The Proactive Executive

Here are some helpful suggestions for developing the “Impact” component of your profile:

• Focus your activities on initiatives and projects that will enable you to have a meaningful impact on outcomes.

• Create and present proposals and action plans within your company that will have measurable results. This will make it easier for you to quantify impact on your resume.

• Develop a broader perspective and influence beyond your immediate role. Understand the priorities, key challenges, issues and opportunities your organization and industry face. One way this can be accomplished is to proactively volunteer for committees and multi-functional task forces that have been convened to tackle key opportunities and issues. This will allow you to become more broadly recognized for your contributions. Attending industry conferences is another way to broaden your perspective. It will also help you learn how to better anticipate business issues and potential solutions in your industry.

• Understand how your performance is going to be evaluated as well as your organization’s key priorities. Set achievable objectives that stretch your abilities. Then, meet or exceed those objectives.

• Be visible in working towards results. Collaborate with others and keep your manager apprised of your progress. If you accomplish your goals in a vacuum, no one will know.

• Understand which areas of your organization are receiving funding and get involved in those areas. It is a lot easier to create an impact when you have resources.

• Keep a list of achievements and contributions that you have driven or been a part of throughout the year. Adding to this list should be easy and not require a lot of time. This exercise is helpful at year-end when you are preparing for your performance review. It will also make the process of periodically updating your resume more efficient.