Tag Improve Yourself

How to Be More Valuable to Your Employer

Steve Keating Leave a comment

I’m a little surprised by how often I’m asked by people how to ask for a raise. I don’t normally answer a question with a question, but in this circumstance, I do it anyway. The question I ask is, “Do you deserve a raise?”

I get a variety of answers to that question. Many people say, “well, I need one.” This is where the frustration begins to set in for them. Because my reply is that if I’m your employer, I could care less that you think you need a raise.

I then ask them to explain to me, with a pretty good level of specificity, why they deserve a raise. I want them to tell me what they have done to make themselves more valuable to their employer.

It is my belief that no one is entitled to a raise they didn’t earn just because they have been with a company for a certain period of time.

Consistently increasing the value you bring to your employer is the fastest way to earn a raise. Increasing your value helps you stand out from your colleagues and coworkers. Standing out as a valuable employee not only helps you earn a raise, it can open doors to career growth, job security, and personal fulfillment. Becoming indispensable to your employer isn’t about working harder—it’s about working smarter, aligning your efforts with the company’s goals, and consistently demonstrating your worth.

Here’s a practical guide to increasing your value at work, with actionable steps you can start implementing today.

Understand Your Company’s Goals and Priorities

To be truly valuable, you need to align your work with what matters most to your employer. Take time to understand your company’s mission, vision, and current objectives. Are they focused on increasing revenue, improving customer satisfaction, or streamlining operations? Knowing this helps you prioritize tasks that directly contribute to those goals.

Actionable Steps:

Ask questions: In team meetings or one-on-ones, inquire about the company’s short- and long-term priorities.

Read up: Review company reports, strategic plans, or public communications (e.g., investor updates or press releases) to grasp the bigger picture.

Align your work: Frame your contributions in terms of how they support key objectives. For example, if customer retention is a priority, focus on delivering exceptional service or suggesting process improvements.

Example: If your company is pushing for digital transformation, volunteer to learn a new tool or platform that supports that initiative, like mastering a CRM system or analyzing data to improve decision-making.

Develop In-Demand Skills

Employers value employees who bring expertise that is relevant to the company’s needs. Stay ahead by continuously developing skills that are in demand, both within your role and in the broader industry. This could mean technical skills (e.g., data analysis, coding) or soft skills (e.g., communication, leadership).

Actionable Steps:

Identify skill gaps: Look at job descriptions for roles similar to yours or ask your manager which skills would make you more effective.

Invest in learning: Take online courses (platforms like Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, or Udemy are great), attend workshops, or earn certifications relevant to your field.

Apply your skills: Find opportunities to use your new skills on the job, whether through a special project or by improving an existing process.

Example: If your company uses data to drive decisions, learning basic Excel functions or a tool like Tableau can make you a go-to person for insights, increasing your value.

Take Initiative and Solve Problems

Valuable employees don’t wait for instructions—they proactively identify challenges and propose solutions. Being a problem-solver shows you are invested in the company’s success and can be trusted to handle responsibilities.

Actionable Steps:

Spot inefficiencies: Look for processes, tools, or workflows that could be improved and suggest actionable fixes.

Volunteer for challenges: Offer to lead a project, tackle a tough client issue, or streamline a task that others avoid.

Think ahead: Anticipate potential roadblocks in your team’s work and propose ways to address them before they become problems.

Example: If your team struggles with meeting deadlines due to poor task tracking, propose adopting a project management tool like Trello, or Asana and offer to set it up.

Build Strong Relationships

Your value isn’t just about what you do but how you work with others. Building strong relationships with colleagues, managers, and stakeholders fosters collaboration and makes you a trusted team member.

Actionable Steps:

Communicate effectively: Be clear, concise, and respectful in emails, meetings, and conversations.

Support your team: Offer help to colleagues, share credit for successes, and foster a positive work environment.

Network internally: Get to know people in other departments to understand their roles and how you can support cross-functional goals.

Example: If a coworker is overwhelmed, offer to take on a small task or share a resource that could help them, building goodwill and strengthening team dynamics.

