Learn how to rid yourself of the “Employee Mentality” and start thinking like a boss so one day you’ll be one!
I can remember the days of working 9–5, counting down the hours until the end of my shift and just being miserable. My attitude of entitlement apparent in my work ethic (or lack of it) and attention to detail. I would do the bare minimum, slack off when no one was looking and felt taken advantage of by the businesses I worked for. I always wondered why I never got promoted and felt stuck in a dead-end job where lateral movement was possible, just not attainable for me.
It wasn’t until years later, when I started my own company and hired my first employees that I realized what the problem was all those years ago… I had the “Employee mentality”. When everything I owned was on the line and my efforts either paid my mortgage that month or it didn’t, my attitude toward work completely changed. But I noticed the things that were important to me weren’t important to my employees. They didn’t worry about making sure there was enough money in the bank to make payroll, they didn’t care about the vitality of the company, they didn’t care about customer deadlines or development schedules, they honestly only cared about themselves.
This lack of thoughtfulness on their part made me resent them. It made me apprehensive to grow my business and hire more thoughtless employees. It was a big problem for me that consumed a lot of my thinking. I thought back to my days of being an employee and realized it was an easy trap to fall into. For a small business, the risk of loosing everything I had during a bad month forced me to take every part of my business seriously. When my employees would goof off, miss deadlines or do things that cost me money, it pissed me off and when they asked for a raise or promotion, I laughed internally.
I used to talk with other business owners, and they all had the same feelings. The employees they would promote had completely different mindsets than their counterparts. They genuinely cared about the business. They were mindful of the company’s bottom line and how it was essential for their job security. They treated the business like it was their own and it showed in their work ethic.
If you want to change the way your employer views you, take the following steps to change your mentality. Doing these 5 things will make you stand out and your boss will take notice. A raise and promotion will be right around the corner.
#1 Act like you own the business — Pretend that everything you have depends on how well the business does. Genuinely care about your job and how it affects the overall success of your company.
#2 Innovate and Improve the functions of your job — Find ways to be more productive, reduce costs, increase revenue or add more value in your current role.
#3 Offer genuine help to colleagues — Nothing speaks louder than lifting up the people around you and being genuinely helpful. Even if it takes more energy out of you, find ways to help your colleagues with their problems and you will be seen as a leader and someone people turn to for help. This will translate into promotions as they become available.
#4 Empathize with your boss — Try to understand issues from their perspective and think the same way they do. When your thoughts are aligned with theirs, your actions will reflect their desires and they will notice.
#5 Take on more responsibility without being asked to — Take initiative and handle tasks that aren’t assigned to you without stepping on other people’s toes. If something isn’t being done by anyone that needs to be done, make it happen.
When you change your mentality, you’ll be surprised how everything else changes around you. You’ll enjoy your work a lot more, you won’t count down the clock and it will show. As your boss and colleagues take notice, you will be called on to take on more responsibility. People will come to you as a problem solver and your role in your company will gradually change to that of a manager. As you become more indispensable to the company, your salary and options will greatly increase.
