What is Really Expected of You at Work?

You come to work or run your own business to make good things happen, so you want to be as productive as possible.

But do you really know what’s expected of you?

Whether you are a paid employee or a volunteer, you are providing services to the organization. It’s more than just completing a list of tasks, collecting data or analyzing reports. It’s more than following the company’s policies and procedures, making phone calls or attending meetings.

And as an entrepreneur, there’s so many things that you feel need to be done or the latest and greatest idea you have is just one of many new ideas that you want to create.

And although each of those activities are necessary to keep an organization moving forward, there is one important activity that must be present for the others to be done with purpose.

You must know why you are there.

When you are clear on the company’s vision and the company’s why, AND you’re clear on why your role is important and adds value to the organization, then you’ll feel more engaged. You will rise to the next level of performance and you will be more productive.

You’ll show up as the leader that’s needed in that space to drive the vision forward.

When you are clear how your role supports your immediate team, department, division, and company, you will work with your teammates in an entirely different way.

You’ll be willing to other departments as key players and instrumental to driving the vision forward. Not separate from it. Not as adversaries or have an “us / them” mindset.

As an entrepreneur, you’ll focus your attention on the activities that matter and move your business forward. You’ll delegate, automate or eliminate what are not pivotal for YOU to be doing. You’ll own your CEO role and do what’s required to think and work at that level because it is a different type of work and a different type of thinking.

What do you do if you aren’t clear on why you are there?

It’s simple – ask.

Take some time to learn about the company’s mission and vision and find out if your department has its own mission and vision. As you read both, do you see how they connect? From there, write down what you are responsible for and see how your tasks and roles align to the department’s and company’s missions and visions. If none of these are clear, ask your supervisor.

When you are doing purposeful work, then you are more confident that you are supporting the company’s vision and are more productive and energized. You know that what you are doing is adding value and that you are making a positive difference to the company.

If you’re an entrepreneur, it’s not so such a matter of not being sure why you’re there as much as revisiting why you started your business in the first place and making sure you are still in alignment with that purpose. Perhaps you’ve lost some passion in what you’re doing. Perhaps you’re making a pivot and need to circle back to your why to better articulate how this change is more in alignment with what is important to you. Or perhaps you know you need to move to the next level and need help making those shifts and going back to why helps you stay focused on making those changes.

And as an entrepreneur with contractors or employees, the clearer you can make your vision and how your contractors or employees connect to driving your vision forward, the more engaged and supported they will feel by you, and the better results you’ll see.