Being a star performer means making success look effortless!
What’s the downside and upside of being a star performer? Well, the more you can do with apparent ease, the more you get to do. Is that really a downside though? Is having a challenging workload not simply a sign to think about how to approach and resource it? The upside of being a star performer is usually feeling more fulfilled and having sustainable performance and career growth.
Employers want star performers. Being able to perform under pressure and deliver a hefty workload is expected by employers. Here are the 5 steps to do just that.
1. Stay grounded by giving yourself a feeling of control and by taking responsibility
We perform better when we feel in control of our workload. What makes you feel in control? For some, it is having a tidy-desk, systems in place so that information can be found with ease, to-do lists, project-lists, and /or simply asking a powerful question such as ‚what output must I deliver today to make a positive impact and move forward?‘
We perform and feel better when we take responsibility and avoid victim-thinking. Anticipate and work through obstacles rather than letting obstacles get on-top of you. Work out what is helping and hindering you in achieving your workload on a weekly or even daily basis; leverage what works; minimise or overcome what doesn’t work and what is standing in your way. This is an easy and highly useful skill to build. It will help you feel more in control too!
2. Have clarity of direction
Having clarity of direction will help you make the right judgements about what to expend your energy on. What are your goals and objectives? Do you know how your work contributes to the bigger organisational picture? (This is simply a matter of linking what you do to what the organisation does. You can find out about your Organisation’s direction by looking at its vision, mission, strategic goals, and so on). There is nothing more unproductive than moving goal posts. Having clarity of direction is the ‚antidote‘ to this scenario.
3. Make wellbeing your business
The more we look after ourselves the more we can give and get. When you run on empty (missing lunches, relying on caffeine to keep going, and so on) it catches up with your performance, career, and last but certainly not least, your health. You risk giving the impression of being ragged (not in control) rather than rested.
When you look after your wellbeing you build resilience from a psychological, physical, and nutritional perspective. You will recognise when pressure can become stress for you and take action to nip it in the bud, before it has a chance to take root and derail you. Stress is the number one career derailer. Take time out to relax, recharge, and renew – it’s vital to your wellbeing.
4. Review how you work on a regular basis
It can be easy to fall into a habitual way of working, to forget to stand back and question how we work. Is there an easier, faster, more efficient, more effective way of doing things? Could your connections and core working relationships be stronger? Positive working relations provide you with a support network and affect work success. What winning ways of working could you implement, whether incremental or radical, so as to step up and ahead? Remember to breakthrough with progress not perfection.
5. Skill-up!
Continuous professional and personal development is vital for sustainable performance and career growth. Work-life flows when skill meets challenge and opportunity. Are you able to meet the challenges and opportunities in your work-life? If not, what knowledge, attitude, skills, and / or experience could help? Manage your own learning by linking your current skill-set to your present situation and your desired situation. What’s the gap? What’s worth developing in? Star performers develop their performance and career, so much so, their success seems effortless.
© Copyright 2013, Sue Douglas, Work-Life Flow
Immobilienmakler Heidelberg Makler HeidelbergSource by Susan Douglas