What Value Do You Bring to Your Organization?
Today your experience and education is the price of admission to be in your position. What sets you apart from others is the uniqueness that you bring to your position or a project. Whether you are a leader in an organization or small business owner, being clear about the value that you bring can help you in positioning yourself for lateral positions, promotions, client visits, etc.
To help you begin crafting your value statements, spend some time thinking about the questions below:
What are the unique skills that only you can bring to any situation?
What do others tell you that you do well? You hear this complement consistently.
What are your top 3 strengths? If you do not know this you can find out easily using StrengthFinders 2.0.
What successes have you had in the last 6 to 12 months? Your career overall?
Thinking about your background and experiences, what is unique to you? For example, worked in different functions, countries, industries, etc.
What are your most enjoyable hobbies?
What talents do your colleagues not know about because you only use them during the evenings or on weekends?
What are your top 5 core values?
What can you glean from past 360 assessments or performance appraisals or client feedback?
Now some of you may be saying: what do some these questions have to do with understanding my value at work? Especially, the questions about hobbies and talents, how do those fit in? Once you answer these questions you will begin to see skills and characteristics that you bring to work situations even if your position description does not specifically requirement you to use them.
For example, if your hobbies are sewing or making furniture you probably have a greater attention to detail. It could very well be that you have never thought about this skill from a work perspective. This is unique to you…a value that you bring that a colleague may not bring. Or, how about sky diving, you are probably a risk-taker and may even be more agile when changes occur.
Now that you have more clarity about your value, how does this benefit you? For those going through a mid-year or annual performance appraisal, consider these when preparing your summary as well as when speaking with your leader.
Wishing you GREAT success!
