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A sense of achievement is one of the most valuable rewards you gain from your job. To accomplish this, it’s necessary to do your job well, meet your objectives and add value to the outputs of your team. Highly competent operators are an inspiration to others and gain a great sense of personal satisfaction from their work. Here we look at the skills and behaviors needed to be highly effective.
Definition effective: [adjective] 1. having the power to produce a desired result; 2. successful, especially in producing a strong or favorable impression on people.
Adding Value
Being truly effective goes beyond just doing your job. It’s about the outcomes of your performance and whether or not they make a positive impact or difference. The term often used to describe this is ‘going the extra mile’. This doesn’t necessarily mean working longer hours; it relates more to the effort applied to a task to make sure it delivers the required result. It’s about taking the time to understand why you have been asked to do something; then thinking about the task in the context of a larger system which relies on your input to achieve the ultimate aim. For example, an accounts clerk has been asked to produce the sales figures for the last month. The clerk asks what the figures will be used for and finds out that the sales team want to see which products have sold the least so they can select items for a sale. The clerk, therefore, produces the figures and lists the various items in order of quantity of sales so that it’s easier to see the high and low sellers.
Skills and Behaviors
Observe those around you who you regard as high achievers. What is it that they do that makes them so effective?
An effective person is...
- efficient, well organized and thorough.
- resourceful - able to find clever ways to overcome problems.
- able to set clear objectives and focuses effort on achieving these goals.
- tenacious and resilient - has the stamina and persistence to see things through to the end.
An ineffective person... tends to be stuck in their ways and reluctant to embrace change. They are disorganized and bend easily under pressure. Ineffective people hinder the progress of their team by being inflexible, disorganized and self-absorbed. They tend to be reluctant to take responsibility and afraid to use their initiative.
Going the Extra Mile
It’s relatively easy to become more effective by taking responsibility for your actions, deploying some basic organizational skills, and adopting the right attitude. Use the following tips to help you go the extra mile.
- Understand your role and purpose. Knowing the part you are expected to play, and how your outputs contribute to the aims and objectives of the wider organization, helps you make a more valuable contribution and better decisions.
- Focus. Effectiveness is measured by the results you produce. It’s important, therefore, to be clear about your objectives and adopt a system to help you achieve them.
- Get organized. Working in chaos only creates confusion and impedes effectiveness, especially when you have a heavy workload. Keep your valuable information in easy reach and use your precious time to best effect.
- Don’t forget the detail. The smallest thing can make an entire project go wrong. Think about your service/outputs from a user’s point of view and think about what people are going to need to know, do or have.
- Be flexible. It’s important to be able to accommodate the working styles of others and adapt to changing environments to remain effective. Being stuck in your ways and unable to cope when things are unfamiliar will significantly hinder your performance.
- Use your head. People who can act and make decisions without the help of others add real value to team effectiveness. Using your initiative to get things done will not only heighten your profile, but also give you a great sense of achievement.
- Be positive. An optimistic, cheerful attitude can be one of the most powerful motivators. Adopting a positive state of mind helps you work through the hardest of times and helps encourage others.
- Think outside the box. Being able to think and do things in different ways will give you a greater capacity for original thought, creative problem-solving and working with others.