Deliver Consistent, High-Quality Work

Reliability is a cornerstone of value. Employers prize employees who consistently meet or exceed expectations, deliver on time, and maintain high standards.

Actionable Steps:

Set clear goals: Break down large tasks into manageable steps and track your progress to stay on target.

Pay attention to detail: Double-check your work to avoid errors that could cost time or resources.

Seek feedback: Regularly ask for constructive feedback from your manager or peers to improve your performance.

Example: If you’re tasked with preparing a report, ensure it’s error-free, visually clear, and submitted early, demonstrating reliability and professionalism.

Be Adaptable and Embrace Change

Workplaces evolve—new technologies, strategies, or market conditions can shift priorities overnight. Employees who adapt quickly and embrace change are invaluable because they help the company stay agile.

Actionable Steps:

Stay open-minded: Approach new processes or tools with curiosity rather than resistance.

Learn quickly: Take the lead in mastering new systems or workflows, and share your knowledge with others.

Show resilience: Handle setbacks or unexpected changes with a positive attitude and focus on solutions.

Example: If your company adopts a new software platform, take the initiative to learn it early and help train your team, positioning yourself as a resource.

Communicate Your Value

It’s not enough to do great work—you need to make sure your contributions are visible (without being boastful). Employers often notice employees who can articulate their impact.

Actionable Steps:

Track your achievements: Keep a record of your accomplishments, such as projects completed, savings generated, or positive feedback received.

Share updates: In performance reviews or check-ins, highlight specific ways you have contributed to team or company goals.

Be proactive in meetings: Share ideas, insights, or progress updates to demonstrate your engagement.

Example: During a performance review, say, “I streamlined our reporting process, which saved the team 5 hours a week and improved data accuracy by 20%,” to quantify your impact.

Stay Positive and Professional

A positive attitude and professional demeanor make you a pleasure to work with, which enhances your value. Employers appreciate employees who inspire others and maintain composure under pressure.

Actionable Steps:

Stay solution-focused: Even when challenges arise, focus on what can be done rather than dwell on problems.

Show gratitude: Acknowledge others’ contributions and express appreciation for opportunities.

Handle conflict gracefully: Address disagreements calmly and constructively to maintain a positive work environment.

Example: If a project hits a snag, instead of complaining, say, “Let’s brainstorm a few ways to get this back on track,” showing leadership and optimism.

Mentor and Support Others

Helping your colleagues grow not only strengthens the team but also positions you as a leader, even if you’re not in a formal leadership role. Employers value employees who elevate those around them.

Actionable Steps:

Share knowledge: Offer to train a new hire or share tips with a struggling colleague.

Be a team player: Celebrate others’ successes and contribute to a collaborative culture.

Lead by example: Model the behaviors and work ethic you want to see in others.

Example: If a new team member is struggling with a task, spend 15 minutes walking them through it or sharing a helpful resource, showing you’re invested in the team’s success.

Stay Committed to Growth

Valuable employees never stop growing. Commit to continuous self-improvement, both in your role and as a professional, to stay relevant and impactful.

Actionable Steps:

Set personal goals: Identify one or two areas for growth each quarter, such as improving public speaking or mastering a new tool.

Seek mentorship: Connect with a mentor or manager who can guide your career development.

Stay curious: Read industry blogs, attend webinars, or follow thought leaders on platforms like X to stay informed about trends.

Example: Follow industry leaders on X to learn about emerging trends in your field, then share a relevant insight with your team to spark discussion.

Final Thoughts

Being more valuable to your employer is about aligning your efforts with their goals, continuously improving yourself, and making a positive impact on your team and organization. By taking initiative, building skills, and developing strong relationships, you’ll not only increase your worth but also create a more rewarding work experience for yourself.

Start small—pick one or two of these steps to focus on this week. Over time, these efforts will compound, making you an indispensable asset to your employer and setting you up for long-term career success.

Keeping Score

Steve Keating 4 Comments

I was recently invited to join a Saturday morning golf league. I’ve never been asked to join this type of very unique league before. What made it so unique was that they don’t keep score. Apparently not keeping score is supposed to make the game more fun. 

