Do You Stand Out?
When was the last time your boss, your employees, your customers thought “Wow!” after dealing with you? You know, the way that Jeremy Lin has recently “wowed” us all. If it hasn’t happened in a while, maybe you should spend some time thinking about what it would take to do it. In these economic times, people (bosses, employees, customers) make choices. Our goal should be for them to choose us when it happens. What have we done for them lately to make them think it’s a no brainer? What makes you stand out from the crowd?
If you’re like most of us, most of your work time is spent on autopilot. You do a good (enough) job, you get bound up in the day to day goings on, and then you go home. There is a Harvard study that looked at employee performance that indicated that employees were delivering about 20% of their capability. Maybe you’re above that. You’re not at 90% of your capability, though, most of the time. That is how we perform when we are completely motivated and passionate about what we’re doing (and we’re doing it well). Autopilot isn’t good enough if you want to be the first one chosen for a promotion or the last chosen for a layoff . You need to stand out. You need to WOW.
What Does It Take To WOW?
What it takes to really WOW someone is situation and personality dependent. What really gets one boss’ attention isn’t the same that gets another boss’ attention. The most important way to do this is to take yourself off autopilot and focus on creating a WOW. How can you take it to a new level? What kind of performance/delivery/effort will get noticed. It is almost never working more hours or completing more tasks. It is usually the delivery, timing, or “never thought of that before” content of the product you present.
But . . .
I can hear you now: “I do deliver. It just doesn’t get noticed.” You may be right. Think of the example of Jeremy Lin. He delivered. (For those of you who don’t have a clue who Jeremy Lin is, he’s a great basketball player–Google him). He delivered consistently in high school and in college. He especially delivered, though, when the opportunity arose, when the challenge was greater. He got noticed by the Harvard recruiter when his team was playing tougher teams. He got noticed by all of us when he got the opportunity to play and key players on his team were hurt. Are you ready if you get the opportunity? Can you create an opportunity to get a WOW reaction?
Key to WOW
The key to WOW is not working harder. It is delivering something that really hits the spot that is above expectations. That takes some strategic thinking. What would that be in your situation? Think about it.
WOW! is Recession Proof Insurance.
Jo McDermott 