{"id":161,"date":"2016-04-03T15:19:34","date_gmt":"2016-04-03T15:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/?p=161"},"modified":"2016-04-03T15:20:40","modified_gmt":"2016-04-03T15:20:40","slug":"can-you-advance-without-becoming-a-workaholic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/can-you-advance-without-becoming-a-workaholic\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Advance Without Becoming a Workaholic?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"workaholic\"<\/a>Your boss spends at least one day out of the weekend in the office. Or your boss is on the job till 7 pm most nights. Does this make you think, \u201cI have to do the same if I\u2019m going to succeed!\u201d Maybe not everyone thinks that way, but I sure did! One of my bosses was in the office every Saturday. And nearly every evening, he was there when I left. I started to think that this was what was expected of me. But I had a family, and kids still at home, I wasn\u2019t sure this was really what I wanted to do.<\/p>\n

I decided to mention it to my boss. I wove it into the conversation when we were talking about someone junior to me. He mentioned that he didn\u2019t think this particular employee was dedicated to his job. So I asked him to tell me what he meant when he said \u201cdedicated to his job.\u201d Did he expect overtime? Working on weekends? To my surprise, and relief, he told me that he didn\u2019t expect long hours, and certainly not weekend job responsibilities. He did those things because his family lived in another city and it was easy for him to spend long hours at work. Instead, he wanted to see passion in his employees. <\/strong>He said,\u201cpeople who work for this company should have a real desire for their work, and demonstrate value.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what is expected of most employees? How do you get ahead, without dedicating your life to your organization? Here are some tips from career coaches.<\/p>\n

Be engaged.<\/strong> If you are engaged, you\u2019re part of the solution. How can you help? Your attitude shows through and more people want to be around you.<\/p>\n

Be a person who takes action<\/strong>. Have you ever been in a meeting where someone keeps telling you, \u201cit won\u2019t work.\u201d It drives you crazy, doesn\u2019t it? Instead of saying it won\u2019t work, try coming up with a solution. You take ownership. Demonstrate the creative problem solving skills you have.<\/p>\n

Work smarter. <\/strong>Long hours don\u2019t necessarily mean you are more productive. Take a minute to think through your project and see if there are overlapping areas that aren\u2019t necessary. That\u2019s what business process re-engineering is all about. Companies and organizations start fresh. They look at a process and determine what activity is no longer productive. Working smarter means planning your time more effectively.<\/p>\n

Focus on relationships. <\/strong>Advancement rarely happens in a silo. Instead, managers what to know that the relationships you\u2019ve built are solid. It\u2019s important that people who work for you think highly of you. And in building relationships, you never know what gems of knowledge you\u2019re going to uncover.<\/p>\n

Take on new challenges.<\/strong> Do you hide from new projects? Instead of thinking of the work that new projects entail, think about how, if done right, that new project might just help you learn new skills \u2013 skills that will be important to the business as you move forward.<\/p>\n

Think Big<\/strong>. Instead of being mired in the details, think about how you can achieve more. If you\u2019re going through a checklist, you\u2019re probably thinking of tasks. Look at the big picture instead, and come up with ideas that might grow the business.<\/p>\n

When it comes right down to it, the one thing that separates successful people from others is the smart decisions they\u2019ve made \u2013 not the hours they\u2019ve spent on the job.<\/p>\n

More successful employees result in a more productive organization. Does your organization need help with career development? Leah M. Joppy & Associates provides training at all levels. Give us a call at 301-670-0051 and let\u2019s discuss your needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your boss spends at least one day out of the weekend in the office. Or your boss is on the job till 7 pm most nights. Does this make you think, \u201cI have to do the same if I\u2019m going to succeed!\u201d Maybe not everyone thinks that way, but I sure did! One of my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,6,7,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163,"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions\/163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}