I know there will be people who disagree with this but I see no point to playing golf…or any sport if you’re not going to keep score. I kind of understand the people who say that very young kids should be allowed to play sports without the “pressure” of keeping score but I’m not entirely bought into the idea. 

But for adults I believe keeping score in most areas of life is essential. 

Professional sales people who don’t know their percentage of wins vs opportunities have no way of truly knowing if their approaches are effective. Companies who don’t track their market share have no idea if they are gaining or losing customers. Retailers who do not track the amount of customers entering their establishments have no clue if their marketing and advertising is working. 

The “score” is simply a reference point on your journey to ultimate success. If you don’t track what actions and tactics are working for you then you’re very likely to get lost on that journey. 

How often do you stop to check your personal success score? Do you invest time to reflect on what’s working in your life? What’s not working? 

Most everyone I talk to claims to want a better tomorrow. They seek improvement in many areas of their life. But many of them want the improvement to come without making any changes. They want to do the same thing today as they did yesterday but they want a better result. That is not very likely to happen. 

Improvement doesn’t come from making changes. Improvement comes from making the right changes and the only way to know what changes will be the right ones is to keep score. 

The “score” is your result. Measuring results informs our decisions on what we need to change in order to have that better result we seek.

One more point, when you keep score make sure you’re being honest with yourself about what’s working and what’s not. Accepting responsibility for your actions or inactions is step one on the road to improvement. 

Denial might get you down that river in Egypt but it won’t get you far on the road to success.

So…do you know your score?

I HAVE to add this very last point. Keeping score in relationships is a losing game. It’s a losing game because believing you can “win” an argument with someone is a fool’s errand. The sooner you realize that fact the sooner your relationships in life will begin to improve. Sorry for kinda tacking that on to the end of this post but I felt it had to be said. 

The Flames of Discontent

Steve Keating 5 Comments

The most successful people know that good enough really isn’t. In fact, they know that good enough is just a mirage and accepting anything as “good enough” merely puts you on the path to mediocrity. 

 

Tony Gwynn, the San Diego Padres Baseball great said that the minute you’re satisfied with where you’re at you’re not there anymore. In that same vein, the second you believe what you’ve done is good enough it isn’t. 

 

Authentic Leaders do not accept good enough from themselves or their people. They fan the flames of constructive discontent until the desire for improvement burns hotter than the comfort of the current.

 

Those leaders take a humble pride in their accomplishments but ensure their future success by realizing that they can do better. They drive towards continual continuous improvement and bring their people and organization along for the ride. 

 

Introspection is a key for constructively discontented leaders. They evaluate their performance and then reevaluate. You’ll never hear them explaining that the reason they do something is simply because they always have. They know exactly why they do what they do and they know that one day they will do it differently…. and better. 

 

Leaders who long for improvement learn to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. They realize that if they aren’t trying something new from time to time then they simply aren’t trying at all. They accept the risk of failure as the price for continual success and are not afraid to take a path that others didn’t even see. 

 

They are careful not to “read their own press.” They accept the recognition that comes with success but have pretty short memories and they use their past success only to guide themselves even higher. 

 

The most Authentic Leaders use their own success to help their people achieve uncommon results. Sometimes they push their people towards success, sometimes they pull them and oftentimes they come along side of them to bring them on a common journey. 

 

They fall at times but that only slows their climb, it does not stop them. 

 

The most successful leaders, and the most successful people, know that continued success lies in finding contentment in constructive discontent. They are never fully satisfied but that in its own way is uniquely satisfying to highly successful people. 


If you’re satisfied with where you’re at or with what you’ve accomplished then get yourself unsatisfied as soon as possible anyway you can. Learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and your success will know no limits.

Improvement Requires Change

Steve Keating 1 Comment

I am frequently surprised by people who want something “better” in their life. I guess that’s not really the part that surprises me, after all, who wouldn’t want “better”. The part that surprises me is that they want something better but they are not willing to accept any amount of change in their life to get it.

 

Any improvement, even a little one, requires that something must change. 

 

Just because you may not enjoy change (you’re most certainly not alone there) does not mean there will be no changes in your life. Change happens whether we want it to or not. 

