5 Critical Choices You Must Make Every Day At Work

The workplace is evolving and your success is highly dependent upon the choices you make to influence its future – and equally your own. As the marketplace changes faster than ever before, organizations and their brands are attempting to reinvent themselves to stay relevant – beforetheir competitors pass them by. The speed of change also makes you more accountable for the choices you make to survive and thrive in a workplace that is testing your overall contributions every day – made all the more difficult as the playbook for success and eventual significance is constantly being reconfigured andredefined.

Every day at work you are faced with choices – not always easy when politically charged with the hidden agendas of others. Let’s face it, you are trying to figure out how to best fit in and get discovered. You realize that to advance in your career, how others perceive you must be in alignment with the expectations you can be counted upon to consistently deliver.

To stay in control of what others are saying about you, youmust always reflect the identity you seek to establish for yourself within the organization you serve. This means thatyou must be ever mindful of your unique differences and perspectives and how they can be best leveraged by theleaders and colleagues throughout your organization. In the new world of work – where everyone is attempting to establish themselves at a time when people are more uncertain about the future – you must take accountability for yourself.

1. Do You Consistently Overdeliver?

It’s no longer enough to do your job – that is, using your job description as the basis for your responsibilities and deliverables. In today’s workplace, you must overdeliver and define new standards and metrics for success. Overdelivering is not just about performing your primary job duties/functions, but about helping others do theirs too – well beyond the obvious. Overdelivering means being active and visible well beyond the job – by participating in corporate social responsibility, community outreach goals, etc.

If you are only doing what you believe others expect from you – challenge yourself to find new ways to do things better. Never be predictable. Consistently overdeliver and keep others on their toes. Allow your influence to propel others to equally overdeliver.

2. Do You Hold Your Boss Accountable?

I am not referring to what many people call “managing up.” Holding your boss accountable in this case is more about making sure that he or she is pushing you and providing you the guidance to ensure you reach your full potential. This is what a leader or boss is ultimately responsible to do. Unfortunately, not many leaders are good at this – if they are more interested in themselves rather than advancing themselves by serving others.

In an assessment by my organization, we asked leaders if they are vulnerable with their employees and/or colleagues; 69% of leaders said that they were vulnerableonly “sometimes.” The question is intended to reveal if leaders actually know that it is in their best interest to be vulnerable if they are going to make others feel safe to speak-up; to share their ideas and ideals. Unfortunately,vulnerability has been associated for much too long as a weakness or as exposing one’s limitations.

Truth be told that in today’s workplace, everyone is in search of answers – new, fresh ways of doing things – and if we can’t be vulnerable, how can we solve for problems together; if we are not aware of our opportunity gaps, how can we be more efficient and effective. This is how we will eventually be able to discover the full potential in one another – and the business we serve.

3. Do You Strive To Be More Inclusive?

Being inclusive means that you must be more open-minded to fresh perspectives, new approaches and opinions. Make the smart choice of getting out of your comfort zone, be more curious and make room for diversity of thought. It’s no longer about what you know, but what you do with what you know. We live in a wisdom-based economy and your ability to bring the right people into the right conversations – to see beyond one’s job title and job description – is an absolute must.