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.