1/14/2018 Ten Signs You're A Great Employee -- And Ten Signs You're Not

 / Leadership / #IfIOnlyKnew
JAN 12, 2018 @ 07:58 PM 108,788 

Ten Signs You're A Great Employee -- And Ten Signs You're

Not

Liz Ryan, CONTRIBUTOR

 FULL BIO 
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

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Dear Angie,

Congratulations on your new role!

It is easy to fall victim to the idea "Since we've got all these new employees together in one room for a good
chunk of time, let's tell them everything we want them to know!"

That's not a great plan. First of all, nobody can retain half the information dispensed in the typical new-
employee orientation meeting. People get overwhelmed and they tune out. That's not what you want. You
want them excited, on the edge of their seats!

Secondly, your new-employee meeting is not the time to preach at your newest team members about what
you want and expect from them. Instead, tell them how wonderful it is that they chose your company.

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Tell them what other employees like best about working for your company. Tell them about the services
available to them, from help when they get stuck on the job to other kinds of support, like an EAP. Tell them
about the company's bold plans for 2018 and beyond. Get them into the fold before you worry about
anything else.

Here are ten signs someone is a great employee -- and ten signs they're not.

Ten Signs You're A Great Employee

1. They ask questions until they understand their job. If they run into a new hurdle, they try to work through
it on their own or they ask for help. They don't accept "I don't anything about that topic" as the final word. If
they're not sure how to move forward, they find a way to learn how.

2. They know how their job connects to other jobs in the company and how the organization makes money
and serves its customers. They know something about the competitive landscape and how your organization
competes in it. They know who runs your company and how those leaders think. Your employees can't gain
this knowledge on their own.

That's where HR and Training folks come in! A huge part of your role is to connect the top of the
organization to the bottom and the middle -- keeping your leaders in front of employees and vice versa.

3. They know their role and its mission. They know their internal and external customers and their
commitments to those people. They know the yardsticks against which they will be evaluated. They know
how they get paid and how their pay can increase. Here is another great-employee attribute that your
employees can't control on their own. You and your fellow leaders play a big part. You need to keep your
employees informed of these vital points!

4. They are supportive team members to one another. They know one another's roles and priorities. What
part can you and your Training coworkers play in helping to share this information throughout the
organization?
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5. They speak their truth even when it is hard to do so. Can you and your teammates help to create enough
trust in the company to allow honest communication to flourish?

6. They set boundaries with their managers. They don't keep working when they are exhausted. They turn
off the work at some point and focus on other parts of their lives. How can HR and Training support the
health of your employees and your organization -- including the vital wall between work and personal life?

7. They have creative ideas and share them. Can you and your teammates build a work environment where
creativity can thrive? It's all about the environment -- nobody can innovate when they're afraid of getting in
trouble for missing one of their metrics!

8. They give their best every day.

9. They keep their commitments, at work and at home.

10. They follow their trusty instinct as much as they follow their brain -- or company policies.

Ten Signs You're Not A Great Employee

1. You don't like your job, but you stay in the job and complain about it.

2. You blame other people for your mistakes.

3. You let your customers, vendors and/or teammates down. People will accept almost any mishap or delay
if you are human with them about it -- communicating as soon as possible what broke down, how you're
going to fix it and your heartfelt apologies for their inconvenience.

4. You talk about other employees instead of sharing your feelings with them directly.

5. When you make mistakes, you don't stop and fix them. You just hope nobody notices.
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6. You tune out most of what's happening around you at work, and think about other things.

7. You take as many breaks as you can, and do as little work as possible.

8. You read job ads all day while you're supposed to be working.

9. You ask other employees "Do you know any other companies that are hiring?"

10. You send out hate-vibes to everyone around you at work.

As we review the list of signs that you're not a great employee, what do we notice?

They are all signs of fear and unhappiness! When somebody is less than a great employee, we have to look
once again at the work environment. After all, you and your fellow leaders hired that person. You could have
hired anybody, but you hired this person. It's up to you to make them successful -- and to keep them happy!

It is hard for leaders and HR people to accept that unhappy or ineffective employees represent a leadership
problem -- not an employee-attitude problem.

When somebody is not a great employee, the work environment is almost always the major factor. People
want to do a good job. It makes the day go faster. It feels better to be successful at work. We have to evolve
past blame and shame and judging employees, and move toward a higher-level view of leadership.

When people are caught up in the good energy and forward motion at work, they don't have time to wonder
"Am I using the very best practices to be as effective an employee as I can possibly be?" In healthy
organizations, process supports people -- not the other way around!

Look at your environment and your culture.

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Great employees emerge spontaneously from healthy workplaces every day. You don't have to take steps to
make people effective at their jobs. An effective team is the natural outcome of a healthy culture.

All the best,

Liz

Liz Ryan is CEO/founder of Human Workplace and author of Reinvention Roadmap. Follow her on
Twitter and read Forbes columns. Liz's book Reinvention Roadmap is here.

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