In the previous article I started writing about the keys to undertake from within the organization, indicating the first 4 aspects that determine the success of the entrepreneurial professionals. In this article I will write about the other 4 keys that are required to add value in our work environment in a successful way.
The four keys to undertake, commented in the previous article are:
- Put the energy in the right place
- Being in continuous motion
- Rebrand oneselves systematically
- Release to be able to flow more
If you want to refresh the contents of each of them, you only have to click here to return to article 8 Keys to undertake within the organization 1/2
The other 4 keys that will make us reflect on how to undertake within our companies, and professional projects, are the following ones:
- Improve the working process
When we undertake in addition to pushing the actions that are demanded at every moment, we are also, at the same time, improving all the processes that integrate these actions, and that will allow us to learn from the successful experiences to replicate them in the future, if it is necessary, in a quick way.
Haute cuisine cooks are professionals obsessed in documenting everything they produce, what has meant a culinary achievement. It is such the level of complexity and sophistication in the elaboration of the dishes, that going adjusting the recipe to the smallest detail becomes an obligation.
It is for this reason that the enterprising professionals take advantage of the activities and professional milestones, to be updating their lessons learned, making well-defined procedures where all the knowledge obtained is collected.
Although it is an extra time to redesign the process, it is worth investing this space in the present, in order to have it easier in the future.
And the great recommendation has to do with doing it at the moment of the action, or just immediately after it, because if it does not, it is possible to lose the essence, the magic formula, the success or what was achieved.
- Sharing with people generosity and vulnerability
I do not assume, or understand, the ability to undertake, without being linked to the need to share with others.
To undertake is something important, because it requires a lot of energy to be able to break schemes that allow to achieve what has not been achieved so far, while defying the initial resistances.
By many capacities and potentialities, that a professional can have as an individual, will never be more complete, rich and diverse, than the environment in which he or she operates, that the market to which he or she serves, or that life itself.
That is why to undertake in a solitary way is a high risk that we can not afford if we want to ensure a good project, product, or final service.
Entrepreneurial professionals are those who are clear that they need others to make their contribution to value and, moreover, they are clear that generosity and vulnerability are two essential ingredients for creating healthy alliances and commitments.
Generosity to share vision and information, as well as to devote time and energy without constantly measuring the balance between what is given and what is received.
And also the vulnerability of sharing from authenticity and naturalness, with transparent communication and without hidden agendas, to express the ideas and feelings that, as human beings, constantly visit us.
When there is a connection between people everything is easier, and even the most uncertain challenges can become adventures to enjoy.
So when there is chemistry with other professionals it is good to explore new collaborations although there is still no project or activity defined initially. In any case, the need will be already specified and will be covered later, but the united and cohesive team will be ready.
- Check whether decisions and actions are creative or reactive
Entrepreneurs, like any professional, and as any human being, is not foolproof and constructive in everything he or she does. On the one hand, they have their most positive, creative and expansive version, creating benefit and well-being for themselves, and also for others.
But, on the other hand, they have their most reactive version, creating a negative impact around them that, although very often unintentional, can create confusion or toxicity.
It is the law of life, and all people need to understand that our actions transit through a threshold, formed by many factors, which determines when they end up being creative or reactive.
The professional entrepreneurs are the ones who learn to distinguish and to become aware of their actions to the point of promoting their creative activity to the detriment of their reactive ones.
Doing this is not easy, because being reactive often seems to be the only option we have left to solve very complex and even challenging situations. That is why we need to understand that reactivity is a way of using resources that solve us, if only in the short term, important necessities that we must cover.
The problem is that being reactive, we are delaying the problem in the future, at the same time that we are causing pain, not just ourselves, but also the people of our environment.
When we are part of an organization, there are moments that the environment is so hostile that we end up using all the “weapons” we have in our hands to get out of some situations. And, in these cases, we know that we are not doing it with a win-win approach, which generates positivity around us, but rather we are paying a price that can be very high, deteriorating alliances and plans for the future.
So it is important to realize what reactive attitudes generate, and if we really want to undertake, we must know that it is not all worth it if we want to build a successful future. Since, if not done from a good base, sooner or later the foundations will not hold and the project fails.
- Be aware of the degree of current satisfaction
Finally, it is also important to realize that we will not be able to undertake successfully, if we don’t enjoy doing so.
For my professional dedication, I see many professionals who are suffering a lot in their current working time. They are people who, in the best of cases, do an activity that they like and that have the responsibility to carry out very interesting projects, and of great value added to stop the organization where they serve. But, still, they’re not happy and suffer more than have fun.
They have reached a point of physical, mental fatigue, or both, who want to change roles, organization, interlocutors, or wait for a long time to get their retirement.
The entrepreneurial professionals of the organizations need to feel happy and fulfilled, while executing their activities, feeling at the same time that the benefits and physical and psychological rewards are much higher than the disadvantages, frustrations, or discomforts that the same entrepreneurship of its function implies.
Only then will they be able to continue to fight their day to day to undertake new actions of value for the future of the organization.
Asking ourselves, now and then, if I’m enjoying more than suffering, it’s a good way to check our energy and inner peace, which will help us make important decisions for the benefit of ourselves as individuals, of us as a team, and also of us as an organization.
I hope that having read these 8 keys to undertake within the Organization have served you to reflect on your current professional moment and that, as a result, you can make some decisions, however small.
What’s the point of reflecting if you don’t generate an impulse to action?
Enric Arola