What is a self-starter attitude?
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In this article you will understand what a self-starter is, and how you can improve your attitude at work.
You will also understand what taking the initiative at work means, and why is it important.
What is a self-starter attitude?
A self-starter attitude describes an employer who gives the pulse of the activities at the workplace, people who do not need someone to tell them what to do, people with initiative and the desire to get involved.
The self-starters are the ones without whom the team cannot achieve top performance.
They are the most experienced people and that is why their presence in the team, on the one hand, is a necessity and on the other hand, it is a condition.
These people have acquired latent learning.
Not every employee is made to be a leader, and this is not a bad thing at all.
Instead, some employees are very passionate about what they do and are thirsty for knowledge.
These types of employees are not only satisfied with the desire to perform at their job, but they want new challenges.
They want to learn as much as possible, whether it’s training, on-the-job learning or even enrolling in new university courses.
This type of attitude can motivate those around them to do the same.
In addition, the ambitious keep the company up to date with the latest professional trends and technological advances, being constantly informed.
A self-starter brings extra energy and courage in a company, being very motivated to be successful.
Moreover, their ability to analyze the overall situation gives them the opportunity to remain calm in crisis situations, thus motivating other colleagues.
These are the future leaders of the company and given the current turbulent business situation, leadership is welcome for any level of the company.
7 ways to improve your attitude at work
Lately, more and more employees are feeling a dilemma that arises as a result of the confrontation between the tasks, which their job involves, and the motivational and energetic potential they have.
In the case of a job that involves the relationship with customers, there may be a situation where an employee likes to work directly with customers and provide support to solve problems, but simply does not agree with the organization of documents.
This person will reach, at some point, the situation of seriously thinking about looking for another job.
There are, therefore, contexts in which an employee, who feels very comfortable in the organization to which he belongs and in the company of colleagues, will leave his job because he dislikes certain activities.
Have you ever felt this way? Are there tasks that really please you and motivate you, while others simply exhaust you?
Is finding another job the only alternative in this situation?
Probably not, as each job involves both motivating and demotivating aspects for the employee.
The secret is to identify an optimal way to deal with those tasks that you tend to avoid.
You can try one of the following strategies:
- Find out if you can do that task. Having a low motivation for a task does not mean that you cannot do it, but only that you would prefer to avoid it.
- Create realistic expectations in terms of your own performance. Having a low motivation means that the task does not make you happy and that it will take you more time to complete it, being necessary to make a greater effort than in the case of a person who is more motivated.
- Determine if “performing a task properly” is enough or if it is mandatory to have excellent results in the targeted field. Even if your motivation is low, you will still be able to perform that task properly, if you participate in training or if you practice more, but you must know that “excellence” will probably be impossible to achieve in this case.
- Reassess the respective task. Could it be delegated to another person who would be more motivated and who would rather do it?
- Collaborate with someone who is better in the field. A good example of this could be a successful salesperson who relies on his or her assistant to write documents and reports.
- Create your own system or use a tool to increase your efficiency. There are many cases of professionals in various fields who have high creative potential, but who have difficulties in terms of attention to detail and synthesis of all valuable ideas.
In one of the cases, the person thought that it would be good if he would always carry a small tape recorder in his coat pocket, which would allow him to record in a way the ideas that came to his mind.
- Request the redistribution of the task. To better understand what this entails, we can take the following example: suppose a successful project manager has difficulty adapting to his new job. This is largely due to his increased motivation for routine tasks and precedents, as well as the need for order.
Unfortunately, he was given the task of developing new products in a company in the start-up phase, where there were no rules yet and no well-defined structure.
The best option in his case would be to accept those tasks of creating processes and procedures for making new products.
Extremely few people are equally motivated by all the tasks that the job entails.
And the reason is common: neither you nor any other person is motivated to do absolutely everything.
We all have areas for which our motivation is lower.
Most people who come to know success in the professional field are those who are aware of these areas and apply the strategies described above.
What does involvement look like?
The employees involved are focused, energized and enthusiastic. These lead to:
- Persistence – works hard for a longer period of time without giving up easily in the face of problems.
- Initiative – they easily take action without waiting to be told what to do on the part of a manager.
- Adaptability – changes with climate, including interpersonal adaptability, learning and creative problem-solving.
