Robert Villegas - How to Be a Great Employee: And a Greater Manager

First, well assume that you have a job and that you want to get beyond this job to bigger and better things. You want to climb the ladder of success, so to speak. But you dont know where to start because this seems like such an unimportant job, entry-level and, well, you feel like a freshman in high school again. Whats next?

The fundamental truth is that you cannot be a great manager or business owner without first being a great employee. And this is something that requires learning, experience and attitude. The attitude comes from you but the learning and experience you should acquire through diligent study and practice. Everything you do as an employee must be looked at as preparation for management and the more you apply yourself to that preparation, the sooner you will be able to bridge the gap between being an employee and being a business owner or manager.

A good place to start is by finding out some important things:

Who is the business owner?

How did he start the business?

What does the business do?

What are the company mission and vision statements?

How does your boss work? Is he or she a doer or a delegator?

What is the bosss work day like?

How does he or she treat the people who work for him?

Is he or she easy to approach or is he a long-distance manager who works through subordinate managers?

What are his goals for him- or herself?

What are his goals for the company?

How does he discipline errant employees?

There are, of course, some simple matters to which you should attend. The first is getting along with people. Youll never be successful if you cant take simple instructions from your boss and do it. Youll also need to be proficient at using the spoken word to communicate with other people. This isnt something you just get; you should study English communication and English grammar for starters. If you didnt go to a school that emphasized these skills, you can enroll in a college course or free course of some type. However, this isnt something that you can simply ignore. It is critical to your success.

In the meantime, you must also work on convincing your boss that you bring value to the company. Simply put, if he doesnt make money from your work, if he doesnt get back from you the money he spends on you, well then, you arent worth much. So, you need to address your job requirements with full focus and ensure that you do your job to the best of your ability. You cannot get around this issue.

For the future, it would be a good idea to look at the skills you will need for the jobs that are higher up on the ladder of your success. Look at these positions in the company and determine if you need to develop new skills which you presently do not have and schedule some time to take classes, read books, etc. so that you know those skills.

It does you no good to have a conflict with your boss if you arent first doing your job with skill and diligence. If you cant be productive, if you cant give value, then it is not his responsibility to give you more money than you are worth. This is a simple fact of reality. Forget about the ideology of social justice. If you cant perform your work, ideology means nothing. Why burden your boss with the chore of having to be fair to you when you are not being fair to him through your productivity?

Of course, your boss will never tell you this. In fact, Ive never heard a boss of mine tell me this important simple fact. You must work and you must produce or you will not be able to feed, house and clothe your family.

The principle that works best in business is value for value, mutual trade to mutual benefit. You must do everything you can to bring value to your company or boss; and you must do it fairly and honestly by knowing what your boss expects and doing it to perfection. This is not too much to expect.

To give an example, I once had a job as a marketing manager for my company. I saw that my company was struggling to get new business, so I took it upon myself (on my own time) to do some research. I found that there was an online source of information about available projects for which my company could apply. Asking a few questions around work, I discovered that my senior management had no idea about this source. There was an opportunity here. I began to look through this source and discovered that a local company was beginning to take up a project to use railroad easements to offer fiber optic and cable communications. I forwarded this information to my immediate manager and within a few weeks the company signed a $9,000,000.00 contract to develop this property. Thats how to bring value (and it helped me get a raise). Afterwards, my research became

part of my daily job and I was allowed to send what I uncovered directly to the company CEO. That got me noticed.

So, having a job is more than just punching a clock. It is more than just doing a mundane activity exactly as it is supposed to be done (although sometimes this is a value too); having a job is about bringing value to your company and the more value you bring, the more critical you are to the companys success, and the more money you will make and the sooner you will be promoted and be able to buy a nicer house for your family. You see, it is not about telling your boss to take his job and shove it. That job is a goldmine and you should treasure it. Change your attitude and youll change your life.