Every employer’s dream is to have one or more extraordinary employees; those that are impelled by a persistent quest for excellence. Experts say that great employees address conflict rather than avoiding them. When they step into conflict resolution, they maintain respect for everyone in the mix. They also don’t place blame on others. Vincent Mugisha, a CEO in Kigali says that exceptional employees possess great listening skills. It is advisable to be a good listener and observer too. For instance, in the case of assignments, or instructions for a new project, failure to pay attention may result in making mistakes. Regardless of how stressful work can be sometimes, maintaining a positive attitude is the way to go. It will help you accomplish your professional goals and boost the company towards success, Mugisha adds. He carries on that a positive attitude also improves the way people view you as a person, so they may be more prone to help you succeed and cheer you on. He further notes that ability to adapt to change is key as change encourages innovation, develops skills, and crafts better business opportunities and improves staff morale. According to Indeed Career Guide, employers value employees that are successfully able to manage changes in the workplace. In addition, the more adaptable you are, the more productive you will be overall. “Some benefits of workplace adaptability are; you will be a more valuable employee, a better leader, better equipped to face challenges, happier, easier for you to adapt to career changes and more relevant.” Mugisha also stresses that excellent employees mentor others, they share their expertise with others to see them grow and are not jealous of sharing their knowledge with them. Sharing your knowledge with colleagues is a great service. It gives you an opportunity to think about others and not just yourself. Forbes, a business magazine, states that outstanding employees form great relationships with people inside and outside the company. They know which teams they are a member of and they work to strengthen their team relationships so that things don’t get tense or stressful in a clinch. “Great employees look ahead and anticipate problems that might emerge on the job. They bring up potential problems early and push to get those problems addressed before they can do harm.” For Cécile Uwamahoro, an employer, excellent workers are those that are dedicated. Dedication can be described as an exceedingly strong feeling of loyalty and support for someone or something. To run any successful enterprise you must have dedicated employees available and be able to depend upon them. For her, dedication teaches discipline, passion, and time management, which are necessary to success. With dedication, one is more likely to gain success, promotions, and the ability to work with complex people. Because they love what they do, dedicated employees are often the first to show up as well as the last to leave work. She carries on that such employees have a passion for their work, have a positive attitude toward their job, are punctual for all work-related events and mostly flexible if assigned work tasks. “You can’t talk about excellent workers and fail to mention confidence as one of their virtues. They listen more than they speak, eager to look for ways to improve their skills, aware of when to ask for help and can quickly adapt to a new role. Confident employees believe in their own abilities to manage tasks, and are also more likely to convince managers, co-workers and customers of their abilities without putting their colleagues down,” Uwamahoro states.
