Taking Your Career to the Next Level: How to Become a Leader Among Your Coworkers and Earn that Raise You’re After

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Now that you have held the same job for awhile, you are ready to move up the ladder. You enjoy a challenge, you know you would make a great team leader, and the pay increase would be a welcome addition to your household budget. However, assuming a leadership position typically involves gaining a significant amount of responsibility. To take the next step, you need to show your boss and colleagues that you can handle the additional obligations that come with a leadership role.

Four Tips to Being Viewed as a Leader in the Workplace

Use the following advice to transform yourself from individual contributor to dynamic team leader.

1. Take Charge

Every team needs a leader, so step up and be that person. When no one can agree on the direction to take a project, which supplier to use or even where to order lunch from, take the reins and help your colleagues find common ground. Instead of trying to sway everyone on your own opinion, give each person a voice and use this to make a collective decision.

2. Treat Everyone With Respect

To be viewed as a leader, you need the esteem of your peers. Keep in mind, respect is something that must be earned. If you belittle people and make them feel small, they will not like you — much less respect you.

Good leaders are impartial. To maintain the respect you have earned, you can not play favorites. If you have differences with a coworker, you must put them aside and treat everyone as equals.

3. Lend a Helping Hand

Many employees do their job and nothing more, but this attitude will not work as a leader. Prove you have what it takes to handle the role by pitching in when colleagues need a hand. Offer to help when someone is stumped by a challenging problem or overwhelmed with a mountain of work. Being a team player is the first step towards becoming a team leader.

4. Put the Team First

It is only natural to want to complete work that makes you look great and furthers your career, but there is no “I” in team. Make it clear you have a leadership mentality by making decisions that benefit the entire group — not just yourself. This may mean you will need to make some sacrifices along the way, but it will be worth your time and effort.

Now is the Time to Move Forward in Your Career

At RealStreet, our team is committed to the success of talented architecture, engineering and construction industry professionals like you. We have the connections to help you build a better career. Take a step towards your next leadership role, and contact us today!

A career in construction administration and management can be (and for me has been) one of constant transition. It’s rather common that employment with a given company starts and finishes with each successive project; you’re a new hire as it’s just getting “out of the ground,” then finished and looking for a new project (and Read More…

Greg Wangler, Pentagon Construction Management Division

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