Perfectly Indispensable – 11 Ways to Impress Your Boss

High unemployment rates, volatile markets, and the constant need for businesses to run leaner are all great reasons to become indispensable at work. Let the perfect employee that lives within you radiate through your office, and recession proof yourself!

Increase your personal stock value and make sure you get noticed with:

11 Ways To Win at Work…And Impress Your Boss

1) Be timely and accountable. No one ever needed an employee who was a day late and a dollar short.

2) Use communication properly. Make sure you listen as much as you speak. Communication must go both ways or it doesn’t work.

3) Develop team morale. Don’t just bring in doughnuts on Fridays, offer to help a colleague who you know is overwhelmed. Volunteer to spearhead the project that nobody wants to take on and develop a fun and exciting way to tackle it.

4) Solve issues with solutions, don’t complain. “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” In this case, as long as you have a suggestion on the issue, you can bring it up. Otherwise, keep it to yourself until you have an idea.

5) Know the industry. Spend personal time reading relevant and reputable articles that are in line with your work.  By keeping up on the latest and greatest, you are sure to help the business succeed.

6) Pick the hard action-items. When you leave your comfort zone, you will get noticed.

7) Become a SME. Subject Matter Experts are important to your boss and your co-workers. If you are the go-to person for a system, procedure, or difficult client, nobody wants to lose you.

8) Be productive, not just quick. Sure Sally can finish five projects in a day, but none of them are completed properly. Put the extra time into the details and make your pizazz show–your boss and customers will notice.

9) Commit yourself. Sounds pretty straight-forward, but commitment is hard. Luckily, it is also worth the trouble.

10) Embrace and share a positive attitude. Nobody likes a “Debbie Downer” or “Negative Nelly”. Look for that silver-lining and share the positive vibes. It will make your work day happier and more productive, and it might rub off on your coworkers, too.

11) Be reliable. If your boss can’t trust you to turn in something by the deadline, you will quickly be replaced. However, if you have a reputation for always being on time and turning in quality work, that will be duly noted by your peers and management.

Be Indispensable

Once you have mastered these behaviors, you are sure to be considered an indispensable part of your team. Of course, you should know that you will be held to these high-standards that you have created for yourself, too. If you happen to fall short of expectations one day, it will surely be noticed. But all in all, that is a small price to pay compared to what you will gain in not only job security, but most likely in additional financial rewards too. Raises, promotions, special projects and accolades will be yours for the taking!

Image credit: the garden of forking paths by Snap (contact)