Increase the Value you Provide to your Current Company, Part II

By: Brian Quinn

As a summary from our last newsletter…

If your company had to make a very difficult decision to lay people off at your company, why should they NOT want to pick you? Or, put another way, how can you perform at a high level so that your chances of getting laid off are decreased? The key word here is PERFORM. I classify performance into 2 sub-categories: Technical and Non-Technical. Our March 3rd Newsletter focused on the “Technical” aspects. This edition focuses on the “Non-Technical” aspects.

Also from our last newsletter, recall that research has proved that “85 percent of the reason you get a job, will keep that job, and move ahead in that job has to do with your people skills and people knowledge.” So, let’s dive into this a little deeper.

There are 3 main areas I would suggest you focus on for “non-technical” improvement.

Learn about what is important to your supervisor and to your company and come up with creative ideas that will help them achieve their goals.
Always have a “YES, I would be happy to help with that” attitude.
Always focus on what you CAN DO or CAN IMPACT, not what you CAN’T DO or don’t have control over.

1. HELP Your Supervisor and Company

By spending time learning about your supervisor’s goals and the goals of the company, you can ask and suggest ways that you could help them to achieve those goals. One of the sayings of Zig Ziglar is…
“You can have anything you want in life, if you just help enough other people get what they want in life.”
This is the “Motto” of our company, and if you take the same approach of trying to find ways to understand what is important to your supervisor and your company, and have a sincere approach to finding ways to help them, you will be rewarded. When your company realizes that you are willing to go the extra mile to help them out, it will have a positive impact for you. One specific way would be to look at ways to improve any interaction you have with the company’s clients – both on the phone and in person. Making your company’s clients happy will result in them telling your supervisors about what a joy it is to work with you.

2. Have a “YES, I Would be Happy to Help with that” Attitude.

Have you ever noticed how often times when people are asked to help with something they complain about the task, roll their eyes, go back and talk negative to their friends about it and so forth? As a profession, I’ve found that structural engineering can be a very demanding job and likely your supervisor is under more stress than you may think. Therefore, anyone who has a great attitude and responds in a positive way such as “Sure, I would be happy to help you with that” is likely going to be more appreciated and advance faster. Think about ways to make life easier for people at your company!

3. Focus on what you CAN DO or CAN IMPACT

One of our prior newsletters spent some time on this as well, but the next time you start to say “I can’t …” – STOP! Find a way to rephrase your response to highlight what you CAN DO. Find ways to change what might have been a negative response into something positive. Also, don’t dwell on or think about issues that you can’t control or impact. Focus on what you can control and impact and work on those items.

Our next issue of SE Dynamics will focus on what you can do if you have been impacted by this economy and find yourself looking for a new career opportunity.
Also, for more in depth information on the topics covered today, join one of our FREE upcoming WEBINARS. We plan to cover these topics, as well as others, in the next few months. www.FindYourEngineer.com/webinars for more information.