Positive Actions can be Developed by the Personal Power of Integirty
Personal power is not restricted to our rank in the corporate hierarchy. Personal power is determined by our daily actions that co-workers and customers observe. There are positive actions that can enhance our reputation This essay will address three ways:
- Urgencies are not priorities. Our positive actions can be enhanced by recognizing the difference between urgencies and priorities. Urgencies are tasks that are no brainers. Example: the phone ringing while you are working on an important project for your boss is an urgency. Completion of the project successfully and within deadline will improve your reputation through this positive action. Taking the call is not a mistake but stopping what you are doing to complete the caller's request is.
Interruptions are not the problem. The real problem is recovering from the interruption. The longer the interruption, the more difficult it is to get back into a creative groove.Planning is a to do list of tasks. Priorities evaluate the importance of each task. Priorities are either critically important, important or trivial. To unitize this approach, use an ABC system. An A is critically important, a B is important and a C is trivial. What separates a a critically important task from an important one? Suggestion: It is an A if the task has consequences if not completed or is a task that relates to your values and goals. You may wish to mark your A's in red ink for emphasis.
- The 80/ 20 Rule. Remember the rule that 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the tasks. The same is true of tasks. Consider that 20 percent of your tasks have 80 percent of the value to you that bears positive actions for the organization and your customers. Please consider two points: 1) Recognize the importance of priorities by identifying your values and goals and 2) the quality and the quantity of tasks completed results in high productivity.
- Practice Integrity. There are times at work when we make a commitment we are unable to keep. The reasons for this dilemma vary. For some of us, it is an issue of not being able to say no. In other cases, we don;t want to be perceived as not being productive. The former is an issue involving the development of assertiveness. Living your values help to cultivate assertiveness. Best selling author Robert Schuller said, "Decisions are easy if we know our values". The latter issue of being perceived as not productive results in a reputation of being unable to follow up on our word. This reputation will hurt our chances for career success.
Attaining personal power is a result of people observing a consistency of positive actions. Personal power is the possibility created by our daily choices!
