Are you at a standstill? If you are already doing the best you can at your job, is it time to learn something new? Check out, Add Value to Your Role, to make sure you are being your personal best and you never stop improving!

“Add Value to Your Role

Are you excellent at what you do? Have you reached ‘the top of your tree’? Are you seeking a greater challenge although you don’t want a new job? Or are you looking at how to make more of the role you have? If so, it can sometimes feel as though you don’t know where to start! So here are the top ten tips to help you seek out challenges and add value to your role.

1. Look about you. What are others in a similar role doing that you too would like to do, whether in part or in total? What else can you get involved with or volunteer for?
2. Consider your manager’s role and some of his or her tasks. What could you share responsibility for or take over wholly as your responsibility?
3. Use the PTA Wheel to help (this is a two-part exercise). Write down what your manager’s or colleagues’ daily functions are. You may need to break down each task further, into steps or stages. Consider your skills and ability in relation to each task, and ask yourself, “Do I need help and guidance for this new task, or can I hit the ground running?” This will help you identify which responsibilities you are already able to take on and which you will need new skills for.
4. Now, create three categories, ‘People’, ‘Technical’ and ‘Admin’, and designate each task with a P, T or A label. Again, consider your skills and ability in relation to the task, and ask yourself, “Do I need more help with people skills, admin ability or technical knowledge?” If you need a certain level of qualification to do the task, seriously consider how you can achieve this. Find out the details and the level of involvement, plus how long this will take. The more arrows in your quiver, the better!
5. Ask to get involved, suggest a timetable, and point out a benefit or two of you doing this (the added value). Be sure to include a benefit for your manager or colleague, too! It wouldn’t hurt to have a go at the task beforehand, so you can demonstrate willingness and ability (or determine areas you need a little more help with).
6. If you will need help or a little supervision, suggest a plan for what you will need and when you will need it. Don’t forget to include a time or date by which you will be independently achieving this task; that is when all the benefits (the added value) will start to kick in.
7. Consider the myriad of tasks you currently perform. How can you add to each task so that everyone benefits? Are you working to best practice at the moment, or are you on autopilot?
8. Consider the myriad of tasks you currently perform. How can you add to each task so that everyone benefits? Are you working to best practice at the moment, or are you on autopilot?
9. Think about how you can increase your expertise. When someone makes a request, rather than simply take and pass on a message, how could you get the knowledge or skills to deal with that request, saving time and adding value?
10. Set up a personal procedures file: a blow-by-blow record of how you do what you do. This will identify improvements in the method and timing of what you do. It is also particularly useful when it comes to your appraisal, as you will have a record of what you do and how well you do it.
11. Finally, never pass up an opportunity to learn new or different things: you never know when they will come in useful.”

Never stop learning. Is it time your office updated their learning? Contact me if your employees need legal training!