 

Once you accept the fact that change is one of life’s certainties then you have the choice of whether those changes will drive you or you will drive them. That means the real question is will the changes in your life happen to you or because of you.

 

If you want to drive the change in your life then you must decide what changes you want. You must be very specific about what you want, “better” isn’t nearly specific enough to make it happen. Knowing exactly what you want to be better is a key to having it. You’ll also find that being able to effectively communicate, to yourself and others, exactly why you want the improvement is a big help too.

 

When you know what you want then set your goals and make a plan on exactly how you’ll make the change come about. This is the part many people miss, they want to see a change but they have no plan to make it happen. You need a plan! 

 

Now here’s the thing about your plan… it’s very unlikely to work, at least exactly as you had drawn it up. Expect disruptions in your plan, your path to successful change with be littered with obstacles and nay-saying people. Push on!

 

While you may find your plan wasn’t perfect it’s likely your planning process was sufficient enough to allow you to get right back on course when someone or something pushes you off. 

 

Be patient but be sure you’re not just procrastinating. The very best time to begin your journey to successful change is the moment you’ve identified the change you desire. “Later,” “tomorrow,” and “someday” are just words that slow you down, or stop you all together. The word you need is “now” as in right now, immediately, today. 

 

Be sure to surround yourself with supportive people. Change isn’t easy but like everything else, it’s easier when we get some morale support along the way. Never allow anyone to tell you that you can’t succeed and for heavens sake, never say that self-defeating horrible thing to yourself. 

 

You are going to experience change in your life; for some people that’s pretty bad news, for others it’s pretty good news. I guess it just depends on if your sitting behind the steering wheel of the change bus or if you’re just along for the ride.


So…where are you sitting today?

The Need for Feedback

Steve Keating 4 Comments

Some people want feedback on their performance and some people don’t. But if you’re a leader you need to understand this basic fact: ALL people NEED feedback. At least if their performance is going to improve in any significant way.

 

As a leader it is vital that you provide that feedback if you want your people to grow. By the way, if you don’t want you people to grow then stop calling yourself a leader. Just sayin’.

 

This feedback must be fairly consistent and very specific. It can be “scheduled” like during an annual review but it can also be spontaneous, occurring in the moment that you think feedback would be helpful. I should also point out here that if you are providing feedback only during those scheduled annual reviews you’re likely not providing your people with nearly enough feedback to be truly helpful. 

 

Let’s talk about specific feedback. “You need to improve” is NOT feedback, that’s criticism. Feedback involves much more detail. Be as specific as possible about where and how the improvement must occur. Let your people know how you will determine if the improvement has happened. Provide a timeline on when the improvement needs to happen and set a specific date and time to provide updated feedback to confirm that you’ve seen the required change. 

 

Do not ever tell someone they need to improve in a particular area by the end of the month and then leave them wondering if you think their improvement has been sufficient. You need to follow up with additional feedback.

 

I wonder sometimes if the reason so many “leaders” are poor at providing feedback is that they feel giving feedback could lead to confrontation. If you’re a leader who feels that way it could be because you see feedback as something you only provide when improvement or corrective action is required. However, the best leaders provide feedback in all circumstances, bad and good! 

 

It seems most every leader understands the some sort of feedback is required when improvement is needed. What many forget is the it’s also great to provide feedback when things are going well. When you give feedback for a job well done you reinforce the successful actions of your entire team, even if the feedback was provided to a single individual. Feedback for successful actions also needs to be specific, “nice job” barely qualifies as a compliment much less feedback. Tell the person WHY it was a nice job, share with them specifically where they went right and encourage them to continue the effort.

 

A couple of key points here; obviously feedback given to promote corrective action or improvement is best given in private, between you and the person you’re trying to help. Feedback for positive reinforcement can and probably should be given publicly to display a model of successful effort. 

 

Now, back to where we started, some people want your feedback and some people will “resist” your feedback so don’t attempt to force your people to drink from the well of feedback rather inspire them to have a mighty thirst for it. 

 

You inspire them to thirst for feedback by showing them you truly care. By showing them that you have THEIR best interests in mind. 

