Years ago when I worked in the steel industry we would get a flyer annually on the in-house education process. This included workshops and training sessions designed to enhance our performance at work, but this also included health, fitness and specialized classes for general information and skill building. I remember taking MS Office, aerobics, general fitness, animal tracking and web surfing, but there were pages of offerings designed for personal and professional growth. The company used to have a path designed for you, but now, you need to plot your own way and try to stay on track.

These days it is almost unheard of for a company to offer any classes that don’t directly improve job performance, so this is in our own hands. I really got a lot of of one of the bulletins on the PEOPLE Academy, Inc website that talked about self-development. It gave eight areas to concentrate on to improve your standing in the eyes of those around you, and also general how-to self-improvement exercises. I wanted to talk a bit about a couple of those.

First, think success. You know that you are an asset to the company, but have you really dug down and listed all of the ways you contribute to it? This exercise really made me sit up and think, wow, I have been through a lot of training and have contributed on many projects. My list included going through Six Sigma Black Belt training, Lean Manufacturing enhancement workshops, Job Hazard Analysis training, ISO Auditor training and a few other items. Sometimes as you move along, you tend to downplay or even forget the trainings that you have attended and when you reflect and write them down, you realize the worth you bring to the table.

A second point was be aware of the contribution you make on a regular basis and keep that in mind as you carry on in your assignments. Again, it is easy to get sidetracked by tangents, but by keeping focused on your main objectives, you will be seen as an integral part of the projects you are involved in. Understand how you contribute to the success of the team and even though you may not get feedback from your peers and supervisors, they are aware of your efforts. Recognising your own contributions is an important part of attitude. If you are not getting much feedback, ask! It can be easy to think that your efforts are not being noticed, but if you ask for specific areas where you could make improvements or specific examples of successes, you may be amazed at what has been noticed.

I don’t want to make this blog entry too long, so perhaps I’ll visit the self development bulletin again sometime in the future to touch on the other five bullet points.