Taking on even more responsibility at work may sound like daunting at first. However, there are a vast array of benefits, most notably, that it can help accelerate progress in your career. Why would you not want to prove to your employer and peers how dependable and capable you are?
Taking more responsibilities is the perfect way to grow your current skillset and even achieve goals that would usually be above your grade. Meaning that when it’s time for promotions or bonuses you will be first in line. After all, you will have the appropriate experience to take on a bigger role, unlike those who didn’t take up the offer of the extra responsibility at work.
How to be given increased responsibilities?
It’s all good and well knowing how beneficial additional responsibilities will aid your career, however you firstly need to be given them. It’s much easier than you may think – below we have outlined some easy tips to help get you started.
- Don’t wait to be asked
Take the initiative! Perhaps you can directly approach your boss and ask if there are any extra projects that you can be a part of. Create an open dialogue and share how you’re feeling about your career, your progress, and your part in the company’s future. More often than not, they will be happy to designate extra work to you if they feel as though you’re up for it. Keep in mind the skills you already have that can be developed upon and ask to get more involved in those specific areas.
- Always be reliable
Be a steady reliable figure in your team. Create a relationship of trust – by being punctual and complete all your work to a high standard and be willing to help with extra. If your peers are not able to keep up with their present workload you could even volunteer to help them out or offer some valuable input (without trying to take the credit for yourself!). These good deeds will show how dependable you are to everyone you work with, meaning that you’ll be a great candidate for promotion and additionally the team will respect your leadership once you reach your dream position.
- Always be looking to learn more
In your leisure time, select an area that nobody in your team has great expertise in, yet would be a valuable asset to the workplace. By investing time into this topic, you will become more knowledgeable than your peers, meaning that the team will begin to rely on you for feedback or help in anything in that area, thus gaining yourself a new responsibility and making yourself an invaluable member.
- Network!
Having valuable connections will always lead to increased opportunities. Every time you take on a new project you may end up working with a new, diverse array of people, all of whom will be able to contribute to your career with either new knowledge or information, or about roles that you may be able to apply for. Having a vast professional network is crucial to going up the ranks in a company, and these new people may be able to designate extra responsibilities to you too.
But how can these responsibilities convert into opportunity?
Having more responsibilities inevitably means spending more time with your boss, especially if you’re working on projects crucial to them. Being around them in meetings, briefings or consulting them about your progress will allow you to learn from their experience, making yourself even more capable, and build a better bond with them. When this happens, it should be no problem for you to ask for the promotion you want as you’ve adeptly proven how you can handle all your current tasks and are ready for more. Ultimately, you have nothing to lose! It’s better to go for it than wallow in what-ifs and later regret that your career hasn’t developed the way that you wanted.
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