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Ask for feedback from your colleagues and managers—this will help sharpen your toolkit as you learn where you are falling short of expectations and where there is room for improvement. You will be wise to discern true constructive criticism when it is offered, and to learn from it. Your organization lives by a certain mission, vision, and goals. The goals are usually set from the top down, and if everybody’s goals are not aligned, then it is difficult for the company to achieve success. If you are a great employee you will be in alignment with your organization’s goals and work at aligning your team accordingly. One paramount characteristic of a great employee is a sense o...

Now, what makes a great employee? You not only do your job well, but also seek out ways in which you can do more for the company than just the job you were hired to do. You work at getting ahead by improving your skills, and learning everything you can about the company you work for and what makes it tick. Take the initiative to try and make it a better place to work in. Contrary to earlier views on the matter, a person who comes in early and stays on late, working through the weekends and holidays is no longer considered a perfect employee. Most great employees are totally engaged and go home fulfilled after a day’s work, able to give more to their family and society. How do you def...

Are you a great employee? Chances are you’ll say yes. But are you really as good as you think you are? And do you know what makes a great employee? So you are well qualified for the job you do, come in on time to work hard at your job, are friendly with your co-workers and meet your deadlines well in time. That’s not nearly enough. Try this exercise. Go to www.amazon.com and search in their books for the word ‘leadership’. You will get 218,457 results. Then try a search for the phrase ‘great employee’—there are 4284 results, of which a large number of books deal with how to get and retain great employees. As you can see, there are about 50 times as ...

When an organization consistently implements high standards and its leaders personify these, it will leave no room for mediocrity or casualness on the part of employees. And if someone constantly displays a casual attitude, settling for adequate rather than excellent performance in every sphere of work, then they do not belong in your organization. On an individual basis, workers should try and overcome sloth and the "if it’s adequate then I don’t need to do more", or satisfactory underperformance approach to work. If they are unaware of what exactly is expected of them, they have only to ask, without feeling intimidated or embarrassed about their lack of knowledge. Th...

Many new recruits may not even realize the ways in which their individual work patterns can affect the organization as a whole, and will benefit from getting this knowledge. Leaders should not just make their expectations known, but should lead by example and instill in everyone the habit of producing error-free quality work. Meritocracy should become the theme that drives the organization. Accountability and insistence on the highest and most exacting standards will ensure that only the best individuals, those who are capable of living up to these standards will endure—the rest will fall by the wayside. Training and coaching employees to self-introspect, try and develop certain standa...

Corporations can tackle this at various levels, the foremost requirement being the raising of levels of expectations from employees. They can also deliver on quality by setting high quality standards in all their processes. The organization should recognize and select the right people, screening out individuals who display a likelihood of having a casual attitude toward work. Behavioral assessment tools are available to identify the people for whom nothing but the best is good enough, and corporations should use these during their hiring process. Within th organization, eradicating the casual attitude should be prioritized as part of a well-orchestrated imperative for greater productiv...