- Assumption – they can understand their place in the company and how their responsibilities impact the results.
- Expansion – overcoming their role by helping others, correcting mistakes or solving critical situations.
What are the levels of involvement?
Involvement is not an “all or nothing” game.
An employee may be involved in the job but not in the company he works for or may feel connected to the team but not to the business mission.
Involvement can be in:
- The work
- Team
- Company
- Mission
Many employers believe that involvement comes with the employee’s passion and energy, but once these enthusiastic employees start working, the company needs to support them in a way that keeps them involved.
Resources, communication, support and encouragement are what keep employees involved.
Aligning involvement with well-being
Well-being is the quality of life of an employee – how healthy he is both physically and emotionally, how much he improves and lives his life at work.
What generates a wellness program in employee involvement?
Energy – If employees have a high standard of living, it is easier to maintain their physical and emotional energy at work.
Presentism – It’s more than being physically at work. Presentism requires the employee to be physically healthy in the workplace to be involved and productive in his projects.
Flexibility – It is about the ability of employees to recover from difficult times and to be able to overcome obstacles easily.
Renewal – The quality of life needs to be renewed, which is different from one employee to another.
5 tips for improving employee engagement
- Caring for people as individuals, not just as employees – Employees feel much more appreciated when the company they work for invests in health, well-being and performance. And feeling appreciated is the forerunner of involvement.
- The job design – It is easy for companies to waste effort on trying to measure involvement without considering the actual work of the employee. The analysis of an employee’s involvement must determine the level of boredom and non-challenge that the team feels. An educational wellness program can help withhold focus at work.
- Capitalization of the management function – Support for the management function must include:
- Educational, training and support programs
- Special physical and emotional support solutions to increase confidence in the company
- Constant feedback between all employees, not just between managers, by setting “rules” (periodicity, specifics and actions).
- The employee’s opportunity to have a voice – This means creating mechanisms, formal or informal, qualitative or quantitative, such as an internal questionnaire. The most important thing is that these mechanisms be read/listened to and understood in order to be integrated into practice.
- Identifying barriers to involvement in organizational culture – This means a combination of actions intended to help employees get involved. Whether this is felt on a physical level, through specialists who offer relaxation/energization / de-stressing at the office, on-site / during/after work or on a psychological level through “real life” workshops with needs and solutions addressed.
Conclusions
In this article you read about what a self-starter is, and how you can improve your attitude at work.
You also read about what taking the initiative at work means, and why is it important.
A self-starter attitude describes an employer who gives the pulse of the activities at the workplace, people who do not need someone to tell them what to do, people with initiative and the desire to get involved.
A self-starter brings extra energy and courage in a company, being very motivated to be successful.
Moreover, their ability to analyze the overall situation gives them the opportunity to remain calm in crisis situations, thus motivating other colleagues.
Do you have any questions, comments on the content, or tips for how to improve your work performance?
Do not hesitate to let us know!
FAQ about self-starter
What do you mean by self starter?
A self-starter attitude describes an employer who gives the pulse of the activities at the workplace, people who do not need someone to tell them what to do, people with initiative and the desire to get involved.
What skills are needed to be a self-starter?
The skills that are needed to be a self-starter are creativity, innovation, enthusiasm, the desire to improve and get involved, self-confidence and knowledge about your job/task/company.
How do you prove you are a self-starter?
To prove that you are a self-starter you have to prove that you can think outside of the box, that you are creative and innovative.
Someone will see you as a self-starter if they can see that you are internally motivated to improve yourself, and therefore the project/skill/task/object you are working on.
What is the opposite of a self-starter?
The opposite of a self-starter would be someone who needs constant motivation and to be told what to do, someone with no initiative whatsoever.
Recommendations
The 60 Second Self-Starter: Sixty Solid Techniques for Motivating Yourself at Work, by Jeff Davidson
Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long, by David Rock
How to Be Happy at Work: The Power of Purpose, Hope, and Friendship, by Annie McKee
Personalization at Work: How Human Resources Can Use Job Crafting to Drive Engagement and Improve Performance, by Rob Baker
Alive at Work: The Neuroscience of Helping Your People Love What They Do, by Daniel M. Cable
References
Indeed.com
Forbes.com
Inc.com
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