As budding professionals, we always strive to move from one level to the other, in the corporate ladder. At every step, we learn something new, make mistakes and put in efforts to understand complex work projects.
Over a period of time, we develop skill set that we hone gradually. However, ever wondered what it takes to make your employers say – Stay with us, you mean a lot to the company!
We all have certain ambitions and a career path which we strive to follow, but to stand out from the crowd; there is something extra that we need to exhibit as an employee.
Develop a competitive edge
We all have that one skill-set, an area of expertise where we can outperform our peers and that is called our forte. It is very important to identify that forte and once you have done it, you can hone it further. Eventually, you can be someone your boss would look upto whenever there is any requirement in a particular area of expertise where you specialize. While someone could be a prodigy in the area of marketing & communication, someone else could be good with numbers or might have a great analytical ability. It is upto you to recognize your talent in order to outshine
People skills
Imagine yourself getting a text or a phone call from a former work peer or a subordinate asking for a career advice or about general well being of yours. It feels privileged to be remembered by people with whom you once worked, which proves that you have been someone who was approachable, friendly and a great team player at work; trust me, your employers notice such skills and would give you first preference for roles that involve team management, mentoring/coaching. Technical skills can be taught and one can improve on them gradually on the job but to have good people skills, one needs to put in persistent efforts throughout, to develop an empathetic attitude, listening skills and excellent team building skills; such skills would give you an added advantage at your workplace
Learn something new everyday, Be inquisitive
Your skill-set might become obsolete if you will not put in continuous efforts to learn new things, ideas, and concepts related to your work or even outside your work. Making learning an integral part of your routine enable you to grow professionally and as an individual. Becoming aware of new ideas and concepts help you to learn advanced work methods which would help you to shorten the turn-around time of your projects. However it is important to remember that professional rewards might not come to you there and then but your inquisitive ability will surely prove advantageous in the long run
Be innovative
The best way to execute your learning is through innovation. Time and again, businesses need new products and services to survive in competitive environment, which is possible through continuous innovation happening in the company. As an employee, if you take some time out of your core tasks, to brainstorm new ideas that could be beneficial for the company then you will certainly gain an edge over your peers
Exhibit flexibility, be dynamic
Many a times you might have to take up some challenging projects, as well as perform upto everyone’s expectations in the kind of work that is not your forte. Under such circumstances, you need to be patient enough to understand the complexity of work, instead of giving up on it altogether. Once you have devoted enough time to understand the nitty gritties of the task at hand, you will eventually face less trouble in executing it. Therefore, it is important to be persistent and dedicate ample time to something, before making any judgment on your ability or the kind of work assigned to you
It is a privilege to be in the good books of your boss but to be someone your employer can never afford to lose, you need to follow some simple rules which I am sure aren’t very hard to learn, after reading this!
