How do you know if your hard work, commitment and positive attitude is translating into measurable workplace success?
Regardless of industry, role or title, we all want to be considered an asset to the company we work for and to be recognised as a dedicated employee. Measuring your success in the workplace is an ideal way of ensuring that you are meeting not only the expectations of your employer, but also the standard that you set for yourself.
Whether it is vicariously through the opinion and assessment of others, or a prolonged period of tracking your own achievements and ability to hit targets, measuring your success is key to progressing your career and identifying the areas in which you could improve, so, how do you measure workplace success?
Define success
Success is unique to the individual, so before you even start to quantify the measure of your achievements, first you need to identify what success looks like to you. The list of achievements an employee may strive for is near endless, however, it can include becoming involved in DEI initiatives, taking on board opportunities to upskill, progressing rapidly through the ranks and creating a healthy work-life balance, among a medley of others.
As you enter different life and career stages, your goals will likely change too, so don’t be afraid to readjust how you measure success. Ultimately, the objective here is to isolate the most important aspects of your job, the elements that give you the greatest satisfaction and the routes you can take to ensure this success is replicated across your career.
An important tip to remember is to avoid measuring your success by other people’s standards – measure it by your own.
Embrace evaluations
Evaluations carried out by a manager or your peers is an ideal way to gauge how well you are doing in your role. Honest and constructive feedback is crucial to understanding how well you are performing and the aspects of your work that could use a little polish, so be open to professional criticism.
While you may be subject to a review every couple of months, if you have questions around your role, your objectives and what you could be doing to advance further, don’t wait until an evaluation to ask for advice. By occasionally seeking guidance from your employers or peers, you get a broader picture of how you are doing and will likely better recognise missteps going forward.
Eye on the prize
Milestones, and whether or not you are reaching them, are a handy way to measure your success. While the company and your employer will have in place their own milestones for you to surpass, success is an individual goal, so you should have your own personal targets that indicate values and ambitions.
For example, if your goal is to get a certain amount of experience, the completion of workplace training programmes or development courses would be a significant milestone professionally. Anything can be a milestone, from winning an industry award or earning a promotion to negotiating a more favourable contract or perfecting your schedule to accommodate your working and personal life.
If you are finding that you aren’t reaching planned milestones, why not go back to the drawing board and reevaluate your goals. If you discover that the timeline you have set for yourself is unrealistic or unattainable, start over. Success is measured not by the absence of failure, but by the will power and determination to try again.
Seek joy
Not everyone will agree, however, I am of the personal opinion that you can’t find long lasting success in a career that makes you unhappy. While you may be meeting targets and achieving your personal and professional goals, happiness and job satisfaction are crucial to maintaining productivity and staying emotionally and mentally healthy in the workplace.
From increased productivity, improved communication and in-depth decision-making, happiness in the workplace comes with a range of benefits. Happiness or at the very least, a feeling of contentment, should be a universal metric by which we gauge our overall success in the workplace, as it prioritises wellbeing, as well as the importance of taking pride in what you do.
Ultimately, measuring workplace success takes time and practise, as often the metrics are concepts rather than tangible forms of evidence. What matters to you today may be irrelevant a year from now, but as long as you plan ahead, always working with a goal in mind, every action you take is a metric by which you can gauge your success.
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