Do you see yourself as a high achiever? Do you enjoy challenges that stretch your capabilities, or setting goals that may push the limits of your knowledge? One of the core values I promote as part of my company vision for Total Assist Group is ‘don’t settle for less’ and I feel this is incredibly important for making sure that we don’t just sit on our laurels, but that we push ourselves to really make the most of personal learning and career opportunities. Being able to go above and beyond in the workplace gives you the chance to demonstrate your value as an employee as well as showcase the genuine impact you can have on your team. And you can’t do this by playing it safe.
As if personal satisfaction and pride weren’t enough, motivating yourself to work harder is also an excellent way to fast track a pay rise or promotion, so it really is in your best interests to flourish and exceed your own expectations to help propel Total Assist Group and your team to enjoy greater success. Here are my top tips to point you in the right direction, and help you get noticed in the office.
Eight ways to go above and beyond
1) Use feedback
We all get given feedback at some point, but interestingly, not many of us listen to it. If you are striving to continually improve your performance, being able to pocket useful nuggets of information to use when completing similar projects in the future will help you ensure complete success next time. It also shows your manager that you listen to their advice and respond to direction.
2) Anticipate needs
Don’t wait around to be asked to do something, use the initiative and get stuck in. If you can see tasks that need to be worked on, make a start, so that when your boss asks you about it, you can say you already have everything in hand. Not only does this help the business run smoother but it also demonstrates an understanding of the company and what activities need to be completed to maintain progress.
3) Showcase concrete ideas
Brainstorming is easy, but bringing a fully fledged plan to the table is a lot more difficult, however this is what you need to do if you seek to go above and beyond in the workplace. Presenting your idea as an action plan, with ready implementation steps listed shows you are prepared, have belief in your ideas, are innovative and dedicated to the improvement of the company. It also demonstrates that you are a hard grafter who will put the work in to create change to help boost the business.
4) Go out of your way
You have ten minutes before you are a due to go home and the phone is ringing. Many people would ignore the call, but to overachieve, you have to go out of your way to provide excellent service, and make every interaction memorable. So you take the call. Whatever problem your candidate or client may be having, try and come up with a solution, don’t just shut them down. Going the extra mile is always noticed by management and has such a positive impact on business relationships.
5) Understand data
Knowing and understanding the relevance of various numbers and statistics relating to your workload is very useful for your manager. You can use this information to find out areas you can improve on to become more efficient or faster, and knowing the facts and figures also demonstrates that you are keen and on the ball.
6) Offer to help
If you see a colleague struggling, then offer to help. Even if you don’t know or understand their role within the business, taking some more menial tasks off their hands could give them the spare minutes they need to finish an overdue project or phone a time-pressured candidate. Office kudos are always useful to save for a rainy day and can also help with your promotion chances.
7) Stay positive
After a frustrating morning sat at your screen, its all to common to need to vent and complain about candidates who won’t reply to your emails, or clients who cancel at the last minute. Just remember though that everyone has their own problems and that negativity is not motivating in the slightest. Remaining positive will encourage you and those around you to keep driving forward.
8) Be visible
If you want to showcase good work that you are doing and positive responses you are getting from either your colleagues or candidates / clients, then use email. Cc in your boss on emails and seeing things going well will be a refreshing change from dealing with any issues or problems that crop up.
[testimonial name=”By Justin Rich” who=”Chairman at Total Assist Group ” imagelinks=”https://totalassist.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Justin-5.jpg” vertical=”no”]”Total Assist was founded by myself in 1999 specialising in the supply of Locum Doctors and today more than 70 ambitious employees occupy our modern offices and headquarters in Essex.”[/testimonial]
