Ways to be excellent in the workplace

The Oxford dictionary defines excellence as the quality of being outstanding or being extremely good. An excellent achiever therefore is someone who attains more than the expected goals.

An excellent employee is one who possesses both good work ethics and work excellence. While good work ethics refers to being honest and hardworking, work ethics refers to an individual’s ability to perform his or her job extremely well. Some of the parameters that measure work ethics are integrity and honesty, positive attitude, love for work, punctuality and timeliness, enthusiasm and the amount of effort expended to perform job-related tasks.

The parameters used to measure work excellence include but are not limited to an individual’s contribution to organisational productivity, customer service excellence – both internal and external customer management - people relations where conflicts are amicably handled and minimised, team participation, continuous learning and also respect for personal values as well as those of the organisation.

Excellent people are those that have a fixated belief in continuous improvement. They are always in search of better ways to improve themselves and their performance. It is no wonder that many discoveries and innovations are attributed to persons of excellence.

The good news is that excellence is not an act but a habit. And this habit is developed by any willing individual who wishes to succeed. The following are some of the tips to develop excellence at the workplace.

Self-initiative

First is a strong desire for career success. Are you a win/win individual or a hit-o- miss person? The sleeping geniuses can only be aroused by champions and warriors who rise every morning to conquer the world and not those who simply pass through it.

Second is self-initiative and self-evaluation. Do you understand your job description and are your deliverables clear to you? If you do not understand then take the initiative to seek clarifications and form a habit of evaluating your performance regularly.

Third is professionalism. You must avoid a casual approach to work. For example, if you are an accountant, you must think, act and also dress like an accountant. Individuals must fully understand the professional conduct expected of their profession so that they can uphold the same if they hope to attain excellence in their performance.

Again, individuals should cultivate a high level of emotional maturity to foster healthy relationships with seniors and colleagues alike. This will enable them to respond appropriately to constructive criticism that is geared towards pushing the organisational performance up.

Servitude is also a major ingredient in attaining excellence in the workplace. It is said that “the secret of greatness is service to many” holds true as only individuals who seek to serve their organisations and their colleagues attain meaningful progress in their quest for career success.

Those who seek to serve enjoy job security and are guaranteed of being assigned extra responsibilities, which more often than not translate into promotions and salary increments. To fast-track your career growth, learn to be a person of excellence.

The writer is a Career Coach and the co-author of “The Career Code”. -Email: [email protected]