8 Easy Ways to Look Effective in the Office

“The Depth of your Mythology is the Extent of your Effectiveness.”

~John Maxwell, American Author and Motivational Speaker

Why you need to do this

If your boss (good or bad) does not believe you are effective in the office, they aren’t going to think you are outside the office. You will need to convince your boss and your colleagues that you are indeed an effective person.

If you are going to go through the trouble of being an effective worker, you want to make sure everyone knows it.

Being and appearing effective serves 3 main  purposes:

1. To increases your value
2. So you never become overwhelmed no matter how much work you take on
3. To convince your boss that you are the type of person who only makes logical and effective decisions. This means that when you go to request a telecommuting agreement, they won’t be thinking that you are doing it primarily for some personal gain.

Being effective is a skill you will need to develop, not only to escape the office, but also to ensure the longevity of your work from home agreement once you exit the office.

Take Action

Now, here are 8 simple ways you can make yourself look more effective without increasing your workload.

1. Send weekly progress reports to your boss even if he does not ask for them
2. In meetings, stick to the point of what you need to say and say it as concisely as possible. Never ramble on to sound more important.
3. Everytime you see your boss, ask him or her how things are going with work
4. Everytime your boss contacts you, ask what you can do for them immediately.
5. When there are too many action items, ask your boss for the most important thing that they want done
6. In emails, stick to the point of the question asked. Use bullet points to be absolutely clear and make statements with robotic directness.
7. Never ever look miserable at work, always look like you have everything together
8. Keep your desk perfectly tidy. Label everything if you have to, look like a neat freak or someone who is super organized.

Try at least two of these items for the next month and observe the results. Leave a comment on this post if you have any of your own recommendations on how to look like an effective employee.

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Related posts:

1. Step 1: Becoming a Fast, Effective and Independent Employee
2. The 7 Habits of A Highly Effective Telecommuter
3. How to Avoid In-Office Meetings

Tagged as: important, look effective, office, value