Employed? That’s something to be Positive about! Make yourself more valued in 2011.

　
  The Positive Image Network is a cathartic place for me. It allows me to post every good thought I have. There is an energy that comes from feeling good about something, from sharing a good idea, from showcasing the good works of others. That energy can’t be matched even by a hard run on the treadmill.
After working for so many years in a public eye career, I could be a pretty skilled spin doctor. But what I am here is just pretty honest. I only represent here what I feel good about and believe in. That’s because this is just a blog.
  It’s a calling, but it’s not a job in the real world.
  In the real world, we may not be able to find the jobs that make us happy. This is 2011! The jobs we have to do are the ones that make others happy to have us.
  So let’s be honest about what your boss needs from you.
  Performance is more important than ever. You have to bring new ideas, new clients, get results and push your work ethic to its highest level. You already know that. You also need to be a good citizen. What can you do Monday morning that will make the whole team effective? How can you make your boss more effective? Putting the team first means you are a performer, not a problem child. Notice I did not tell you to be a suck up; that doesn’t have lasting benefits for anyone. What I am suggesting is a Positive Image and a positive performance.
  High performing employees who don’t complain often will be listened to when there is a need to bring an issue to management’s attention. Chances are that if you’re a high performer and a good citizen on the job, you’ve thought out your approach when you do need to bring up an issue or suggest a correction for an idea that isn’t working. Your solutions will be appreciated and accepted.
  I offer these thoughts from the school of hard knocks. I have been the employee. I have been the manager. I know the worse the economy is, the more good citizenship pays off at work.
  Part of our obligation to our career is this: We win as a team.  We own our mistakes as individuals.  Don't cover for others who may bring us all down, but do own your own mistakes, then move on. 
  How does this help you?
 From the management perspective, some of the longest “difficult” conversations I had with employees were the ones where they did not take ownership of mistakes they’d made. We wasted time investigating and debriefing to try to find out what happened. We sometimes brought others into the conversations to see how deep the issue really was. We re-examined policy that probably didn’t need to be re-created as much as it needed to be followed. Sometimes these conversations went on for days, and when they all came back to someone who’d made a mistake without taking ownership, I lost respect for those employees.
  Some of the shortest “difficult” conversations I had with employees where the ones where they immediately owned up to what happened. I could only say one thing: “Thank you and moving forward, here is how we will handle this kind of thing…” Then the conversation with my bosses was always short: “I know what happened, I take responsibility and we have it addressed.”
  Simply: if you own your mistakes, you won’t repeat them. You will build a level of trust with your team. That’s the Positive Image that wins at work.