Celebrating the new year is the perfect time for taking charge of your career! Resolve to focus on improving job performance, enhancing your image, and increasing your network and exposure. Focus on three things in January…
- Performance – Look Back
January is a great time to look back on your accomplishments of last year. Take time to collect the details behind your successes and prepare powerful stories that you can share with your manager during your year-end performance review. Identify the three accomplishments that make you most proud. Then:
- Use the “STAR Method” to create ninety-second stories. Outline the situation (when, where); describe the specific task, you were given; list the major actions you took to accomplish the task; and describe the results or impact of your work.
- Identify how your contributions added value to the organization. Money – you helped drive up revenue and profit or drive down costs; markets – you increased market share or reduced the time to go to market; or exposure – you increased customer retention or eliminated risk.
Get the details before you, and others, forget! How many people did you impact? How much money did the company make? Etc. Track down the details before the information is lost.
- Performance – Look Ahead
As early in the year as you can, speak with your manager and ask the following questions:
“What one thing, if accomplished, would have the greatest impact on the success of our department in the next 12 months?”
Then ask:
“What role would you expect me to play to support that one thing, and what does great performance look like?”
Use the answers to these questions to write your WOW Accomplishment. Write it down on paper and phrase it like a resume accomplishment. Describe the situation, task, actions you will take, and the result. Share your sentence with your manager and get their feedback. Once you agree on the wording – this becomes your primary focus.
I know what you are thinking – Ted I have multiple goals, projects, teams, etc. I get it, but the reality is you can become a superstar by achieving just ONE major goal each year. Leaders overestimate how long it takes to navigate a large organization to achieve meaningful results. To stand out, identify your focus early, then devote a minimum of 20% of your working time each week to achieving that goal.
Keep a log or diary where you document the steps you have taken each week to achieve the WOW Accomplishment. Do not spend more than 5 minutes completing this task. Make simple notes about meetings you attended, people you worked with, and actions you took. These notes will come in handy when it is time to write your performance review.
- Reactivate Your Dormant Network
In business, the whole month of January qualifies as “Happy New Year.” Use this to your advantage to connect with people you have not spoken to in a long time. Take the following steps:
- Review your contacts and identify people you have not spoken with in more than a year but want to reconnect.
- Author an email, call on the phone, or text a simple message.
“Hi it is [your name]. I know it has been a while since we were in contact, but I wanted to wish you and your family a happy new year. Hoping you have a healthy and successful [year].”
If you have moved or taken a new job since you last communicated, add a line about what you are doing now.
Then wait to see what responses you get. Use their response as the door to rekindle the relationship.
This blog assumes your organization has a December 31st fiscal year end. If your organization has an alternative year-end, complete your look-back and look-forward the month after books close. Many not-for-profit organizations have a June 30th end. So, you would start your look back in July.
Bottom Line
Start the new year off right. Accelerate your career by effectively communicating your value, focusing on the one accomplishment that will propel your career, and energizing your network.