Owning your Growth
from a Self-identified Bench Mark
Have you ever felt
competition from your colleague? Have you ever felt your own growth areas
already overcome by your colleague? Do you feel overshadowed by your colleague?
Is your colleague preferred over you by others?
These emotions just
call for an emergency fix or takes you into depression. The question arises,
does one need to fix it immediately or understand their own print and core
strengths?
First of all lets
accept, we all have multiple growth areas that our consciousness keeps telling
us silently. We just lack giving it a priority. Your colleague just helps you
highlight and show a result oriented example: "What would it be if I
closed those gaps?" Consider it as an opportunity to sit with yourself
over a cup of tea/coffee and a planner. Let’s start with a Case Study for a
better understanding.
Case Study:
Your Colleague is
consciously / unconsciously appreciated for below qualities:
1) Taking ownership
and having a sense of belonging
2) Note taking and
sending immediate MOM. Facilitating / Setting timelines for the action points.
4) Being ready to
take on the task at the right time irrespective of the rightful owner
5) Balancing
personal and work time.
6) Taking the task
to completion than leaving midway
7) Being respectful
while reaffirming others responsibility. (Here serious Anger, conflict and Ego
management is being exhibited)
8) Most importantly
avoiding unrequired discussing/commenting on people not related to task in
hand.
9) Keeping your
personal life well-guarded to avoid unnecessary elements.
10) Asking the right
questions keeping the end picture in mind. Problem solving.
Well the above is
from a real life example. It would be good to score yourself from 1-5 to
understand where you stand with your list. Once Identified, prioritize which
qualities are more important than others. Wherever you have a score 3 or less,
diagnose why is it holding you. You could be held because of some more deeper
issues.
As an example from
the Case Study:
Note taking and
sending immediate MOM. Facilitating setting timelines for the action points.
Why such an obvious
thing you would not do. The reasons could be several:
1) You see someone
doing it already, and choose not to.
2) You are lazy to
take ownership.
3) You just care
about your task in hand.
4) You want someone
to define your job.
5) You are a natural
daydreamer and find meetings as a form of escape to relax.
6) You want to test
your memory to remember it all.
The above in itself
spells out why you would appreciate your colleague for it.
Why is it important for your self-growth to
overcome the above, other than the fact the team would appreciate you more?
Let’s try and list personal advantages of doing it:
1) Any kind of
healthy control/supervision allows you to reduce risk and surprise/shock
element in your job/life/task in hand. This leads to reduced stress levels.
2) Setting
timelines, helps you achieve realistic goals as a team and identify risks
early. This not only increases team credibility but yours too.
3) Reduction in
stagnation in your own job, as you are constantly assessing what is being done.
It is a mental opportunity to assess why the task is being taken and a wider
vision of the end goal.
4) When you define
your own job, you are promoting your inner natural abilities where you have a
higher probability of shining. Letting others to control in defining your
job/responsibilities is just leading to your slow growth and stagnation. The
net result is a lower happy Index. In the end we all are trying to maintain the
happy equilibrium.
5) Being a
daydreamer could be an: indication of being in the wrong place, setting wrong
priorities in life, not choosing the right career, not defining your job. It is
a topic in itself, that needs to be discussed independently.
These are just ideas
to help you navigate through your own insecurities, growth areas. A thorough
interrogation into the reasons will help you with clarity and eliminate
unwanted behaviour that are inhibiting your growth.
