best work Archives - Dennis E. Gilbert

02
Nov 20
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Assessing Competition, What Is Your Comparison?

Tags : best work career competition skill building

Do you have a habit of assessing competition? When you look at what is out there, compared to what you do, how do you rank? Does it matter?

I remember November in grade school. Right before the United States celebration of Thanksgiving, we made construction paper turkeys. It all started with placing your hand, palm down, and tracing around each finger on brown construction paper.

Everyone followed a template, a model, as instructed by the teacher. Yet, everyone had their own work. Right before the holiday, you got to take your turkey home to your parents. I remember my mother acting so proud of my accomplishment.

My accomplishment was a huge success. Perhaps because I followed the model or perhaps because of what it was compared to.

At home, it was only compared to my last best work. It wasn’t compared to every construction paper turkey in the County. It wasn’t compared to every similar project in the State or the US.

My project was compared to my best previous work. I was a winner because I was growing, achieving, and delighting my mother with my school work.

Assessing Competition

The best work that you’ll do this month should be a comparison of the best you’ve delivered so far.

When it delights the customer, you’ve accomplished something. It may be the best in the US or the best in the World, but it may be hard to determine because the relevance is what is happening right now, right in front of you.

What matters is that you’re solving problems, producing or providing something better than your last work. When it meets or exceeds customer expectations then it is work worth doing.

There are millions of undiscovered song writers, chefs, and engineers. It’s also true for healthcare workers, truck drivers, and backroom graphic artists.

The work that you do should always be compared to your personal best. It is how you’ll continue to delight someone, even if it is only a small group in a small town.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

12
Jul 18
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Your Best Work, Working Hard, and What Is Missing

Tags : best work emotional labor job description promotion technical skills

Employees often feel that they are delivering on their promise. A promise to provide the best value to their organization. Are you doing your best work? Is your best work enough?

Trying your best is important. It has something to do with integrity. Trying your best though may not always be enough. At least, it may not be enough of the right stuff.

Technical Aspects

Knowing how to do a spreadsheet in Excel, how to spec the right materials at the best price, or how to manage the financial responsibilities are all important.

The web designer needs to know code and trends. Warehouse managers need to know storage solutions, traffic efficiencies, and even robotics. Marketing and advertising leaders should know the digital environment, how to leverage it, and how to evaluate the ROI.

All these things are important and are perhaps technical. You may be doing all these things, but you still seem to be coming up short of the promotion, the job advancement, and career path you desire.

What are you missing?

Emotional Labor

In today’s workplace environment doing your best work is not the same as filling in all the spaces on the form, checking the boxes, and signing your name.

In my experiences I find people every day who can do all those things and still wonder why they are stuck.

Certainly, there are varied reasons and sometimes people are not at the right place at the right time. In many other cases, what is missing is the emotional labor that goes along with every job.

Best Work

Organizations want to hire people who fit in. They have a hundred or more resumes of people who fit the technical specifications. Who is the one person who will fit the best?

Often it is not about your technical skills, you’ve checked all the boxes, your card is punched. Perhaps you should consider all the soft skills required.

How you communicate, overcome adversity, navigate generations, and your emotional intelligence is all part of your job.

It may not be a check box on your job description, but it may mean that you are the best fit.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect,Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

21
May 18
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Limits or No Limits, What Matters More?

Tags : best work limits matters value

Focus helps remind us that staying narrow, working within boundaries, and limiting distractions accomplishes goals. Should you work within limits or is it better to know no limits?

What Fits?

When we prepare a package for shipment we can only fit so much within the box. Our suitcase for the trip, same thing. Airplane carry-on rules, the same.

If we could fit everything, there wouldn’t be much decision about what to take. We’ll just take it all. When we have everything we could possibly need there really isn’t a reason to focus. No need to pick the best or the most appropriate.

If we had all of time, nothing ended, it just kept going, forever, there really wouldn’t be a need to be selective, there would always be more. What would really matter the most, perhaps no one would care.

Limits help make us choose to do something better, make something more meaningful, and discover what matters the most.

Matters More

When the car only holds five passengers, not everyone can go. The metaphorical seat on the bus (Jim Collins), not everyone will fit. It causes us to be selective. As the bus starts to fill, the selection matters more.

Certainly, working within limits can result in thinking small, but the concept that there are no limits doesn’t seem to accomplish much. It may help push the envelope bigger, but if the envelope is never filled not much really matters.

If your business could market to everyone, all the time, and there is no cost or saturation point your advertisement may not have to be that good. Just do more.

Limits

Limits make things hard. They make it hard to achieve perfection, hard to get things just right, and hard to make the best decisions because in that moment, within those limits, the decision made, is final.

The best work happens within limits. What is created with focus, precision, and just enough but not too much, creates exactly what is the most desirable.

Anything without limits has little value. It is available everywhere and all of the time.

Here is a box of stuff, now make something.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

17
Jan 18
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Doing Your Best Work and Getting Your Card Punched

Tags : best work card punched career mission skills

Chances are good that the job market in your area is very competitive. It may also be a possibility that opportunities for advancement within your organization are highly competitive. Are you doing your best work?

Career minded individuals certainly believe that they are.

Honing Your Skills

You work hard to hone your presentation skills. You intentionally put effort into networking and building relationships. In many cases you are continuing your education either formally or informally.

Simply put, you are career conscious and focused on growing.

All of this work. All of this effort seems like the right thing. You get your card punched every step of the way. You have the mechanics of career improvement covered, you’re positioned.

What often happens next is that you start worrying about the wrong things. You worry if you said something wrong at the luncheon. Perhaps you didn’t give enough kudos to the boss, or when the CEO asked a question you jumped in to answer but later felt that you gave a silly response.

Your Mission Objective

Your mission has been to build all the key ingredients and then get visible. It is a good plan. The only problem may be that it is the plan of many. So many that now you just blend in. You aren’t exceptionally special, unique, or the perfect fit. You are the same fit as everyone else.

As a result, you are not standing out. You are blending in.

Maybe it isn’t that hard. Maybe the card punch isn’t as important as you once believed.

Your Best Work

You might get hired without the degree, without the certification, or even without the perfect resume.

Sometimes getting the card punched is not as important as doing the work that you do. It is probably always a good idea, but it doesn’t make you stand out.

Great work on the other hand, usually does.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

20
Oct 15
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Sort of Focused

Tags : best work focus goals half-hearted

People sometimes wonder if the concept of self-fulfilled prophecy is real. They ask from their heart, but the question is only heard in their own mind. To everyone else they don’t get the question, because it hasn’t really been asked, but instead shown in the result.

Some people commit to trying their best, others actually create their best work. Your best work doesn’t come from half-hearted attempts, but trying your best might create just that, an attempt. There is a difference between finding the scapegoat in trying your best when compared with the end result of actually doing your best.

Sometimes giving it your best shot leaves something on the table, but being focused completely and entirely on doing your best work does not. The Sun may sort of be out, or it may be sort of raining, but then some may suggest neither is true.

You likely won’t achieve your goal by trying your best; you have to do your best. Your best won’t happen when you are, sort of focused.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker, and coach that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is the author of the newly released book, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at DennisEGilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

Tag Archives: best work

Nov 20

-

Assessing Competition

Jul 18

-

Technical Aspects

Emotional Labor

Best Work

May 18

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What Fits?

Matters More

Limits

Jan 18

-

Honing Your Skills

Your Mission Objective

Your Best Work

Oct 15

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