Due to some reader requests, I am going to start blogging a little more on jobs and employment given that I am a boss. I have created a new category called “jobs”. Any suggestions on this topic are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I am a boss. I have supervised employees ranging from skilled professionals (lawyers, accountants, civil engineers), to middle level managers to the general receptionist. I am not sure if I have a managerial style other than most of my employees say I am pretty upfront with them. I readily admit because I am not in my 50’s or 60’s that I do not have a huge wealth of experience to draw upon so I do muddle my way through some situations but I also know what I like and don’t like about employees.

With the economy in for a rough ride for at least the next 12 months, its time to start thinking about things that will make you a valuable employee. The hard truth is most bosses won’t have a say in who stays and who goes. In some cases, there are much larger factors at work. But being a valuable employee may mean the boss may actually pull a favor or two for you to land another position. In other words, there may be a larger game at play here.

So what are some things that you, as an employee, can do to make yourself more valuable?

1. Be proactive. Here’s what drives me insane. I give task A to an employee. They do it and then they sit on it, not telling me its done. Bosses have dozens of things going on at once- most don’t have time to track don’t an assignment unless it is extremely time-sensitive. Be proactive. Tell your boss you are finished and want more work. If you boss gives you multiple assignments, ask which one has the highest priority. If you can’t find your boss after you finished some work, email them so at least they know its done. If they sit on it for days so what? That’s their issue, not yours. Being proactive gets you very far in the work-place and life since most people have a mind-set that their boss will fill their plate with work; most of the time, the boss is too busy to even delegate.
2. Care about the business. Its a soft skill but actually caring whether things are filed on time, the customer is happy with their experience and your co-workers are happy means a lot to your boss. Let’s be honest, most employees are there for a pay-cheque and will do the minimal amount possible to get it. If you actually show you care about the business (apart from the fact you need it to survive to get paid), it goes a long way.
3. Be a problem solver. Every work-place has an employee who I call “arms in the air” guy or girl. When some issue comes up, they throw their arms in the air maintaining the issue either cannot be solved or clueless as to how to solve it (hence, throwing their arms in the arm helplessly). Don’t be that person. Bosses hate that person. They are the first to go. As the saying goes, either be part of the problem or part of the solution. If there is an issue, volunteer to solve it. If you don’t know how, ask around. Its not that people don’t know how to solve the issue, its that there isn’t the political will to do so or “its not my department” (well, if its not your department, maybe we should eliminate your department first because what good are you to the business then if you won’t help us beyond your job description? Think about that next time you want to use that line since all you are doing is implicitly indicating you are redundant). There’s an old saying in business- its better to pitch to the board a solution that may not ending up working then no solution at all.
4. Show the boss you are learning from your mistakes. My favorite employee of all time once came into my office and said “how do we make sure this does not happen again next time?” By that simple question, the employee showed me: (a) she cared about her job; (b) she wanted to be a problem solver; and (c) she wanted to learn from the experience. She was recently promoted.
5. DO IT, don’t talk about it. I never like the employee who comes in to my office and talks for 5 minutes about what he is going to do, what he’s got on his desk and how he’s going to organize himself today and then tomorrow start the task after the staff meeting in the morning…. tell me when you are going to do it, do it in time and show me.

Many employees complain about their bosses micro-managing them or being control freaks. Sometimes, their boss is insane and it is true. But do you also want to know why some bosses micro-manage? They don’t trust you enough because you are not displaying some of the traits above.

My favorite employee referred to above? I never micro-managed her. You know why? She would come into my office daily (see #1), tell me what she had done (see #5), tell me the issues of the day and wanted to know if her proposed solution was ok (see #3 and #4) and chat to see how things were going on my end (see #2).

I hope this give you some food for thought.

Next week I am going to address how to ghost-write effective recommendation letters from your former employer if you are looking for work.