Become an Activist for your Company in 2012!
Part of our Personal Leadership Series
By Thomas J. Sponsel, Managing Partner

As January comes and goes, so do New Year’s Resolutions. Such resolutions are often made to be broken, if procrastination hasn’t already postponed making a commitment. A 2007 study by the University of Bristol found that 88 percent of all resolutions end in failure.

Most of us do not achieve what we desire for the following reasons:

Lack of a Commitment to a Plan of ACTION
Lack of Support in collaborating with others
Poor Execution
Poor Attitude
Lack of Willingness to make short-term sacrifice
for Long Term Benefit

Resolve to make 2012 the year you become an activist for your company. This includes making your personal role in the company more fulfilling, making your company better with suggestions for improvement in both planning and execution, and finding a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in your personal life.

This may sound like a utopia, but most of us become frustrated because we do not commit to an active role in making all this happen.

You can enhance your value to your company and improve job satisfaction through the following steps:

Together with your supervisor, identify three to five areas you should improve on in 2012.
Seek your supervisor’s support in helping you achieve your goals; solicit feedback and request any necessary resources.
Clearly understand how your role interrelates with other team members in delivering products and services.
Understand your company’s corporate goals for 2012 and the action steps management has laid out to achieve them.
Offer suggestions for making your company better.
Be committed to life-long learning and continuous improvement.
Celebrate your successes and evaluate your failures; use both to establish your next challenges.
Execute your assigned role, and hold others accountable to their roles.
Read voraciously on a variety of topics to expand your knowledge and challenge the status quo.

Many of us get dragged down because we approach our responsibilities as if we were bystanders in our own lives – our jobs, our families and personal relationships. There will be many challenges in life, and how we react to those adverse experiences will determine what we are able to accomplish and how other people regard us.

Take English poet William Ernest Henley. After progressive tuberculosis of the bone claimed one of his legs, and threatened to take the other, he wrote “Invictus,” which ends with these immortal words:

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Even if you are usually a follower or a doer rather than a leader, you must become a leader in your own realm – because no one else is going to do it for you!

Within each of our companies, we are part of a team of individuals with a diverse array of talents. When combined together correctly, the whole is much more effective than the sum of its parts.

The stronger we become individually, and the better we interact with co-workers, the stronger we make the company. A stronger company will deliver better customer service and higher quality products, have a satisfied workforce and become more successful. And we all want to be a part of success!

The key to this success starts with that person you see in the mirror every morning. If you commit to becoming an activist and not a bystander, you will be much happier – and your co-workers, spouse and family will thank you for your efforts.

Resolve to make 2012 a better year than the past, and start today to make it happen!