What is your company strategy? What is the culture of the company in which you work? What is your company’s ambition?
Ask any staff who pretends to love their job, you will be surprised that few, if any, know these things. Great performers share one characteristic – they take self-initiative to do the right things. They don’t just come to the workplace. They come to add value to the company.
How you may ask?
They understand the company’s ambition and strategic priorities by reading the company strategy and or asking senior colleagues where the organization is heading. Few companies win by luck. Even if the strategy is not written, there are specific behaviors and priorities the company pursues that creates value which customers pay for handsomely. The great staff know this and focus their lives in that area.
What culture delivers results, great staff will ask. Whether you are a remote worker or not, nothing beats a culture of respect – doing what you promise you will do, when you say you will do it; and timely communication.
In my over 15 years helping leaders navigate the ambiguous zone of strategy execution, staff who communicate well always shine. Business is about communication. Any staff who shares their priorities with the supervisor frequently has more chances of success than the one who does not. Why? Your boss is aware of what you are doing and can, therefore, defend you at any time. This also empowers your boss with the information they need to guide you.
To win, be the champion of the culture of frank and timely communication ongoing. Forget about the nonsense of over information. In this AI, big data and machine learning age, data is oil. So don’t fight the data. Provide it. Your boss will figure out how to make use of it.
The real threat lies in not enough data being provided.
If you don’t take time to know where the company is heading, priorities of your top managers and the company’s next big project, chances are high that you are spending too much time on projects marked for closure. The bus will indeed leave you if you continue burying your head in the sand thinking that the tsunami will pass by!
Copyright Mustapha B Mugisa, 2019. All rights reserved.
