4 Critical Ways to Improve Yourself and Become a Better Employee

Many blogs, articles, and books published talk about how to be an effective leader but most often we tend to forget that being a great leader is just as crucial for employees to concentrate on their growth too. When you think really hard about it, everyone in the organization is an employee, including the leaders. At the core of it, being an effective employee means being a team player.Since leaders are a part of the team as well, this article is applicable to all working in an organization regardless of the position they hold or the role they perform. Check out these four tips on how to improve yourself by being an effective employee.

Be The Boss Of Your Career

According to Greenhouse’s head of people Cheryl Roubian, each employee must be the CEO of their career, but, where do you begin? Roubian advises to look to your colleagues and ask yourself what are the most skilled and talented people in your role doing. Compare how your skills stack up with them and make a list of those skills.The HR also suggests asking yourself a few questions, which includes which area would you like to improve, what steps should you take to make that improvement, and in what cases do you have to seek out your superior’s help? After that, bring your list and answer to your superior and ask for his opinion.You should expect a conversation on the next possible steps in the context of the broader business. While it might sound downright scary but any superior worth his salt will certainly appreciate your effort if you do this.

Recognize Failure Up Front

TD Ameritrade CIO Vijay Sankaran was quoted saying that acknowledging failure is a good thing because it offers valuable learning opportunities that could drive innovation and growth. This is expected for all employees within the organization especially from the HR. One of the crucial HR practicesis to maintain transparency and to be open to all employees in regards to the success and failure of the organization.Employees feel valued, respected, and trusted if the organization promotes transparency and open environment of communication and feedback. It also translates to employees to practice the same level of transparency and empowers them to be objective and to challenge the processes and tools in the organization that they think could be improved.More importantly, it helps employees to take initiative on something new while taking into consideration the risk of failure. By doing this, an employee not only improves himself but also elevate the entire team and organization.

Getting Enough Rest Should Be A Priority

One way to improve your performance as an employee is to get enough rest. According to MassMutual CEO Roger Crandall, although it has been reported time and again that executives get very little sleep, you should still try to get eight hours of sleep every night. This is because not getting enough sleep could be toxic to the executives, employees, and the workforce. The CEO emphasizes that sleep helps us sharpen memory, make better decisions, and prevents long-term health issues like Alzheimer’s disease.

Stay Motivated

With distractions almost everywhere, most of the time, it is hard to stay focused and motivated. A chatty coworker or notifications on your cell phone and emails could distract you and derail you from your track. You can solve this and become a better employee by trying to identify which of these distractions are among the biggest offenders of breaking your motivation and focus.You can even have a notepad with you and write down the things that make you lose your focus. In the long run, this will become a habit and you will see a pattern out on what you wrote down. Once you are aware of the things that distract you, you can improve your ways and change your habits.These are just simple things that you can do to improve yourself and become a better employee. But the best way to become better is to be interested in your own self-development. Learning will help you be updated on the ever-changing trends in the workplace and in the advances in technological innovation.Related: Simple Ways You Can Work on Self-Improvement