Importance at work reflects how valuable you are to a company, While this is much more readily seen in small or private businesses, this can be true in large companies as well. If you are missing for a short period of time, and the company gets in trouble or has difficulty carrying on, you are important. If someone else can do you job for you, you probably are not important.
The most important thing about personal value/importance at work is caring for others around you and using your abilities to everyone’s advantage. Not everyone knows everything, so collaboration can fill in all the gaps and make the workplace more efficient and fun. It’s also a very bonding sort of thing to share your work abilities with your co-workers and is a great way to make friends.
This is a topic that is near and dear to the hearts of my readers, researchers, and website visitors. So much so that one of them were kind enough to share their own personal opinions. I don’t claim to be the best interviewer in the world, but I do promise some good, raw, and honest answers from normal people like you and me. I do my best to NOT filter these answers, except for the bad words and hateful speech.
With that little blurb out of the way, let’s dive right into the juicy bits of (potentially) life-changing insights.
Current Topic: Personal Value/Importance At Work
‘R’ = Richard N. Stephenson (me!) ‘I’ = Interviewee (anonymous by request unless otherwise noted)
[This interview is inspired and fueled by research done for my book: Staying Motivated at Work.]
R: What would someone really get out of this?
I: The biggest benefit of personal value in work is a raise or a promotion. Appreciation is what employees requires to continue to perform optimally. The employee wants to get recognition for doing a job well and a promotion would place a stamp of approval on performance.
R: How’s this subject relevant to making or changing the lives of those around us?
I: Someone who values work values people. People can make a difference in the lives of other. A boss who sees a worker wit personal value of getting to work and time and being there everyday most likely would reward that employee with a raise. With the high cost of living, raises and promotions are appreciated to those who value themselves and their work ethic.
R: I think everyone wants to be a better person – can you tell us how this topic relates?
I: Personal value or importance at work could help someone be a better person by challenging the person consistently in various areas to some extent. These challenges would help improve that person because they would be focusing on how to do things more efficiently and in a better way.
If that person is valued at work, he or she would have a higher self esteem and a higher view of themselves, which might or might not allow that person to pursue activities or goals that are helpful towards their communities or families. If that person feels important at work, the same applies, and they would view themselves in a better light than before.
R: If you had to pick the “World’s Best” for this topic, who would it be?
I: My friend Esteban has great personal value and importance to me at work because he is knowledgeable, friendly, and fun to be around. He doesn’t mind if I often have to ask for his advice and goes above and beyond the call of duty often. Esteban will check my work, give me similar work he has done, and supply me with ideas on how to approach problems. On top of all that, we sometimes have lunch and enjoy each others’ company. He’s the kind of guy who values others as well.
R: Provide us with an example of what kind of person is better of never talking about this subject ever again.
I: You work in a lab, and you have a picture of your family by your desk. Your lab partner looks at it and scoffs at how ugly your brother looks with his braces when he’s smiling. He also uses the very same desk you use and makes a mess out of it.
R: Describe the “perfect day” as far as making this subject a part of your life.
I: I make sure that the work I am doing is meaningful to me — helps others, serves the world, etc. Though each day I do stupid and piddly stuff as well, I try to organize my days so that the important stuff is integrated throughout. Even just pausing to listen to a colleague who is having a bad day can make me feel of greater value at work.
R: How would you describe the best time to make this topic part of your life?
I: To me, personal value and importance at work describe how you feel about your job. Just like as our attitudes and feelings about work can often affect other aspects of our lives, changes in our lives can often affect our feelings about work.
I think that it is important to try and consolidate these areas as much as possible, meaning that we should try to keep work and personal lives separate. However, we should make sure that we have the best emotional well-being in each of these areas because our feelings will often cross over into other realms.
For example, a fight with a spouse might mean that I don’t perform well at work, and a bad day at work might affect how I interact with my spouse. That being said, I think it is important to recognize “cross over emotions” and try to take care of each environment. This means taking time at work to decompress, and leaving work stress at work.
R: Give me an example of a bad time to dive deeper into this subject, please.
I: That would be when your working on a big project at work. Because when you try to make yourself better than others. That’s the time when your most likely screw up and make yourself look like a fool. And on top of that, what you done could totally jeopardize the project that everyone is working on
R: Give us an example of a good place to bring this subject into daily life.
I: The best place to make personal value/importance at work part of your day is, of course, at work. To be valued, you should make your time at work show your abilities and friendliness with others around you. If you are complaining or being lazy, but outside of work show really good work ethic, no one will respect you.
I’ts a slow and steady sort of deal with value in the workplace. Do your stuff in a reasonable manner, be kind to everyone, smile once in a while, and leave it at work when you leave. People will value and respect you.
R: Give an example of where folks should not be working on this subject.
I: The worst place to make personal value/importance at work a part of your daily life is at the pub. People often talk about work at the pub, they might complain or talk about how they enjoy it. However, the influence of alcohol or the influence of the pub atmosphere makes it likely that maybe you will say something tactless, which should be avoided.
Trying to show value for work at the pub or over drinks in general might make you come across as being arrogant or self-promoting, which is not in all cases bad, but more often than not is not good.
R: Think for a second about who needs to learn more about this subject. Now, describe them to us, please.
I: The Administration department. It seems that department is aloof and totally unaware what the real working people have to endure because of their decisions. They come up with ideas for the rest of the people to implement without thinking through the ideas. They also don’t ask input from the people who have to try to make their ideas work.
R: What would you tell the readers to do if they wanted to get help with this topic soon?
I: You should respect your superiors or at least try to put up your best front when around them. Don’t start any drama amongst your fellow workers. And always do the right thing
R: How would you describe the most dangerous thing about this subject?
I: You should avoid taking what your supervisor says personally. Sometimes they don’t know the entire story and they don’t want to know. I sometimes think they focus on the things I do wrong in order to justify not giving me the full raise that I can have, which is a small amount anyway.
It’s easy for them to focus on the 2% things that have gone wrong, instead of the 98% of things that have gone right. It’s better not to dwell on an opinion of someone who is not around me very much.
R: Give us an example of something we can do today to get more up to speed on this topic.
I: Being proficient at your qualifications is one way to make personal value a part of work. In addition to the basics, helping out where needed so show that you are a team player and willing to do more than the minimum will leave a positive impression on those you work with.
If the job involves dealing with members of the public, thank them for choosing you to provide the service/need they are seeking and demonstrate to them how you help them achieve this need. For example, I work in a day spa providing skin care services to clients. I always make sure to explain to my clients what I will be doing to them and how it will benefit their skin and overall well-being.
I am realistic with them as to what the expect and within what time frame. Building this trust allows me to retain quality clients and causes them to refer their friends, family, and co workers to me. Not only does this benefit me, but it makes me a valuable asset to the spa because I am helping to increase the amount of people that come in for services.
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Thank you for reading this personal journey into becoming a better person and having a better future ahead of you. I hope you enjoyed this interview conversation and found golden nuggets you can immediately apply to your daily life.
If you want to get more productivity (and fulfillment!) out of your work, career, and life through being more motivated, then check out Staying Motivated at Work.
Please feel free to share your thoughts, comments, or personal life-changing wisdom below.