Everybody wants to stand out from the crowd and earn a promotion. But not everyone knows how to do it, and some people feel stuck doing the same things without feeling appreciated or recognized. At some point, you might feel invisible at your workplace and around your colleagues. Doing your job well and connecting with your colleagues can keep you around, but is that what you really want?
Standing out is all about helping other people succeed. This includes helping your company, your peers, your clients and others involved. Here are the four effective ways to stand out at work.
1. Be Proactive
Being proactive and taking initiative at work are great ways to stand out. Do all that you are asked to do, and all that you aren’t. Rather than waiting for somebody or something, take action. Creating a personal side project is a great way to take initiative.
Excelling at a side project can help you stand out and adds value to the company. Look for areas you can improve and be proactive. It surely takes more brainpower to make decisions, but a wise decision maker is after all a great employee.
2. Work Smarter
Being productive is really different from being busy. Working hard doesn’t always result in accomplishment of tasks. It is important to make sure your productivity is actually the best you can offer. Try to have a weekday when you can totally focus on your project at hand. Share your optimizers with others to help them be productive. Many people take verbal stands while few put effort behind the opinion.
For example, a project goes off the rails and everybody is pointing out flaws. You can show you can work smart by jumping in and fixing it. Everybody talks about problems. Those who resolve them stand out. Such smart work cannot go unnoticed.
3. Be an Expert at Something
However lofty the standards are, meeting them is not the way to stand out. You should go above the norm. Be known for something specific. Everybody at work needs sources of knowledge on specific subjects. Try to be the person your colleagues and boss come to for knowledge and advice on a particular subject.
Get a certification to prove that you really know enough. You can even consider writing expert content on the subject for your company, so that others can benefit from your expertise too. Pick a good subject and excel in it to make others notice it. Think of yourself as a consultant and find ways to add value to the business you work for.
4. Volunteer More
Make sure you participate actively if your company offers a volunteering program. If it doesn’t, be proactive and initiate. Helping others is an excellent way to stand out. Volunteer service engages people, promotes loyalty and drives productivity. Take an extra shift, assist your co-workers with their pending projects, and volunteer to clean the workplace. Seek cross-functional projects which increase your visibility across departments.
These are some small volunteering opportunities show that you care about your company and people. Such acts may go unnoticed but, over time, builds goodwill for delivering them.
