Think about success: How do you define career success, and how do you know when you’ve attained it? Perhaps there’s a particular salary level you’d like to reach, or maybe achieving success means working in your dream job. But think a little deeper. Say you get that dream job; imagine what would lead to you reaching your highest potential in that position?
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At Cheetah Learning, we tend to define success a little differently than most people. We find that the value you create for others is a crucial part of your own career success. Regardless of your job type or position, there are numerous ways you can leverage your strengths to help others reach their personal and professional goals. In this article, we’ll outline ways you can create more value for your “peers” in both your professional and personal life (i.e., co-workers, family, and friends).
The first step in creating value for others is to assess the state of your current social network. Start by grabbing a pen and a blank piece of paper. In the center of the paper, draw a small circle with your name inside. Around the circle, write the names of the people you interact with in your daily life. Add an outer layer to the circle by writing the names of people less involved in your life. Then, draw circles around the names corresponding to the amount of influence they have in your life; make the circles bigger for those who have the most influence. These big circles are the people who play the biggest role in shaping your personal and professional success. When you create value for the people who have the most influence (especially the most positive influence) in your life, you increase your own opportunities for success.
Creating value for your co-workers might seem insignificant. Isn’t the value you create for your clients, supervisors, and organization what really matters for your career? Here at Cheetah, we find that creating value for your co-workers is just as important for your professional success as is creating value for your superiors. This is because, as the cliché goes, no man is an island.
Even seemingly “individual” projects at work almost always require some collaboration. Project success ultimately depends on your ability to work with others. To most successfully collaborate with others, we suggest approaching projects from this perspective: What’s in it for them? Before you ask someone for help with something, pause to consider their point of view. If someone were to ask you for help on a project, would you prefer to be asked with “I need you to…” or with “I am working on X, and I could really use your expertise to do Y. Would you have time to help me with this?” This isn’t just about being polite. When you develop positive collaborative relationships with your co-workers, you learn to work on projects that build on each team member’s unique strengths. The benefits for your effort will come in terms of how fast you get projects done and how well you and your team members communicate with each other.
It’s just as important to think about creating value for others beyond the work environment. One of our mantras at Cheetah is, “Life is a series of projects.” Like any project you’ll encounter in the work environment, projects in your personal life have stakeholders, requirements, and deadlines. It may seem silly to worry about getting “stakeholder buy-in” for a personal project (e.g., planning a Christmas party), but it’s likely to involve the most important people in your life. By taking the time to figure out what’s in it for them, you’ll discover ways to engage them that creates value for all.
Creating value for the people in your social network opens opportunities for abundance and success in your career and personal life.
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