Making It Big Monday

20 Tips to Accelerate Your Career and Get Noticed -Part 2

Last Monday we looked at the first ten tips to accelerate your career...here's the last 10 tips that can help you get noticed! If you haven't seen part 1 yet check it out here: http://loyalistcareercentre.blogspot.com/2011/07/making-it-big-monday.html

11. Be Positive and Enthusiastic. Don't think you have to be serious all the time. People want to be around happy positive people. Be one of those people. See the good. Speak positively. And encourage everyone! Watch how it comes back to you!

12. Seek Out Mentors. If you see someone who is successful that you admire, go ahead and contact them. You'll be amazed at what happens when you just ask. Offer to help them in some way. And in return hopefully you'll be able to build a relationship with that person and learn from them over time. Just like building your support base, seek diversity in your mentors. You might have a couple of mentors that approach things very differently or maybe they work on completely different things. Learning from people with diverse experience will benefit you greatly.

13. Manage Your Career. Don't wait for your boss to send you to training. Don't wait for your boss to set your quarterly objectives. Don't wait for your boss to write your reviews. Don't wait for your boss to give your career coaching. Take the bull by the horns because often these things don't happen. Your boss might not be a bad boss, but in the age of downsizing, they may simply be overloaded with responsibilities. Don't spend your time critiquing your boss and lamenting the lack of coaching. Realize that you are the only one who can make it happen. Set your own goals. Bring them to your boss. Make it easy for your boss to review you by handing him or her all of your accomplishments from the past quarter. And seek out coaching all the time from lots of different people.

14. Understand the Big Picture. It's very easy to fall into tunnel vision with your own career or with your work-group. You may think that corporate headquarters is not giving you the resources you need. News bulletin: everyone always feels that way. It's the human condition to always want more. That's fine, but learn to make it happen on your own and to make due with what you have available. Try to understand where the company is headed in the long term and how your team fits into the overall picture. Again don't spend precious time whining about corporate headquarters. Instead think about how your team can be a model for supporting the company's overall goals and think about how you can be a leader on that front.

15. Learn How to Motivate People to Take Action. This is a leadership skill. If you can influence people to do things you will be able to implement your ideas to improve the company and make a difference for clients, which, in turn, will grow your career. How do you do this? You start by understanding what is important to any given person or work group you are trying to enlist for help. You must offer them some benefit that ties into those things that are most important to them. Speak in their language. And act with integrity. Fulfill your promises to build trust.

16. Always Be Learning. Seek out training and education. Take night courses. Read business books and trade magazines. Learn from your mentors, heroes, and enemies. And learn from your mistakes. Make a habit of reflecting on what you learned each day. And be creative with what you learn. You may learn something completely unrelated, but perhaps there is a parallel that fosters a new idea to grow business. Look for these kinds of opportunities.

17. Self Promotion. It's important to let people know about the good things you are accomplishing. Don't think that by just working hard that you'll get noticed. You need to let people know. Higher-ups like to know these things because they can't know everything that is going on, so speak up!

18. Focus on Excellence. In everything that you do, do it well. Dress well. Be on time. Deliver on your promises. Produce high quality work. In turn your career will manifest in accordance with your focus on excellence.

19. Recognize Moments of Truth. Every day you have moments of truth. The only problem is that there is no dramatic movie music to spur you on to do the right thing. You must learn to listen to that little angel on your shoulder. Often no one is watching at a moment of truth. Do you make those sales calls even though your boss is at an offsite meeting, or do you take the opportunity to leave early and go golfing? Which one is going to further your career? Do you contact that Vice-President to offer your great idea or do you talk yourself out of it? Do you take the additional 30 minutes after work to prepare extra well for an important meeting or do you decide to wing it since you've done this kind of thing before? When you consistently do the right thing at many moments of truth, they will add up to a massive positive impact on your career.

20. Make Others Feel Good. It's the Golden Rule. Encourage, praise, and support those on your team, and everyone for that matter. Don't fear other people's success. Celebrate it. Be sincere and demonstrate that by being specific in what you say.

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/11/20-tips-to-accelerate-your-career-and.html, K. Stone