By Wendy J. Miller
Your Top TEN
Quick - name your top ten personal strengths! If you are like most people, you will stumble after three or four items, all the while waging an internal tug-of-war between modesty and healthy self-esteem.
Human resources and staffing professionals advise that at all times we should be in touch with our strengths and abilities, but more commonly we get caught up in day to day activities and forget our unique personal offerings both in the workplace, and after office hours.
February is the month for expressions of love, so give yourself a little TLC this month and make your personal top ten a priority. As with creating your CV, don't forget to consider previous work roles and extra-curricular activities when compiling your top strengths. Employees are more mobile today, and businesses are more subject to reinvention than they were 10-15 years ago, building the case for looking beyond your current working context - you never know when you will have to draw on your total experience to extrapolate for the future.
UP the Ante
As with a personal top ten list, each member of your organization should have the ability to easily list off the top ten corporate attributes - not as a rote list, but naturally peppered throughout their internal and external communications. Some caution when establishing a corporate top ten list - avoid generalities and keep it real! Your corporate listing should be carefully thought out and meaningful to all stakeholders, versus "feel good" language that does not accurately describe or align with whom you are and what you do.
That said, everyone from entry level employees to the "grand fromage" should relate to the descriptors. Ultimately your corporate top ten will serve as a framework for your corporate image - what makes your company stand out and why it is the preferred choice.
