How to impress your new boss
9 September 2008Your work doesn’t end with getting the job. It’s important to create a good impression on your employer, especially if you’re planning to stay on in the firm for a long time.
Right from day one, you need to channel your energies into convincing your new employers that, in selecting you, they have made the right choice. Below are some tips on how you can impress the boss:
Demonstrate that you are highly motivated and eager to get started
Discuss your duties and responsibilities and establish your priorities. Se challenging, but achievable, short-term and long-term goals
Find out as much as you can about your company and its organizational structure. This will help you to fit in with the employees soon
Identify the most successful and highly valued people in the firm and analyse the reasons for their success. Associate with colleagues who are perceived as ideal employees.
Prepare carefully for meetings with your boss. Try to anticipate questions and be ready with positive and considered responses. Keep up to date on current issues
Learn all you can about problem-solving techniques. When you are give a problem to solve, tackle it enthusiastically and systematically
Establish a reputation as a good team player by developing good working relationships with as many people as possible
Participate fully in your company’s training programme and avail of all opportunities to extend your knowledge and develop work-related skills
Learn from your own mistakes and the mistakes of others.
Do more than is specified in your contract. Volunteer for assignments that will help raise your profile within the company
Complete all work on time. Don’t make promises unless you are sure you can deliver
Develop a reputation for honesty, loyalty and integrity
Ways to RETAIN EMPLOYEES
Employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of any business. Managers readily agree that retaining your best employees ensure customer satisfaction, product sales, satisfied co-workers and reporting staff, effective succession planning and deeply imbedded organizational knowledge and learning. If managers can cite these facts so well, why do they behave in ways that so frequently encourage great employees to quit their jobs?
Employee retention matters. Organizational issues such as training time and investment, lost knowledge, mourning, insecure co-workers and a costly candidate search aside, failing to retain a key employee is costly. Here are some tips that will help you retain your employee.
The quality of supervision an employee receives is critical to employee retention. People leave managers and supervisors more often than they leave companies or jobs. It is not enough that the supervisor is well-liked or a nice person, starting with clear expectations of the employee, the supervisor has a critical role to play in retention.
Anything the supervisor does to make an employee feel unvalued will contribute to turnover. Frequent employee complaints center on these areas.
The ability of the employee to speak his or her mind freely within the organization is another key factor in employee retention. Does your organization solicit ideas and provide an environment in which people are comfortable providing feedback? If so, employees offer ideas, feel free to criticize and commit to continuous improvement. If not, they bite their tongues or find themselves constantly “in trouble” – until they leave.
Talent and skill utilization is another environmental factor your key employees seek in your workplace. A motivated employee wants to contribute to work areas outside of his specific job description. How many people could contribute far more than they currently do? You just need to know their skills, talent and experience, and take the time to tap into it.
The perception of fairness and equitable treatment is important in employee retention.
Your best employees, those you want to retain, seek frequent opportunities to learn and grow in their careers, knowledge and skill. Without the opportunity to try new opportunities, siton challenging committees, attend seminars and read and discuss books, they feel they will stagnate. A career-oriented, valued employee must experience growth opportunities within your organization.
No matter the circumstances, never, ever, threaten an employee’s job or income. Even if you know layoffs loom if you fail to meet production or sales goals, it is a mistake to foreshadow this information with employees. It makes them nervous; no matter how you phrase the information; no matter how you explain the information, even if you’re absolutely correct, your best staff members will update their resumes.
Your staff members must feel rewarded, recognized and appreciated. Frequently saying thank you goes a long way. Monetary rewards, bonuses and gifts make the thank you even more appreciated. Understandable raises, tied to accomplishments and achievement, help retain staff. Commissions and bonuses that are easily calculated on a daily basis, and easily understood, raise motivation and help retain staff.
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