Tuesday, 28 November 2017

13 Tips on How to be a Star Performer (Part 2) By Babatunde Oladele

2. Confirm Expectations and Requirements
All of us are fulfilling several roles across different strata of life. One person may have multiple roles with functions that he or she has to fulfil based on his or her roles. A woman in her mid-30s can be wife to her husband, mother to her children, daughter to her parents, sister to her siblings, staff in an organisation, unit head or team member in that same organisation, member of a church or some voluntary organisations, and member of one or more units in that same institution.

All these are roles performed by one person, and each comes with its own distinct demands. If you therefore desire to turn in a five-star performance in each of these roles, then you must know the specific tasks required of you for each of them, because each role has different responsibilities attached to it that may not be applicable in the others. You should know what you are supposed to do on a regular, daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis to fulfil your role. Taking steps to know what is expected or required of you helps you to have a complete picture of what you ought to do.

3. Ascertain the scope and coverage of your responsibilities
How long do you need to do what you are doing? How far do you need to go? How wide do you need to cover, in terms of the range of your responsibilities? You need to ascertain the scope and coverage of what you are supposed to do if you want to be a star performer. This is important so that you do not dissipate your energy in the wrong direction or do much where you are supposed to do little. You can even use quantity to measure your turnout where applicable: how many of this do I need to produce?

Using the home as an example, a man can ask, how much do I need to bring for the house upkeep? In a work setting, you can ask, how many of these am I supposed to do? How far do I need to go? What do I need to do at this stage that I am? How many miles do I cover? What do I need to do to get to the next stage? You need to know the scope and coverage you are meant to cover. In an office setting, the best person to talk to about these is the management or your line manager. What are the things I’m expected to do? For how long am I expected to do this? How many of these am I expected to turn in on a daily basis? These are questions that star performers ask before they hit the road running.

4. Identify your productivity and result metrics
What constitutes productivity for you? The Bible says, ‘all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial.’ You are permitted to do as many things as you want, but it is not all things that will constitute productivity for you.

You must know how your result is going to be determined. Is it by meeting your annual target? Is it getting your husband’s meal ready by 7pm? Is it by making sure your girlfriend gets N10,000 every month or by your parents receiving credit alert at the end of every month? What are the measurements you are going to be measured by? Knowing this will help you align yourself to do what you are supposed to do.

God put us here to flourish, when we get back to heaven we will be judged based on our fruitfulness and how we have been able to turn over the resources and talents He has bequeathed to us. Forget about activity or doing the rounds, it is possible to sit by the computer from 8am till 5pm and get nothing done. It is not that you are not doing something, but are those things productive? Once you know the metrics you are going to be judged by, it helps you align yourself to where you should be and what you should be doing.

5. Set goals and objectives
What are the goals you are expected to meet? Even if you are not given any by your employer or line manager, set goals for yourself. Having known what you are expected to do and how far you are to go in doing those things and you also know the things that will be used to measure your success or non-performance; you should now set goals for yourself: These are the things I’m going to accomplish, based on what I know. You should set yourself objectives you are driving towards. Star performers are goal-driven; they do what needs to be done, when it ought to be done, and how it is supposed to be done, not the way they feel or think, but how it ought to be done.


You have to set goals for yourself. For example, you know your target revenue in a year is N5million; that is a goal. You then need to plan how to accomplish the N5million mark. How much do you need to bring in on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis? That helps you to know whether you are on track or not. What are the things I’m not doing right that I need to stop? What are the things that I can intensify so I can get more results? You need to set goals for yourself; that is how you know somebody who is a star performer, they are goal-driven. They focus on the end result but do not lose sight of the process; they align with the process that will take them to that end result. You need to have objectives for what you are doing.

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