Spread your tentacles across the organization by not only working with your immediate team but also looking for opportunities to work with teams from other departments.
This enables you to learn what other teams do, create new working relationships and raise your visibility in the workplace because others will in turn know who you are and what you do.
Other avenues for participating are office social committees that help in planning office activities such as baby showers, annual parties, team lunches, employee appreciation and awards ceremonies, office contests and games, office parties, ice cream socials, happy hours etc.
4.9 Stepping in when someone is unavailable or absent
Ways of assisting include offering support in doing routine tasks or even during emergencies and acting as a backup when a colleague is on vacation then working with your manager on prioritizing tasks.
Additionally, you can extend your help to support colleagues who work remotely and also staff who are out on business travel or in the field.
4.10 Being innovative/improving systems, processes and procedures
Innovation at work can take the form of coming up with new ways of doing things or improving existing systems and processes.
Ways of developing your innovation skills include the following: questioning the way things are, asking how tasks can be done better, inventing unique solutions to problems, looking at unrelated industries and professions for inspiration, combining unrelated ideas to come up with new methods, asking colleagues for tips, suggestions and ideas and dreaming big and visualizing expected outcomes.
Other ways are looking for people to critique your ideas and offer suggestions for improvement, seeking feedback from customers, observing competitors, analyzing constant complaints to identify patterns, setting high goals that stretch your abilities, reading books and watching video tutorials for inspiration and collaborating with others on improving things.
More ways of honing innovation skills are revisiting failed ideas to see if they are salvageable, seeking coaching and training to expand your thinking, acknowledging failure as part of the process towards innovation, attending industry events, exhibitions and conferences, participating in focus groups and making regular upgrades, edits and changes to services and products.
4.11 Resolving interpersonal conflicts at work
Unresolved conflict can manifest itself in different forms such as tension, negativity, backbiting, uncooperativeness, name calling, hostility, nitpicking, silent treatment, unhappiness, arguments and undermining each other.
When you have a misunderstanding with a coworker , take the initiative to work out your differences as quickly as possible.
Sometimes you could be the one in the wrong and at other times you could be the aggrieved party. It pays to acknowledge the problem, privately discuss it, find a middle ground or a resolution, apologize and find ways to move on.
4.12 Offering to mentor others
You could be surprised by how much knowledge you have to offer especially if you have been in a company for a while.
As a mentor you can offer a support system for others, help in on-boarding, answer matchocean promo code questions about the company, transfer skills, offer encouragement and help others to grow in their careers.
Additionally, you can motivate others to reach their goals and act as a sounding board to listen to and help refine mentees’ ideas.
Benefits of being a mentor consist of developing your leadership and coaching skills such as giving feedback , becoming better at guiding others and communicating well.
Mentorship enables you to increase your network within a company and is likewise a good way of giving back to others.
4.13 Volunteering for leadership roles
A good way of showing initiative is volunteering for leadership roles at work such as leading events or meetings, leading planning sessions and working with different teams and departments.
