How to become a star performer at work

 

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a star performer at work? Are star performers born or made? These two questions are most relevant in today’s high-performance workplace characterised by a focus on quality products and services, reduced supervision and multiple responsibilities.

Management expects employees at all levels to produce superior work performance within deadlines. In this regard, employees should take heed that in today’s highly competitive and dynamic business environment there is “no job for life”.

As stated by Peter Cappelli, “The old employment system of secure, lifetime jobs with predictable advancement and stable pay is dead.” If you genuinely want to attain superior performance at work and make it an integral part of you – a daily habit – do continue reading.

What’s superior work performance?

Superior work performance is work that is done in an effective and efficient manner. Being effective means choosing the appropriate goals and attaining them. Effectiveness measures the degree to which predetermined goals are attained. It is essentially “doing the right things”.

An important element of effectiveness is “quality”, which is essentially “meeting or exceeding customers’ requirements consistently”. A customer is anyone to whom an individual provides any information, product or service.

Being efficient means minimising the cost or resources utilised in attaining predetermined goals. Efficiency measures the ratio of outputs such as products and services to inputs such as labour, materials and capital. It is essentially “doing things right”.

Simply put, superior work performance is doing the right things right. It encompasses primarily producing quality work within deadlines; accomplishing work objectives with minimum utilisation of resources; and making effective and timely decisions. It should be noted that no amount of efficiency can compensate for ineffectiveness.

Basics of quality

To enhance work performance, every employee should clearly understand the basic principles of quality. Quality involves doing the right things right the first time by understanding internal and external customers’ requirements, taking preventive measures to prevent defects from occurring, and making decisions based on facts.

Take heed that quality is not merely an attribute of a product or service. It is also a mindset. Quality must become a way of life for every employee. Without employees exhibiting the right attitudes in their daily work, quality improvement efforts are doomed to fail.

What separates stars from average performers

Research shows conclusively that star performers at work are made, not born. Based on Robert Kelley’s ground-breaking research, what really separates star performers at work from average performers is neither a higher IQ nor a higher level of self-confidence but rather it was how they made use of what they had.

What mattered ultimately was how the star performers went about doing their work (work strategies) in the workplace, including working well with others to get things done.

However, I must add one extremely important prerequisite for star performance at work: An inner desire to excel which transforms doing a quality job into a daily habit. In the words of Charles Dickens, “Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do it well.”

10 tips to improve your work performance

1. Form the habit of performing every job to the best of your ability. Focus on doing the right things right the first time and every time. Demonstrate initiative; do something above and beyond your job description which contributes to the attainment of key departmental goals. Follow through on major tasks to ensure their proper completion on time.

2. Know your job thoroughly. Keep track of the latest research or developments in your area of expertise. You should also have a fair working knowledge of what the other departments in your organisation do. Network with others – both inside and outside the organisation – who can assist you in enhancing your work quality.

3. Plan and prioritise your work well. Determine your key work goals on a monthly or weekly basis. Prioritise the various goals and draw up action plans with realistic deadlines to attain them. Concentrate on completing the vital goals first. If you are unsure about which goals are more important, double-check with your superior. Maintain a daily “To-Do List” which includes activities to attain your weekly goals. Prioritise them and estimate the amount of time required for each one.

4. Practise preventive management by building quality into the work process. Anticipate what can go wrong and take preventive steps to prevent those errors from occurring.

5. Organise yourself well. Maintain a well-organised desk. Arrange systematically on your desk the items you use most frequently. Ensure the working area directly in front of you is always clear. Clear your desk of anything you are not working on. Keep a notebook to jot down ideas and important information. Set up a personal file system. All files should be clearly labelled. File papers neatly in the appropriate file folder. Clean out your files periodically and discard information that is no longer needed. Tackle challenging tasks while you are fresh and energetic.

6. Learn how to make sound and timely decisions. Gather relevant information quickly; determine the root cause of the problem based on facts; examine the pros and cons of various alternatives; draw on the experience and knowledge of others; and then make the decision. Be creative. Challenge the established way of doing things.

7. Always double-check your completed work before submitting it to your superior. Ensure there are no factual or typographical errors.

8. Improve your communication skills. Practise speaking up at meetings. Learn to become a good listener. Focus on what is being said, and not how it is being said. Ensure that your body language does not contradict your oral messages. Check for understanding by soliciting feedback or asking questions.

9. Be a team player; cooperate and share ideas with others. Do ask for clarifications when in doubt and reserve judgement until all arguments have been heard. Demonstrate mutual respect and trust in team members. Give credit where credit is due.

10. Continually ask yourself the following three questions:

• Am I doing the right things?

• Am I doing things right?

• How can I do things better?

To conclude, every job is a self-portrait (direct reflection) of the person who performed it. Hence, decide consciously to autograph your work with excellence; take pride in everything you do.

Remember, you live only once and that life is too precious a gift to be wasted. Make a firm decision to become a star performer at work. In this regard, take heed of Aldous Huxley’s famous saying: “There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving; and that’s your own self.” - Mkini

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RANJIT SINGH MALHI is a widely-quoted authority on self-leadership, peak performance and soft skills. He has written six books on personal excellence, soft skills and management, three of which have been translated into Arabic.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.