Emotional and social competency may be a topic de jour. But might there might be such a thing as organizational competency?
A young person we know who recently finished her undergraduate degree started a new job, and immediately ran into a brick wall of sorts. Her quite expensive and highly-ranked liberal arts degree had not prepared her for an organization hard at work. Until she began contributing she lived in a precarious place. [Peter Drucker once said that a new graduate was a liability to any organization for eighteen months.]
My wife Janis [she gets all the credit] created a list of forty items for immediate and practical application, and the job was saved. Here they are:
- Know and focus on the mission/purpose of the organization. If you own that every morning when you come to work you’ll make things happen
- Start every day with a checklist and use it
- Listen
- Focus on the task at hand even if it is only in 15 minute increments
- Prioritize your tasks
- Ask questions if you don’t understand – don’t assume!
- Don’t make personal calls during work time; same with emails, IM, etc… use your lunch hour
- Be aware of how you are coming across
- Ask how your work did or did not meet expectations
- Excel at the things you’re good at and especially simple tasks
- Be a helper
- Be positive about others and discerning about yourself
- Love the people you work with and show it concretely
- Do completed staff work
- Manage up, sideways
- Learn every aspect of the job you have – not just the superficials
- Be polite – use manners with everyone
- Say thank you
- Tell your boss where you are if you are not at your desk
- Be prompt
- Be neat
- Don’t talk about yourself except when absolutely necessary
- Apologize
- Get outside help to learn work skills
- Take pride in a good day’s work
- Take personal responsibility
- Pray when you’re not sure what to do
- Admit to yourself that its OK to be wrong
- Let others get credit
- Keep your head down
- Don’t think about the future on work time
- Don’t tell your boss something can’t be done – ask for suggestions on how it could be done
- Demonstrate respect for others
- Don’t compare yourself to others
- Act like an adult not a victim
- Demonstrate a wllingness to succeed whatever the personal inconvenience
- Become intrinsically motivated
- Think positively about what this job enables and empowers you to do
- Celebrate finishing a task inwardly and through an action
- Follow directions and don’t spend time trying to be creative or expand your job until you become totally on top of your current duties
Nearly everything on the list proved why many employers see inexperienced new hires as liabilities to the company for eighteen months or more. While this new employee wrote exceptionally well, read widely, and thought critically, she didn’t function organizationally.
What are the other missing links that will bridge the eighteen-month usefulness gap for young workers?
About Wes Balda
