Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2021 - 27

responsibility for outcomes and the
quality of their work, act with greater
empowerment and care deeply about
the business mission and the contribution
they make to it. They view their work not
as an extension of their identity but as a
reflection on their character.
Being unsure about how you can add
greater value to your organization is not
uncommon. Help employees discover
their own unique purpose within the
organization by asking them to take the
following steps:
* Reflect on the unique set of skills and
experiences that you bring to the
organization. Create a comprehensive
list. Even skills that don't seem
relevant may add hidden value to the
organization's mission and purpose.
* Understand the longer-term goals
of the organization by doing your
homework, talking with leadership
and really listening to what is being
said and done.
* Assess how your experience and
abilities intersect with the strategic
goals of the organization and the
expectations of your role.
TALENT AND SKILL ACQUISITION
Super-performers offer talents in
many areas but never stop learning.
They seek opportunities to leverage,
strengthen and expand their capabilities
so that they can contribute to the
organization in deeper, more significant
ways. They take pride in continuously
improving their abilities and challenging
themselves to learn more and be better
in their current roles, but they also set
themselves up for greater influence in
the organization in the future.
This is not to say that all superperformers
desire a management
track; to the contrary, some superperformers
are
most
effective
as
individual
contributors - but they
willingly share their knowledge and are
often viewed and respected as experts
and mentors. Super-performers hone
and leverage their strengths but are
also keenly aware of their weaknesses.
This humility allows them to readily
seek feedback, be coachable, learn
from others and grow continuously as
people and professionals.
Making an honest assessment of your
strengths and limitations can be difficult
even for people who are profoundly
self-aware. To help employees gain a
better understanding of what they bring
to the table (and some things they may
need to work on), ask them to complete
the tasks below:
* Ask someone you trust to create a
list of your strengths and a list of your
development needs. Meet with that
person to discuss their perspective
and be very open to their feedback
and ideas.
* Decide which of the listed items have
a bearing on the way you want to
work, your career aspirations or your
ability to contribute more value to
the organization.
* Create development goals for both
your strengths and your limitations
that will allow you to get to where you
want to be. Discuss your goals with
your leader or a trusted mentor.
FOCUS, DISCIPLINE AND
FORWARD MOMENTUM
Super-performers have a clear
understanding of their priorities and
focus their attention and efforts on the
tasks and projects that will support their
larger goals. They are less concerned
about the volume of work they do
and more focused on how it provides
inherent value to the organization.
Super-performers spend their time doing
the right things rather than more things.
They make tradeoffs by weighing the
urgency, importance and value of a task
against the finite time and physical and
mental resources they have available.
They use their understanding of the
organization's mission and their own
intuition to decide what really needs
to be done to move themselves, their
teams and the organization forward -
and then they get to work.
They have the fortitude to set ideas into
motion and the drive to finish what they
anyone can Be
taugHt how to
raise tHeir
PerforManCe to
a higHer level -
anD it has little
to do witH getting
more done.
start, using their situational awareness
and knowing instinctively when a given
set of conditions may require greater
levels of effort, timeliness, precision or
care. Super-performers are creative but
also extremely disciplined. They know
when and where to follow strict rules
and use prescribed processes to ensure
that they meet their responsibilities with
accuracy, efficiency and speed, but they
also know when they can improvise in
order to increase their output or meet a
tight deadline. Many super-performers
create their own processes or structure
within their workflow, allowing them to
move through their responsibilities with
greater speed and ease.
With seemingly endless to-do lists,
many people in today's organizations
struggle to keep their heads above
water. To help employees prioritize their
responsibilities and decide where they
really need to be spending their time,
use the process below for guidance:
* Document your responsibilities and
rank their importance in terms of their
true value to the organization. Decide
what can be deleted, delegated or
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Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2021

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