How to Make an Impact in Your Day Job
By, Emma Pautler
When work gets busy, it’s easy to feel like it’s all for nothing. And chances are, if you feel like the work you do every day doesn’t make a difference, it’s affecting the way you lead your team.
It’s possible for the work you do every day to make an impact. And when you believe that you’re making an impact, you’re bound to lead your team better.
At the 2020 MILLSUMMIT, we brought in a panel of young, female leaders who fight every day to make an impact. Here are their top 5 strategies to help you make a difference at work and lead your team well, at the same time….
1. APPROACH SITUATIONS FROM A POSITION OF ABUNDANCE
If you live with a scarcity mindset, you’re not going to be an effective leader. Instead, you have to believe that you have more than enough to give.
Lainna Magerr, Executive Director of the Wilmington Children’s Choir, states, “There’s a lot we can’t do right now. There’s also a lot we can do.” In order to truly make an impact, you have to focus on the latter.
She continued, “When we stopped focusing in on everything that was not possible for us and we started focusing in on everything that was possible for us, we realized that we're so lucky to live in this virtual world.”
Your resources, wisdom, expertise, and time are all valuable commodities that others can benefit from. When you share these things freely, you’ll not only be an excellent leader, you’ll also feel confident that the work you’re doing matters.
2. GET COMFORTABLE WEARING LOTS OF HATS
Jenn Saienni, Marketing Communications Representative at Delaware Hospice, states, “It is our day job, as nonprofit leaders … to wear a lot of hats and do a lot of things.”
That couldn’t be more true. As a leader, you’re going to have to wear lots of hats. There will be days when you’re making big-picture, strategic decisions, and days when you’re plugging data into a spreadsheet. It’s just part of the job.
One of the most important things to do, then, is to get comfortable wearing lots of hats. When you realize that all of your work is valuable, you’ll feel like you’re making an impact regardless of what you do. The empowerment you feel will then overflow to your team, too.
3. MAINTAIN CONNECTIONS WITH OTHERS
When you’re leading a team, you can get drained -- fast. That’s why it’s important to stay connected with others.
Lainna Magerr, Executive Director of the Wilmington Children’s Choir, was able to connect in new ways given our virtual world. She said that at the beginning of the pandemic, “maintaining connection was really our top priority. And we found that we were able to do that. Not easily … But with a little bit of effort and some elbow grease, we were able to maintain connections.”
You can do the same thing. Take time to lean on other leaders, your superiors, and even your team. When you start to wonder if the work you’re doing has a purpose, you’ll be able to rest in a community that can remind you of the impact you’re making and spur you on to lead others well.
4. GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR VALUES
You can’t lead effectively if you don’t know what you stand for. That’s why getting in touch with your values is so important as a leader.
Melissa Micek, Director of Engagement at Philanthropy Deleware, took time to reset at the beginning of the pandemic. She says her team asked, “What are strategies to achieve our vision of a just and thriving Delaware?’” Then, they determined ways to achieve those goals, “Through effective and impactful philanthropy.”
Ask yourself exactly what you care about, what you stand for, and what you’re willing to fight for as a leader. Once you’ve defined these things for yourself, you’ll be able to implement your values into parts of your business little by little. The more you feel like your values are represented in the work you do, the better you’ll feel about your work, and the better a leader you will be.
5. BALANCE HUMILITY AND CONFIDENCE
To be a successful leader, you have to be confident. But working for overconfident leaders is one of the most draining things.
Instead, you need to toe the line between humility and confidence. Be confident enough in yourself as a leader to know you are good at your job and humble enough to realize you still have things to learn.
Leah Coles, Director of Business and Development for Goodwill Deleware says, “That honest self-assessment is why you're going to be an amazing leader because you're humble you're realistic and you'll know when to bring in people to fill an area where you don't have expertise and you're willing to do that because your ego doesn't get in the way.”
The work you do everyday matters. When you begin to believe that, you’ll be a more effective leader and make an even greater impact. Begin to employ these five strategies in your business today, then comment below to let us know how it works for you!