslam, ERX, nodes and cabels. You should know how traffic moves from A to B and why it does. The more you know about your trade, even more than necessary the more logic and sense it will bring into your job. And the best part, it will make you greater.

Company free time activities!
A lot of companies have their own social events; this can be a collectors club, sports club, and Friday night beer, bowling team or whatever. At my company we have pay day beer, soccer team and a fishing club, even internal golf tournaments. Find out what is going on and join in on the activities you prefer. Get loaded each Friday night at a local karaoke bar or smack a small hard ball far off into the woods each Sunday, how good you are at it does not matter. The important thing is that you socialize and meet people in your company, helping you to find your key co-workers.

Take interest and show initiative.
The bottom line is take interest in your company. How is the economy? How is the temperature in sales? What marketing campaigns are on the air? And is there anything you can do to help you company produce even better? In the end, that is why you are hired.

<<< Previous
1 – 2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10 -11 – 12 Next >>>

Be pro active towards your manager, ask to discuss topics with them, ask to be evaluated and ask to reflect together. But do not bug them down; remember you need to produce results as well. Volunteer if tasks are given, especially if it is in a topic you love.

I was a manager before I incorporated my consulting practice. Now I work with managers around the globe to show them ways to be even more effective.

<<< Previous
1 – 2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10 -11 – 12 Next >>>