MVP is a sporting term that stands for Most Valuable Player. Every year one player in the league is awarded this title to acknowledge their skill, leadership qualities, outstanding sportsmanship and overall excellence in their area. It doesn’t always go to the player who scores the most goals or points. It is quite often the player who brings the team together, motivates them and forms a solid base for the point scores to work from. The MVP is reliable, innovative and above all he/she is respected.
I think that the workplace is a lot like a sporting team. You have to work together to get things done. Everyone has their own skillsets but without a good group of people around you your work is going to be much more difficult. In this post I want to show you how you can become the MVP at your work.
How to become the MVP at your work
Becoming the MVP is not an easy process. Micheal Jordan was awarded the MVP many times but it did not come overnight. It took years of training and hard work and dedication to the team. The same will be required of you. If you want to become your team’s most valuable player you will need to put in a lot of hard work and stay focussed.
Help others
The first thing the MVP does is take care of his team. They motivate and inspire people when they are down and they get thing moving when people are lacking energy. The MVP will also help other when they need it even if they have to put aside their own needs for a while.
If you want to be the MVP at work you should try and be there for other people. If they need some help with a task you should always have your door open so they can come in and ask questions without fear of being percieved as stupid. This does not mean be a pushover that everyone uses when they feel lazy. It is about helping people grow and become better.
Be level-headed
The MVP stays calm under pressure. You hardly ever see a great sportsperson lose their temper. Sure they fire themselves up but they will never let themselves get out of control.
An office MVP is also calm and level-headed. They stay cool when the deadlines are on and they do not yell at people when they are feeling the pressure.
When you can keep calm like this other people will come to rely on you. They will also learn from your example and develop calmness themselves. Hopefully, sooner or later your whole team will become level-headed players who are able to operate under extreme pressure. This is seen a lot in the army where the officers and commanders are trained to stay very cool. If they lose it their troops will also lose it soon enough.
Dress well
It might seem insignificant but the MVP’s around the work are always presented perfectly. They have neat haircuts, cleanly shaved faces and their clothes are sharp and fresh.
Dressing well conveys a sense of professionalism. When you dress well it shows people that you are ready to do business and you are 100% right for the job. What you wear on the outside quite often reflects how you are on the inside. A sloppy dresser will rarely do well at high powered meetings because he will not be percieved as organized and in-charge.
I find it quite amusing that we humans place so much importance on our clothes. It is very materialistic. However, this is the reality of the business world so it is important to make sure you look sharp and portray yourself as a professional person.
Refine your skills everyday
When other people were asleep in their warm bed Muhammad Ali was out on the street running at 4am. When they were getting ready for bed at 11pm he was doing a weights session. The MVP’s of history always seem to work harder than the rest. They are devoted to their art and they refine their skills every single day.
To become an MVP at work you have to be the best at what you do. You need to do it in such a way that shows you have gone above and beyond in your training. You need to know your subject matter top to bottom and have innovative ways of applying your skills. This is the true arena of the MVP.
Some effective methods of doing this include:
- extra study
- finding a mentor who is willing to show you new methods
- taking risk and trying new things
- travelling overseas to see how things are done there
This type of thing will help you refine your skills and teach you new ones. By doing this you will become a valuable member of your team because you will be able to teach people things. It is not about knowing more than them – it is about being able to help them grow into their full potential.
This is what MVPs do best.
Originally posted on July 4, 2008 @ 3:03 am
