Are you grateful for work, but feeling lukewarm about it lately? Do you know you’re producing just enough to get by? Or do you watch the clock constantly, counting the hours until you leave? If any of these questions resonate with you, consider beefing up your level of commitment. This article, by Sylvia Hepler, helps to outline some of the key benefits to increasing your job commitment, respect and chance for a promotion.
Are you grateful for work, but feeling lukewarm about it lately? Do you know you’re producing just enough to get by? Or do you watch the clock constantly, counting the hours until you leave? If any of these questions resonate with you, consider beefing up your level of commitment. There are some significant benefits to doing so. Benefits like keeping your job, getting more respect, being chosen for a project, landing a promotion. Convinced you must deepen your commitment but don’t quite know how? Take a look at these ten powerful strategies.
Identify your strengths and use them often.
The more you put your strengths to good use, the happier you’ll be. Having your nose regularly rubbed into your weaknesses is a morale buster. Get clear about what you do exceptionally well, then actively seek opportunities to promote these gifts and skills.
Demonstrate your value to your boss.
Make sure your supervisor knows what you bring to the department or company table. Occasionally talk about your accomplishments in both formal and informal conversation. Be certain to inform, not brag. Provide evidence of what you can do. Volunteer to take on additional responsibilities that showcase your talents.
Discover if your personal core values align with your workplace values.
If these two sets of values align, you are well matched with the organization at large. Such alignment, at the very least, prevents you from feeling like you’re selling your soul. At best, it allows you to know you’re making meaningful contributions. If the values don’t mesh, you’ve got a major problem. Unquestionably, your commitment to this particular company is compromised at the roots.
Get enough sleep.
While this basic strategy may seem trite, it’s critical. If you’re chronically tired, your enthusiasm goes down the drain. How can you be genuinely interested in anything when you’re dragging your feet day after day? Restful, uninterrupted sleep over seven or eight hours each night lays the foundation for solid, inspired work performance.
Care for yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Optimizing your health—holistically—boosts your energy. When you have a lot of energy, you feel as if you can tackle anything, right? Eat foods that fuel your body. Start an exercise program that’s appropriate for you. Enhance relationships. Keep a journal. Commitment comes more naturally when you are energized!
Solicit feedback on your job performance.
Your boss should be giving you feedback on a regular basis, but if she’s not, ask for it. You have a right to know what he thinks of your work and behavior. After finishing a project, for example, directly inquire if the results met or exceeded management’s expectations. Once you learn that you are making the mark, you get to enjoy a sense of security that automatically increases your commitment.
Deal with stress.
Acknowledging stressors immediately and coping with them promptly protects you from permanent harm. Although stress is part of everyone’s life, it doesn’t have to damage or destroy you. Your commitment to anything--your job, family, hobbies, or volunteer responsibilities--lessens when you allow stress to wear you down.
Build positive relationships with your boss and colleagues.
It’s likely you are more committed to your job if you get along with your supervisor and most of your peers. Relationships count, and successful ones are worth more than gold. If you’re miserable in one or several key relationships at work, your level of commitment drops.
Just do your best work.
Dig into your work ethic. Do the best you can do every hour of every day. Make it your mantra. Don’t settle for mediocre or substandard results. Accept an obligation to perform at your highest level of capability. When you know you are doing that deep inside, you feel better about yourself and your commitment grows.
Engage in professional development.
Take charge of your own growth. Want to learn a new skill that can benefit your team? Check out the opportunities available to you. Whether the company pays or you do, understand that this is money well spent. It’s a wise investment in you as an individual, your current job, and your entire career./p
Of the ten strategies above, which one attracts you most? Which one will you try tomorrow? Which one do you think will make a difference for you immediately or over time? Increasing your job commitment doesn’t have to mean finding another employer. It may mean playing a bigger, smarter game right where you are.
What Message Is Your Professional Image Sending?
Do you have sense of how other people view you when they first meet you? Do you really know what others in your professional world think of you, even after years of being in a relationship with them? Do you realize what messages, spoken and unspoken, you are sending every single day? Have you thought about this? If you haven't already done so, it's time to pay attention to the direct and indirect messages you send. Your promotion may depend on it.
Helping Versus Damaging: How to Pull Off Constructive Criticism
Criticism is a necessary part of growing and improving both ourselves and others, but most of us don't do it well. Whether we're giving or receiving this negative feedback, these six essentials of criticism will help you better handle this often awkward and unpleasant situation.
Building Trust at Work: Three Essential Components
You can have a collection of intelligent, creative, and visionary people working together on a project, and if they don’t really trust that each person is going to do his share by the established deadline, there’s a big problem. The following article provides the three essential components for building trust in a work environment.
