There is no greater activity to begin the process of raising the value you create for your organization than a conversation with your boss about value creation. By approaching your boss and requesting a conversation regarding value creation, you are already raising your value in your organization. Yet, at the same time, this is not a conversation being held in organizations across the globe. Hence, when responding to your request, your boss may be:
Take a moment to think about a key activity/project in which you are currently engaged. An activity tends to be smaller and completed on a recurring basis, while a project tends to be larger and done only once. An effective strategy in completing your value identification exercise is to find a colleague who can help you think through this important information. Think about the following:
With so many options and possibilities already existing in your organization, you can start raising your value immediately. Before you jump out of your chair and begin the shift from good performer to valuable employee, however, you need to do the following two things:
The competitive global marketplace shows little mercy for organizations that are slow to raise the bar for their customers and their employees. Business value tied to external marketplace drivers tend to be strategically focused and is created by:
Like an adolescent transitioning to adulthood, growing and evolving organizations require value to be more tangible, and the contribution of business value by employees to be broader. While individual value is critically important to an organization’s performance and culture, it is not the type of value that will sustain an organization in its marketplace. Business value tied to internal financial drivers reflects a more strategic perspective that can have a positive impact on your organization. In today’s competitive marketplaces, your organization needs as many employees as possible focused on creating value through internal financial drivers.
When you perform your job well, you are valuable to your organization. When you are focused primarily on creating individual value, you tend to be in a role that is more tactically-focused. And let’s face it, some roles in organizations need to be tactically focused and this focus is very valuable to the organization. Not every role has a clear line of sight to financial performance, nor should they. At the same time, most organizations have yet to explore how roles, even the most tactical, can create value to the organization by exploring how individuals within these roles can impact financial performance. Not all value that is created has to be worth millions of dollars, or qualify for the cover of Time magazine. Even individuals in a tactical role or a group of individuals comprising a function can create value for the organization.
In order for an organization to obtain value from you and for you to raise your value within your organization, you must capitalize on either an existing way of creating value or identify new ways to create value. You can create value in your organization in the following ways:
Raising your value is defined as performing activities that connect individual contributions with business performance. To be considered a valuable employee, you must tie as many of your activities as possible to how your organization measures how well it’s performing. For most organizations, business performance is predominantly measured through financial performance. As you work to create value for your organization, you must focus your activities on your company’s financial performance.
Internally, your organization needs to be managed in ways that ensure investors and customers stay interested. In order for your organization to survive for the long-term, it needs to obtain value from vendors and employees.
There are numerous variables your organization manages internally to keep external stakeholders interested through value creation. One of the most significant ways to create value internally is by managing expenses with vendors and employees.
All organizations operating in complex environments are impacted by external and internal forces. Externally, your organization needs to raise capital in order to invest in its growth and generate revenue to cover its operating expenses with vendors and employees. In order for your organization to obtain capital or generate revenue, it needs to create value for investors and customers.