10 tips to live by if you want to keep your job
September 16, 2009 · Tagged with Career and Work
3. Everything Is Your Job
Demonstrate your commitment to the overall success of your team and your company by taking on tasks that fall outside your job responsibilities. Pitch in on packing up the trade-show booth. Manage your own schedule/address book/travel plans. Offer to take notes and follow up after every meeting.
Nothing is beneath you. The little things you do above and beyond your job description will serve you well when it’s performance appraisal and/or downsizing time. Forget your fancy title, your impressive résumé—and your ego.
4. Walk Away from the Water Cooler
When straits are dire and headlines scary, the last thing your company needs is negative, gossipy employees who polarize colleagues into an us-vs.-them dynamic. Employers value passionate overachievers whose uplifting attitude contributes to a more energizing team culture. Whatever it takes, keep the negative mindset out of the office. This is your mantra: No complaining, no blaming! Dwell on what can be rather than what can’t.
5. “Unwritten Rules” Are Now Engraved in Stone
Show up early, stay late. Everyone notices people who leave on the dot of 5 (or before) or take very long lunches or excessive coffee/smoking breaks. Don’t get a reputation for being one of those people who takes forever to respond to an e-mail, voicemail, or a simple question. Vigilantly follow up on all assigned action items. Management is increasingly scrutinizing your every move.
6. Step Up—and Wear Very Big Shoes
Don’t wait for someone else to solve your problems. Your manager needs to hear how the organization can trim costs, manage the supply chain better, find a new client, improve processes, motivate the workforce, and deliver the next big thing.
Observe what your competitors are trying and testing, read everything relentlessly, and ask people how you can improve what you do.
Your goal here is to make sure there’d be a gaping hole if you were no longer around. Make the choice every day to do work that really matters to the success of the team and the company. Put yourself in a position that is crucial to the success of a new initiative, or dig in to solve a vexing, long-neglected problem. Maintain a bias for action in every meeting.