Your Stake In the Game
By Jeff Whitaker
In my last column I wrote about the idea behind perspective. I compared how people in Florida may define “cold” as 60 degrees and elsewhere in the country may consider that mild if not balmy especially this time of year. The takeaway is that how we view things has an impact on how we initiate and respond to certain things, people and situations in our lives.
I want to take that idea a step further. I was meeting just this week with a team of professionals who I’m training in the area of personal and professional growth and development. I shared with them how their perspective on the job and as an employee has a huge impact on the success or failure of their business and their personal career. I shared that too many people today few their jobs as just that “a job” or a means to an end. Because you think you have no vested interest in a businesses success or failure, you can tend to treat your job as just a paycheck and nothing more. I challenged them to look at their position on the job from the perspective of their leaders or the ownership of their company. Most people see no correlation between their employers success and their own. But this couldn’t be further from reality. You may have heard the saying that a rising tide lifts all boats. It’s true. It’s more than just a cute saying. When you succeed, the company succeeds and when the company succeeds, you succeed.
You may have experienced a situation where you worked so much harder than your fellow employees and have been passed over for a promotion or haven’t gotten the raise. This is where the concept of looking at the big picture plays such a pivotal role. The truth is, long-term you can never go wrong by viewing your job as an owner might or someone with ‘skin in the game.’
The bottomline is when you approach your role on a team from this perspective, one of three things will happen.
a. You will get noticed, receive a promotion and rise through the ranks to higher responsibility and a greater role.
b. You will discover in yourself traits, talents and abilities you didn’t realize you had and in the process get a new appreciation and perspective on your potential for growth.
c. You will conclude that your current place and position isn’t a good fit and move on to a place where talent, hard work and initiative are appreciated and rewarded.
Any way you look at it, you come out a winner!
Jeff Whitaker is a lifelong communicator and storyteller. He is a certified trainer, coach and speaker with The John Maxwell Team. Jeff’s goal is to encourage excellence in individuals and corporations through leadership and communications training. Connect with him at jeffwhitaker.com, through The Jeff Whitaker Company on Facebook or @jeffwhitaker on Twitter.
