What makes an employee stand out? What makes that person ‘’unique” and difficult to replace? Two characteristics can make an employee important and nearly irreplaceable for a company. Quality of work and the ability to meet deadlines.
If you have these two characteristics, then you already know, you are important for the company. If you don’t, however, think about adopting them as soon as possible. Not only will they help you with your reputation within the company, they will also secure your position and even put you up for a promotion, someday.
You must start by meeting the deadlines. Deadlines are important because they keep you focused and keep the work flowing. If you never had to keep a deadline in the workplace before, you might find the following techniques helpful:
- Be serious about the deadlines.
Most people can be rather negligent regarding deadlines. You should be serious about your deadlines and always make them a priority.
- Keep a list
People often miss their deadlines due to a very simple reason. They forget about them. Keeping a list of your deadlines will ensure that this will not happen to you. After all, if you monitor your deadlines you will speed up the process of meeting them.
- Be specific about the deadline’s details
Be certain about the day and time of the deadline. The details regarding the project and especially the deadlines should be clear. Whether they come from your manager, your boss or a client.
- Break down the project
This technique applies to every project. Whether you have a deadline or not. It is an important technique because it works. Sometimes, a project can be rather intimidating. Don’t tackle the entire project all at once. Take it, one step at a time. That way you will manage to set an estimated duration for each step, depending on its difficulty. Keep the steps small and the project will not seem so intimidating.
- Set a start and complete date for every step
If you have decided on 4 steps for a project and your deadline is in 2 days, ensure that you will know exactly when you will start working on each step and when you will to finish it. It will help you monitor your time and meet the deadline. Perhaps even finish with the project, sooner than expected.
- Know your limits
This is the last technique. This is also an advice. You should learn how to say no. If you commit to more than you can handle, you will miss a few deadlines. In some cases, saying no or asking for more time is better than committing to a job you cannot finish.
These six techniques will help you meet your deadlines and improve the quality of your work as well. But what happens in case you do miss a deadline? Well there are certain actions you can take in this case as well.
Try to negotiate for a second deadline. Talk with your client or your boss. Explain the reason why you were not able to meet the deadline. Ask for another one and this time learn from your mistakes.
Learning from your mistakes is the second action you should take. If you overcommitted the first time, don’t do it again. Plan a better working schedule and only commit to what you know you can do, not what you think you can do.
Deadlines are important. You are allowed miss a deadline once. But if you do it a second time, you might start ruining your reputation.
