Setting yourself apart from the crowd

In today's current economy and tight job market words like downsizing, layoffs, rightsizing, and the doing more with less are as common as words like profit sharing, stock options, and bonuses were not too long ago. I'm hard pressed to find any organization has not been touched by the current economic situation.

Having said that organizations are not tolerating anything less than complete employee dedication and commitment to the mission. When individuals find themselves delivering less, they quickly find themselves being escorted out the door, hopefully, under some sort of amicable conditions.

There will always be times when even those that dedicated and committed to the mission will find themselves without a place to go on Monday morning. What can one do to prevent this from happening? To paraphrase Patrick Townsend and Joan Gebhardt, authors of Five-Star Leadership, your organization "cannot settle for a random selection process for its leaders. Waiting for leaders to develop naturally is out of the question when the penalty for error is swift and permanent, as it is in combat...To ensure a continuous supply of leaders, leadership training" must be part of not just your organization but of also you.

The answer is quite obvious set yourself apart from the crowd. By setting yourself apart from the crowd means that you have to be eating the crowd (in the right direction) and not be struggling behind the crowd (the slowest follower).

Taking the queue from my favorite military organization and maker of leaders: the United States Army and it’s Be, Know, Do Leadership principles I offer the following quick list of what you can do now set yourself apart from the crowd:

• Be:
  Be technically proficient. Know your job to the point that you become the recognized leader in doing your job for your organization. Additionally, it is good to know the job of the people 1 to 2 levels below on the process chain and 1 to 2 levels of above your job on the process chain. For example, if you are a computer programmer it does know what the hardware people know and it certainly helps knowing what the Quality Control people are looking for. In most cases, this may mean going back to school. Remember, you are never too old to go back to school.
  
  If it is training you need then take that shot and invest in your future. If that means spending money then always know that money spent on your education is money never wasted. If all it takes is to spend $20.00 on a book that will increase your technical proficiency then that is a wise $20 investment that will yield a sizable return on investment in the long run. Then again it may also cost over $30,000 dollars to get that edge over those that are choosing not to invest in their future. Every situation will be different but then again every situation will call for a different level of commitment to achieve what you need to achieve.
  
  
• Know:
  Know yourself and know your limits. Never be afraid to accept and admit to the fact that you have your limits that cannot be exceeded. Also by knowing yourself you know what you have to work on as far as seeking self-improvement goes. Therefore, you will always seek self-improvement as an example for when it comes to becoming technically proficient.
  
  Know your organization. Know and fully understand your organization's mission and vision. Know where in the organization's big picture you fit in. Lastly, know what it will take to get you to the next level.
  
  
• Do:
  Do become a follower and a leader (sometimes at the same time). It has been said that every great leader begins, as a great follower and I, 100%, believe that. If you've never followed then you have never experienced a good leader or a bad manager.
  
  Do not be afraid to live by your morals, value, and belief system. Living and sticking to your morals, values, and belief system will go a long way towards establishing yourself as an individual and not as someone who sticks to the pack and has a “follow the pack” mentality. It also builds credibility and authenticity. Being credible and authentic are two highly coveted labels that any leader strives to be considered by his peers. A word of caution, while it is difficult to achieve and maintain those labels, it is so very easy to lose them. Be Careful.
  

Certainly, there are other things you can do to ensure you are set apart from the crowd. As a word of advice be sure that as you are setting yourself apart from the crowd you are moving towards the front of the pack into the lead position and not the last person so far behind that the only way to move to the top is to let the leader lap you (and that is not a good thing).



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