Personal Effectiveness in The Workplace

It is a common goal of nearly everyone in the workplace to reach their full potential both in their career and in life. We strive each day to do our jobs to the best of our ability, in an efficient and productive manner. In order to do this, you must utilize all of the skills that you have. To perform at your highest ability, you must maximize your personal effectiveness.

Personal Effectiveness means something entirely different for everyone based on your career, personal life, and goals. As a general rule, personal effectiveness means utilizing all of your skills, talent, and energy to reach a goal or set of goals in your life. Many hope to improve their own personal effectiveness but are unsure of where to start. Here are a few ways to maximize your personal effectiveness at work.

Three Ways to Maximize Your Personal Effectiveness

Work to Your Strengths
While this may seem obvious, many people still neglect to focus on their strengths both at work and in their lives. Often, we spend so much time working to strengthen our weaknesses that we forget to capitalize on our strengths. It is a much better use of time to put all of your skills, energy, and talent into something that works to your strengths than to spend countless hours on something that brings out your greatest weakness. Choose careers and hobbies that capitalize on your strengths and the sky is limitless for how much your personal effectiveness will improve. In the workplace, it is likely that your strength is someone else’s weakness and vice versa. Therefore, if all members of an organization bring their greatest strength to the job every day, the team is likely to be much more successful.

Know When to Give Yourself a Break
Knowing when to unplug and recharge is a key component of personal effectiveness. The reality is, that no person can function at 100%, seven days a week, 24 hours per day. It is crucial to know when to take a break. In order to operate at your best at work, you must also take the correct actions outside of work. Take time at the end of each day to unplug and be sure to get a good night’s rest in order to operate at your full capacity the next day. This will set you up for more productive days at work.

Continuous Learning and Development
Another key component of improving your personal effectiveness is to always be learning and developing your skills. Whether this means attending seminars, participating in workplace training, or even just reading a book, you should live a life of constant learning. This will improve your personal effectiveness by increasing the magnitude of your talents, skills, and energy.

Taking strides to improve your personal effectiveness benefits you and those around you. A few of the ways to maximize your personal effectiveness include

• Increased productivity
• Improved levels of happiness and job satisfaction
• Stronger work relationships
• Reduced levels of stress/frustration