 

When your people know the feedback is intended FOR them and not directed AT them they will likely become much more receptive. 


One last thing for those of you on the receiving side of feedback. I’ve never in my life received negative feedback. The feedback I received may well have been intended to be negative, I simply refused to receive it that way. That’s a choice and it’s one I would encourage you to make as well.

Small Changes, Big Difference

Steve Keating 3 Comments

You cannot improve one thing by 1000% but you can improve 1000 little things by 1%.” — Jan Carlzon

Jan Carlzon was the CEO of the SAS Group (Scandinavian Airlines) from 1981 – 1994 and turned around the airline from one of the industry’s worst performers to one of its best. In doing so he revolutionized the airline industry through an unrelenting focus on customer service quality.

The turn around was engineered through Carlzon’s development of The Rule of 1 Percent. Basically that “rule” says that even a series of very small changes can add up to a very, very big difference.

He studied his business and made the changes seem easy to make, he didn’t ask anyone to make a major change, he just asked a whole lot of people to make small, much easier changes.

What are the small changes you could implement in your organization? You may have looked at those changes in the past and thought that they didn’t amount to enough to bother with. Think again and consider the impact of all of your co-workers making similar small changes. 

Here’s the real beauty of The Rule of 1 Percent – The higher you’re already performing the more impact a 1 percent improvement will have. If you’re functioning at 50% then an improvement to 51%, while good might not be that significant. Now if you’re functioning at 90% then your 1% improvement gets you to to 91% and that’s huge! 

Never believe for a moment that your contribution towards improvement, no matter how small you think it might be, doesn’t matter. It matters because you matter. Most companies run leaner today than ever before, there are few if any people left in organizations who don’t need to be constantly seeking improvement.

The Rule of 1 Percent is applicable not only to business, it actually can apply to any area of your life where you want to improve. Too many people fail in their attempts to improve because they try to go from zero to one hundred without ever passing 50, or 10, or even 1.

I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t make a 1 percent improvement in many areas of their lives, they just have to realize how much of a difference 1 percent can make, especially when the 1 percent comes in many areas.

Don’t overburden yourself trying to change your world all at once. Just improve yourself a little bit and you’ll have improved your world as well. 

 

How to Build a Better World

Steve Keating 7 Comments

Your task is to build a better world,’ God said. I answered, ‘How?… this world is such a large, vast place, and there’s nothing I can do.’ But God said, in all His wisdom, ‘just build a better you.’ – Author Unknown

Every person I know seems to want a better world. Pretty much everybody you see on TV talk shows says they want a better world. All the politicians you hear and see are talking about how they have a plan to build a better world. 

All the plans seem to have one thing in common… Somebody else has to change or somebody else has to do better. It seems so daunting a task that few people actually attempt to make the world better. 

Pretty much everybody you see or hear talking about a better world forgets the easiest place to start… with themselves. It is just like the poem says, “build a better you.” 

Befriend people who aren’t like you. Don’t judge them, just try to understand them. Listen, really, really listen to someone who has a point of view very different than your own. Put yourself in their shoes and look at their point of view as if you were going to help them convince someone with your point of view… that your point of view is wrong. 

It’s very difficult to learn new things when we invest our time only with people who think like us, act like us, and do the things we do. Expand your horizons by expanding your sphere of influence, have a conversation with someone you normally wouldn’t at least once a week. 

Learn a foreign language and while you’re at it learn about the country and people who speak it natively. Don’t criticize someone else’s thinking without first understanding the origin of their thoughts. You may discover that the only reason you don’t like someone is because you don’t know them well enough.

Don’t wait for someone to ask for help, don’t offer to help someone who you think needs it… just help whenever and wherever you see help is needed. Don’t aspire to a position or title that people will follow, instead inspire them to follow the PERSON that YOU are. 

Never, never, never try to be someone that you’re not. Don’t try to imitate someone else, simply be the best you, the you that you have always been meant to be.

Invest time and energy in building a better you every single day and imagine just how much better the world would be if every other person followed your lead. 

If you really want to build a better world… then begin by building a better you!