Majority of the people wake up every day going to a place of work, they trade their hours for a salary or wage. People spend most of their time awake at some place of work; over time I realized workplaces can become a source of frustration and stress. Most people never strive to be great employees or they just swim with the tide, wherever it may lead. However what the crowd endorse as true or the norm in most instances; is the wrong thing altogether. Here are tips on how you can elevate yourself to be the greatest employee:

Never Complain About Your Salary

This is the easiest trap people find themselves & one most people will enjoy staying in. I have worked in many organizations and the first thing you hear is people murmuring about their salaries. As a new person most times you are content with what you bargained for but it will not take time to join the murmurs or the crowd. In most instances people feel the need to belong & find acceptance, what better way to gain this than joining them. But murmuring about salary increase de-motivates and saps energy, after all most increases which would
be fair cannot change anyone’s life substantially, just enough to cater for the inflation rate. Instead of worrying and agonizing about money rather work to add skills to yourself; learn new things, apply for study assistance because the cost of studying is many times more than salary increases for many years.

Avoid Workplace Gossip

In most work environments people indulge in gossiping, it can range from who got dumped, who is dating the COO et al. The evil of gossip is that it is like a wild fire, it does not know how or where to stop. At some point along the chain it will be passed to the person being gossiped about, let it not be you who did the last passing of juicy talk, it can blow in your face and cause many conflicts and confrontations. Your reputation also takes a tumble and you become the fall guy. When at work you need to stay in your own lane and mind your own business.

Don’t Be A Bootlicker, Carve Own Success

In the workplaces there are people who engage in bootlicking, they rely on shining the boss’ shoes, buying the boss lunch and doing other niceties. It is not bad to buy lunch for the bosses but when it becomes a bargaining tool for favours it is shameful. Unfortunately there are many lazy people who cannot fathom improving their own skills and overall value as a way to climb the ladder. The downside of being a bootlicker is that you soon forget your worth; you begin to see bread crumbs as huge cakes & remain in the same place for a long time. For the organization, bootlickers serve to drive away the exceptional talent by creating a hostile environment. Top performers don’t have time to climb the ladder using unscrupulous means & they don’t compete to bootlick. They simply seek to grow themselves elsewhere leaving the company with mediocre staff.

When You Are Boss, Show Impartiality

The easiest way to stymie your career as a Manager is by being choosy. Power can corrupt and abused power can land you in the dustbin of failed management. When people become managers it’s easy to become comfortable & feel will be there forever. The less favoured employees will simply work harder & seek promotion elsewhere. Before long they climb higher than their former manager and can sit with top management and highlight the detrimental effects of a partisan system, worse they will use the partial boss as an example with evidence. The fall from grace will be sudden and long lasting. Sadly people who thrive on partisanship rarely learn, when they are found wanting they simply blame the person doing the right thing for snitching. Even though managers who show partiality try to do it discreetly, employees can read signs easily.

Motivate the Downcast, Do Good to Others

In the workplace people are going through situations, many just need a shoulder to lean on, an ear to listen and give advice without having to gossip it obviously. Sometimes I thought I was giving simple advice only to realize I totally transformed someone’s life. Such people become loyal friends and will stand by you in your own downcast moments. There is a famous saying, “be good on your way up the ladder because you can meet them on your way down”. However being good to others can mean open doors at some moment in future. I have met people who had so much to say about how my father helped them when they worked together. Some of these people went on to help me one way or another as a form of payback to what they received in the past.

Plan Your Own Career

When you get a job you must plan so that you find an outlet through a better job, promotion or starting out your own business. The worst position a person can have is to remain in one position for a long time. Life is a conveyor belt, things go in one point, move along until reaching another destination. Now imagine if something is placed on the belt and resists movement, it will stop all other items from moving. So our career paths ought to be forward and upward creating room for others. When you see management suggesting courses for you to attend or asking when last you applied for study assistance then know you have failed to plan. These are small nudges to say you are becoming stationary like furniture.

Work for Yourself, Not For Pay

People in the workplace tend to equate what they do with how much they are paid. This leads to a stagnation & underachievement. Always aim to put in ten times more effort than what you are paid for. This will leave you with a lot of free time in your days and months or in trying to do much for less time you devise ways to do tasks better and more efficiently. Most companies have internet and WIFI and the internet has a lot of useful information to go at. Use this free time to improve your knowledge, write a blog, learn how to use new skill, remotely assist customers of brands you use for free or write product reviews. Though the internet is vast, it will put all information you have put in one place or linked to your name. This will help you get a new job or rewards; I became a BlackBerry Elite after being identified for helping users for free. Though I was doing it freely, I now get rewards from the brand as a token of appreciation.