VALUES FOR VALUE By Muyiwa Afolabi Value is the worth attached to or placed on anything. Be it a person, a place, an idea, a business, a brand or currency. The value of something can keep oscillating depending on the behaviour of that thing. The value of something determines how it is treated, handled, desired, wanted and paid for. Value generally stems from the need for an item. If an item is in great need and relatively scarce, the value tends to appreciate. If on the other hand the need for it begins to decline or its availability grows, its value begins to depreciate. So value generally is a function of scarcity and need. The question this morning is how valuable are you? As explained earlier, scarcity and need leads to appreciation of value; growing worth is a function of scarcity and growing need. For example, in Nigeria where preservation of crops like fruits is not so in place, you find fruits becoming very cheap in their season and so costly outside their seasons. Simply implying scarcity drives value and are connected especially where there is a dire need for the item. Because value is not fixed and oscillates according to need there is then a duty you owe yourself to ensure at every point in time you remain valuable to your organisation through uncommon capacities and the need for your competence to command the highest possible price from your employer. For your value to remain high in your organisation you must first be needed by your employer and secondly, your style, productivity, ability and solution mindedness must be uncommon. It must be scarce, not easily replaceable. Thats how to consistently remain valuable in your organisation. What are the things you need to do as an individual to ensure your value remains high and relevant? What are the attributes or behaviours that are uncommon and unique to high value employees? Ill share some of them in this piece. Lets go... 1.Define your style – sit down and write down your personal values and principles as it relates to your productivity. Every outstanding employee is differentiated on the account of performance principles and personal rules. You must be different from others based on certain personal work ethics. You cant afford to flow with the majority or with whats popular on the job if you want to be distinct. You must have some attributes that are not common that will be visible in your methods and deliverables. These principles must of course be positive and of high standards. Let your work stand out. Be painstaking in your approach to work. Being the best is first of all an input before its revealed as an outcome. Strive always to be the best, be creative; be original. Let your work be interesting, exciting and invigorating. Let it stand out. 2. Learn and understand the whole business –think like the business owner. Be interested in every aspect of your organisation. It makes your judgement sound and your team interaction efficient. Your strategic ideas are more on point and your advice more realistic. The ability to understand the big picture puts you on top of issues and you become a better planner. Knowing the strengths, weaknesses, processes, and lead time of other departments gives you an edge. Be interested in the details of the business as well. Dont just know what, know the whys. Find out the reason behind decisions. Dont assume and draw wrong conclusions. See the vision and feel the mission of your company. Even if nobody takes it seriously, be different by being loyal to it. Learn from everyone. Dont look down on anyone, you dont know everything, you can learn from anybody. 3.Be analytical, see the future, anticipate and predict outcomes. Information that is not applied or utilised amounts to nothing. Information is meant to be used for great achievements. Whatever you know or any information youve gathered, make sure you use it. Not to show off, but to apply for the benefit of the business. You must be able to correctly articulate the implication and the relevance of any fact to the business. Be the guide and a leading light into the future of the business through very accurate predictions of implications. Let your views and opinions count when your team makes a decision. Let them want to hear you speak, being sure youll make good sense.Be a thinker. 4. Achieve results through people – learn to use the strength of others for excellence, respect and use their strengths. Yes many of your colleagues may have weaknesses so obvious and loud its a turn off. To look beyond this and see their strength is a virtue that can be quiet rewarding and useful. Garnering the collective strength of every relevant person around you to achieve or accomplish a task naturally puts excellence in it. You cant be better than everybody at everything so use their strengths to enhance the quality of your own performance and output. No matter how impossible people may appear to be, everyone has a password. 5. Always beat deadlines – make sure you deliver every task within the time frame set. If it is impossible, say so from the start and ask for more time within reason. You ability to consistently complete your tasks within time builds for you a respectable reputation. You are seen as very competent and efficient hence, more responsibilities would be shoved at you and with this comes your elevation. Always beat deadlines, dont make excuses, prioritise your work, and dont be given to too much leisure, lounging and gist. Make your work number 1. 6. Specialise in impossibilities – Lastly, make an effort to have a passion for so called ‘impossibilities’ within your organisation. Many mandates and requirements are perceived to be near impossible to achieve simply because no one has tried other ways around it. Hence there is a wrong conception that things cannot be done in certain ways. Your will to challenge this ideologies and do the impossible will make you a superstar faster than anything else. What is that task that is generally believed cannot be done? Take it on, study it, apply your mind and find a way around it. Crack it and become a star instantly. To be valuable in your organisations these personal values would definitely stand you out, make your employee type uncommon and needed and you will generally command very high price with your employers. Imbibe these values and upgrade your worth. This is the secret of outstanding employees. Now you know. Then do it. Enjoy your day.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 10:00:41 +0000