Hello Family & #TGITues!!
We will come to the end of January by tomorrow & freshly land in February by Thursday.
January has been super awesome for me & my household.
My wife & I were just discussing about the fact that the month went by quickly & then she said “It was a very long month for others, we should be grateful.”
So I am grateful for God’s blessings & that we planned well for the new year, had enough to run through the festivities & met all of our obligations as 2024 started.
I am also praying for those who are not so fortunate for God’s intervention so that they are sorted in the next few days & into February too.
Yesterday’s post generated a few buzz & that is quite encouraging.
Today we will continue on the topic of VALUE.
At the office yesterday, a colleague came over to my desk after seeing & reading the post & then we started talking.
In our discussion, a related post I had published 9 years ago came to mind about the relationship between Office Politics & VALUE.
Please take time to read that post & glean some insights.
How to add Value?
Now that you know what value is & the link between it & Office Politics, let look at how to add value.
There are so many information out there about this topic, but I particularly like the LinkedIn article by Jon Jennings written April 2023 that lists the 8 actionable things an employee can do to add value to an organization.
They are:
1. Know What You Do Best
Conduct a SWOT analysis of yourself & your personality traits in line with your job. Amplify the Strengths, minimize the Weaknesses.
Learn the soft skills you need in addition to your expertise.
2. Meet (& Exceed) Expectations
Nothing fundamentally add value to your line manager & organization more than meeting & exceeding their expectations.
3. Identify & Solve Problems
There was an interview conducted with former US president Barak Obama last year & he was asked about his greatest advice to young people & he said “One thing he would advice is that they should learn to Execute: i.e. Solve Problems“
Develop the knack for identifying (not just identifying alone) but Solving Problems.
Be a Solution Provider, a Problem Solved!!
4. Focus on Results
Having ideas are great, but what really matters to an organization are results.
You need to track results with the aim of improvements all the time.
You can only improve what you measure.
Regularly measure the results & ensure it aligns with the organizational goals & objectives.
5. Work to Improve the Bottom Line
Any work that you are doing, any efforts neing applied that is not adding to the bottom line is not seen as valuable.
So even if you don’t directly work in sales or in finance, you must tell the story of what you do in such a way that it positively adds to the bottom line.
I’ve had to learn this over the years especially as a Technical person.
If you don’t provide a narrative that shows improvements to the bottom line, it’s difficult to be rewarded.
6. Improve Technical & Interpersonal Skills
You add value as you constantly work on improving yourself by doing additional courses or sitting for & passing some certification exams, possibly doing an MBA or Master’s in a field that is relevant to what you are doing now or want to do in the future.
7. Take Initiative
Taking initiative to resolve challenges & issues is a very strong way of adding value.
The more headaches & challenges you can eliminate for your line manager or boss, the more value you are adding.
8. Focus on Your Reputation
Your reputation is key to adding value within your organization.
Be known for your Integrity, Mastery (being a Subject Matter Expert), Your Empathy & Leadership qualities, etc.
Returns to Adding VALUE
Adding value at work is a two-way street.
The company you work for should also contribute to your growth and satisfaction as an employee.
Add & Multiply
While discussing with my colleague I highlighted that God is in the business of addition & multiplication he doesn’t subtract & divide.
Adding value to your organization is on one level, the next level is Multiplying.
This we will look at with the next post.
Please share your thoughts & comments on the series on career tips & let me know if there is a particular area you would like me to focus on.
Stay liquid & keep moving forward.
I AM SHALOMESQ!!!!!!!
Shalomesq Snippet 