10 Ways You Can Establish Yourself as a Valuable Employee

Establishing yourself as a valuable employee can be helpful when starting a new job or positioning yourself for career advancement. Whether you're sharing a positive attitude or offering to train colleagues, knowing how to show your dedication to the company is important when trying to prove your usefulness as a team member. In this article, we discuss what makes a valuable employee and list 10 ways you can establish your value at work.

What makes a valuable employee?

Valuable employees are dedicated individuals who use their skills and attitude to improve their performance and positively influence their work environment. It can also be important for valuable employees to meet important deadlines, attend company events and continue to improve their occupational skills and knowledge of their company. Experienced and motivated individuals are beneficial to companies and businesses because they can deliver quality work while becoming a powerful role model to their colleagues and coworkers.

10 ways to establish yourself as a valuable employee

Here are 10 ways you can demonstrate your value and dedication as an employee:

1. Have a positive attitude

Having a positive attitude throughout the workday can not only improve your own approach to tasks and assignments, but it can also have a powerful effect on the mood of your coworkers. Approaching all of your responsibilities constructively or enhancing your work atmosphere through positive actions, such as smiling and friendly greetings, can help managers and colleagues see you as a valuable employee and a powerful asset to the team.

Read more: 10 Ways To Have a More Positive Attitude at Work

2. Show powerful job dedication

Showing dedication to your job is important because it can demonstrate your willingness to perform consistent quality work. Some ways to show strong job dedication include continually meeting project requirements, asking for help when you need it and proactively seeking more assignments. Staying disciplined and dedicated in your role at the company can help you become an influential member of the team.

3. Develop professional relationships

Developing professional relationships in the workplace can allow you to build a powerful network of occupational contacts and show managers and colleagues that you can be a beneficial team player. By demonstrating your teamwork capabilities, you can inform the company of your communication skills and position yourself for a promotion, such as a managerial position. Building a network of professional contacts can also help you improve your occupational skills through mentorship, develop your communication techniques and possibly offer you more job opportunities in the future.

Related: Complete Guide To Building Relationships at Work

4. Constantly improve and develop

Finding opportunities to improve your skills can show your managers and colleagues you're a valuable employee by demonstrating your commitment to the role and your desire to continue developing in the company. One way to accomplish this is by asking your manager if there are other ways or other departments in the company where you can use your skills to help create products or services. This can help show administrators your ambition to continue learning more about the business, increasing your knowledge of the production process and improving your career-based expertise.

5. Take initiative

Taking initiative is important because it can show your manager that you're a proactive and dedicated employee. Preparing yourself for challenges that may arise, requesting feedback on your performance and sharing your helpful ideas with the team are all great ways to show managers you're willing to do more than what they ask.

Taking initiative can also help improve your problem-solving capabilities by trying to figure out creative solutions to challenges or issues before informing your manager about them. By approaching your boss with a problem, and a few different ways to solve that problem, you can help correct the situation and demonstrate your critical-thinking capabilities.

Read more: 9 Ways To Take Initiative at Work

6. Stay motivated

Staying motivated to complete assignments and improve your company expertise are some great ways to establish yourself as a valuable employee. Showing your manager and colleagues that you're consistently willing to work hard and develop your occupational skills can help boost your energy levels and achieve personal goals. Powerful motivation can also show the company that they can trust you to complete projects on your own without managerial supervision, which can help you earn more influential assignments and position yourself for company advancement.

Read more: 11 Steps for Staying Self-Motivated

7. Be honest

Honesty can be a very important part of demonstrating your value as an employee, specifically when you're honest about an underdeveloped skill or lack of knowledge. It can be helpful for managers to know if there's a technique that you're not confident in, so that you can train and improve that specific skill. For example, if you're unsure about your ability to create goals for a marketing campaign, consider talking with your manager or marketing lead to see if they have any tips or training available for you to learn how to create powerful marketing goals and strategies.

8. Stay organized

Staying organized can help you prepare for important meetings, create a well-structured weekly schedule and create a clean workspace to help boost your productivity. Organizing your thoughts, or creating a folder for meeting notes and ideas can help you communicate those concepts more easily to your managers. Creating a well-structured schedule can benefit you by ensuring that you're able to attend every client or business meeting and complete all your major projects and assignments before their deadlines.

Lastly, cleaning and organizing your workspace can help you eliminate distractions and quickly find beneficial information, such as client contact info and sales reports. Staying organized in these ways can help show your manager or boss that you're a capable and valuable resource for the company.

9. Practice active listening

A few ways you can listen actively are by smiling, verbally summarizing what someone has said to you and asking questions when appropriate. Using these techniques can help show that you're hearing and retaining the information they're giving you and doing your best to fully understand an assignment's objectives. Active listening can also help you continue to develop your relationships with colleagues and coworkers. When individuals know you're listening to them, they might feel more appreciated and understood allowing your professional relationship to grow.

Related: Improve Your Listening in the Workplace (With Tips)

10. Mentor colleagues

If you know a coworker is struggling with a certain aspect of their job, consider offering to mentor or train them in the specific task. Showing your desire to improve the skills of your colleagues and help them with their occupational development can show managers and executives your value as an employee. For example, if you notice that a fellow sales associate is having trouble finalizing sales with clients, offer to coach them on their conversational and selling techniques. You might be able to improve your colleagues' communication skills while benefiting the overall company sales.