Star Search for Everyone

Tweet

You need not be a genius-ora born leader.. Why do some people get all the plum assignment,the bif raises,the fast-track promotions?It's not that the're more intlligent than their cooeagues,or better leader s or smoother schommzers.In fact most of them don't work any harder than the poor schmo in the next cubicle. What makes these people office stars,says Robert E.Kelley,47,a management consultant and professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Graduate School of Industrial Administration,is that they work smart.He eolains his findings,in the following interview. It's the strategies the person uses to approach his or her work.An important one is initiative:identifing unassigned work that is critical but is no one's reaponsibility-like upgrading your company's computer software-and saying,"I'll do it."Too ofter,average performers take initiative only for tangential things,like volunteering to organize the company picnic... Theoretically,yes.When we taught300 emoloyees the key strategies that stars use,their usual productivity improvement rates doubled by the next yesr,on aerage.Stars are made born.