In terms of professional development within the family business, expectations are something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, meeting expectations is one of the best ways to continue to strive for success in your field, regardless of what that field happens to be. On the other hand, there will certainly come a time where simply meeting the expectations of your employer won’t be good enough anymore. In many ways, simply meeting expectations is akin to doing the bare amount of work required to be considered a success in the first place. Hitting your target and not taking things that extra step farther can also hold you back in a business environment in the long run.
If you want to continue to distinguish yourself as a a valuable employee in the family business, provide yourself with priceless job security and also propel yourself forward in your career at the same time, you need to learn how to outgrow and outperform professional expectations. There are a few key ways in which you can do this depending on the situation that you find yourself in.
1. Learn How to Manage Expectations Given the Situation
By and large, one of the best ways to exceed the expectations of an employer is to manage them in the first place. You need to take time at the start of the process to really understand not only what your boss is expecting – especially if he or she is a family member or parent – but why he or she expects it at all. Understand their perspective on project deadlines, deliverables and other variables through frequent communications. By their very nature, it is essentially impossible to exceed unrealistic expectations. If you do your part in helping to get those expectations more in line with reality from the outset, however, you stand a much better chance at making the time of long lasting positive impression that will carry you forward.
2. Embrace Collaboration
An old saying that is commonly used in the business world goes that “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” While this is true, perhaps the most important lesson to take away from it is that “Rome also wasn’t built by any one person.” Even if you’re trying to outgrow and outperform professional expectations so that you can distinguish yourself from your coworkers or other family members within the company, you still need to learn how to excel in a team environment for the benefit of the organization as a whole.
Remember that all employees are ultimately working together towards the same basic goal – the advancement of the company. By aligning your own personal goals with that of the team of hard working and dedicated people that you’re working with, you’re putting yourself in a much better position to be noticed by management.
3. Maintain That Positive Attitude
There are few guarantees in life, though one fact that you can essentially bet on is that not every day will be filled with positive experiences. Some days will be more challenging than others. One day you may leave the office happier than you’ve been in ages, only to follow it up with a day so stressful that you feel physically ill at the end of it.
If you want to outgrow and outperform professional expectations for the advancement of your career, you need to learn how to maintain a positive attitude through the good and the bad. Not only is a positive attitude a key to building a successful team, but many leaders agree that it is also one of the best ways to get noticed by management. Maintaining a consistent positive attitude, even throughout adversity, demonstrates that you have a strength of character that few people possess.
4. Learn What Makes You Different
In terms of professional development, the core concept behind outgrowing and outperforming professional expectations is actually quite simple: you need to learn what you have to offer that others don’t in the first place. Remember that just because you have the qualifications to do a particular job doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to do it in any meaningful way.
The key is to learn what you can do that others can’t, or what you have to offer that others do not. This is what makes you unique and is also what can identify you to business leaders as the type of invaluable resource that they simply cannot be without. Even making small efforts like finding more efficient ways to accomplish tasks on a consistent basis will put you in the type of position where you can’t help but be noticed.
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