As Abraham Lincoln once said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it." If you’re looking to advance your career but don’t know where to start, here are some tips that can help you create your future and stand out in the workplace.
How to Get Ahead at Work
1. Be a Model Employee
Rule number one for being a good employee is to always be on time and ready to go. Even if you work in a culture that runs behind schedule, it’s always better to be on time, or even early, each day and to every meeting.
If you’re leading the meeting, show up with an agenda and be an active timekeeper. It’s a sign that you’re organized and respect people’s time. At the end of the meeting, give a quick recap and identify next steps.
2. Solve Problems, Don't Just Identify Them
One of the best ways to stand out as a budding leader is to be self-sufficient and demonstrate solid judgement. A helpful mantra to follow is, “Be a problem solver, not a problem identifier.”
When you raise an issue to your boss, be sure to also propose a solution. Busy leaders often get bogged down by solving every problem their team faces. Do your boss a favor and find workarounds rather than just surface issues.
3. Respect Your Boss's Time
Be considerate of your boss’s time. Before asking for help, consider the level of urgency and try solving the problem first—or at least brainstorm a plan of action to run by your manager. Making the attempt first will demonstrate you know how to take initiative.
For things that do require your boss’s intervention, but are not time-sensitive, keep a running list of items to discuss. Ask if you can get some time on your manager’s calendar and outline in your meeting invite what is it you’d like to discuss, so both of you come prepared.
Related: How to Be More Productive at Work
4. Don't be a Squeaky Wheel
Perhaps most important is a can-do attitude. Anything you can do to minimize your boss’s workload is likely to benefit you in the long run. You can help by volunteering to take on something new or even brainstorm solutions when a crisis pops up.
Baseball great Wade Boggs once said, “A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.”
So, whatever you do, don’t be a whiner. Even if you’re feeling stressed, save your venting for a friend and always present a positive front to your boss.
5. Serve as a Vault
Earn trust by keeping information about confidential or sensitive subjects to yourself. Beyond that, don’t gossip or back-stab at the water cooler. By being a stand-up employee, you'll earn trust and respect all around.
6. Make Your Boss Look Good
Staying organized and moving quickly make you, and your boss, look good. But don’t move too fast. Getting things done efficiently is important, but quality matters, too. Your work is a reflection on your boss, so you want to make sure he or she is proud of you and your product.
7. Ask for Advice
It may seem counterintuitive, but asking your boss for advice may yield dividends. According to research by Harvard Business School Professor Alison Wood-Brooks, “Individuals perceive those who seek advice as more competent than those who do not.”
So, timed right, asking your boss for guidance can work to your advantage.
8. Speak Up
As Artistotle said, “There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” Since you’re reading this article, you clearly want to stand out, so be sure to speak up. Confidently sharing your views and expertise in conversations or at meetings allows you to demonstrate your knowledge and skills, and make an impression on your colleagues and superiors.
9. Project Confidence
Being a strong communicator is much more than what you say. How you say it—both your body language and tone of voice—may matter more than the words themselves.
UCLA Professor Albert Mehrabian, an expert in nonverbal communications, proved through his research that what you say is negligible compared to how you say it. Body language and inflection matter more.
“Non-verbal elements are particularly important for communicating feelings and attitude, especially when they are incongruent: if words and body language disagree, one tends to believe the body language,” Professor Mehrabian told the site Right Attitudes.
That said, you can look like a leader through confident body language, including posture, stance, handshake, eye contact, and a smile.
Related: 4 Tips for Developing Your Personal Leadership Style
10. Fine-Tune Your Skills
What else can you do to propel you career? If you want to sharpen your skills but don’t have the time nor resources to go back to school full- or even part-time, consider taking an online course.
According to HBS Professor Das Narayandas, there’s a plethora of options that can benefit the employee and the employer.
As he said to the Harvard Business Review, “The good news is that the growing assortment of online courses, social and interactive platforms, and learning tools from both traditional institutions and upstarts…offers a solution. [They are] flexible and immediately accessible, and it enables employees to pick up skills in the context in which they must be used. In effect, it’s a 21st-century form of on-the-job training.”
One course to consider is Leadership Principles from Harvard Business School Online. The course features interactive exercises to help early or mid-career professionals prepare for leadership roles.
But there are many affordable online business courses that you can work around your schedule. Your employer might even cover the cost.
If online learning interests you, explore networking tips and time management techniques you can apply to further your learning and advance in your career. Or you can view our full portfolio of online courses.
