Whether you’re an employer trying to scout the best of the best for your workforce or an employee trying to get ahead, it can help to know what qualities define a good employee. Developing a better assessment of these behavioural traits and how to apply them in practical ways is key to succeeding in a business environment, be it as an employee or as an employer.
Below are four key personal traits of a good employee:
Trait 1: Organization
Organization is one of the most essential traits of a good employee. Countless hours are lost every year to nothing more than the absence of organization. Many employees might have a great talent for the work they do, but just don’t seem to be performing at the level they could be. Try as they may, the severe loss of efficiency caused by disorganization can render an employee’s efforts in vain. Any employee that takes the time to implement thought-out systems for organizing their work understands the drastic difference that proper organization can make.
Without this organization, some employees find themselves wasting time trying to find relevant information, repeating tasks that should only need to be done once, and trying to piece together reports and presentations from an assortment of disconnected sources. If you’re looking to improve your organizational skills at work, try using a logbook into your daily routine.
Simply write down, be it digitally or in a good old-fashioned book, what you’ve been working on and any pertinent information as to what you’ve actually produced during this time. You’ll save time later when it comes time to track down some specific fact or figure that you just know you’ve already figured out.
Trait 2: Communication
Another important trait of a good employee is communication. As an employer, you could very well have the likes of Leonardo da Vinci or Benjamin Franklin working in your midst and not even know it. No matter how great someone’s work ethic, tenacity, or sheer talent is, all of their work will be in vain if they lack the skills to effectively communicate their ideas. Teamwork is the most fundamental aspect of any workplace and in order for a team to function properly, the links between the individuals have to work.
These links are the ability to effectively communicate. By improving communication, office efficiency can be greatly increased and you’ll have less time wasted on simple misunderstandings. At the end of the day, this means more time really getting into the meat of the work. It’s important for a good employee to carefully and deliberately consider how they’re going to express their ideas and distribute information.
Communication should always be clear and concise. A good communicator knows how to deliver exactly the right information, not adding in trivial or irrelevant bits and never leaving out some critical fact.
Trait 3: Honesty
Most work days, we pay little or no attention to the ideas of classical virtue. We’re content to grind out whatever task it is we have to finish and call it a day. However, a good employee finds that a little honesty goes a long way. Employees who develop a strong sense of integrity in the workplace are sure to get ahead and, more importantly, stay ahead. So many workers have had the opportunity to lie, cheat, or steal their way into a stronger position in their workplace. Some may have taken that opportunity and have ended up all the worse for it.
Honesty is such an important personal trait of a good employee. It pays to be honest, believe us when we say this. Those who are honest in their professional relationships develop long- lasting bonds of trust with their co-workers, employers, and employees. By starting out on the right foot early in their career, the good employee ensures that they have solid footing as they strive to advance themselves through the business world.
Trait 4: Leadership
When employees first start out at the bottom of the proverbial food chain, they are often too short-sighted to envision a time in their career when they might be someone else’s boss. As they move on through their professional lives, many eventually do end up in some sort of managerial or supervisory position.
Any good employee likely will have already developed a strong sense of leadership long before they reach that point. The hallmarks of a good leader are apparent in a good employee long before the responsibilities of leadership are put upon them. These employees seem to listen more carefully, speak more deliberately, and show a general enthusiasm for their work. They are always first to volunteer for any task, and are willing and proactive in helping others within their team.
These leadership skills will follow the good employee throughout their career, which will surely advance quickly. The early identification of these traits in their employees should be the highest priority of any business owner. Through the cultivation of these traits within their workforce, any company can quickly become a dynamo of efficiency and production. Leadership qualities can serve a good employee, whether or not they are in a leadership position.
