About the Author
Anne Parker
Anne Parker has an Arts degree and post graduate diploma from Monash University and is a registered secondary school teacher with 30 years of teaching experience in French, History, Career Education and Psychology. She has held positions of Coordinator of Languages other than English (LOTE), Coordinator of Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE)and Coordinator of Career Education. These roles involved implementing major curriculum reform of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development(DEECD). An elected committee member of the Career Education Association of Victoria
(CEAV) for 2 years including 3 months as interim Executive Officer, Anne was involved in significant change management, setting of standards of training of Career Development Practitioners and the ethics governing Practitioners in line with the national peak body the Career Industry Council of Australia (CICA). In 2008 she commenced Careertactics, her own consulting business.
By
Anne Parker
How one person can make a difference to an organisation
Can one person make a difference, especially in a large organisation? You bet they can.
The title of this article is taken from the well known novel by Bryce Courtenay (published 1989). The power of one .is set in South Africa during the 1930s and 1940s. It tells the story of an Anglo-African boy, Peekay, who was sent to boarding school after his mother had a severe psychological breakdown. Being the only English speaker in the largely Afrikaner school, Peekay soon became the target of the other boys, many of whom were keen supporters of Hitler.
Peekay’s life changed for the better when he met Hoppie Groenewald, the boxing champion of the South African Railways. He taught Peekay to box, and after much hard work and a few setbacks Peekay too became a champion boxer. His trials endured but to cut a long story short, Peekay finally triumphed over his main opponent. Perseverance, determination, self-belief and a strong ally saw him through.
The personal attributes that saved Peekay are highly valued and sought after in the workplace and demonstrate the power one person can have amidst many.
How can you show commitment to an organisation?
Commitment is not a tangible thing so how can you demonstrate it? The following are attributes which can be demonstrated and which combine to show commitment.
Never give up
Working hard and never giving up on a project or task especially a difficult one.
Loyalty
Loyalty is important in a workplace that is constantly changing to meet the challenges of a competitive global economy. Businesses need employees who are committed to the organization and its projects.
Honesty and integrity
The reputation of an organisation is very important. It is often the key to attracting new clients and maintaining existing customers, so it is important that an organisation provides sound advice and maintains high professional standards. To achieve these goals an organisation needs staff who are honest, share information and provide sound advice.
You will be responsible for your actions and performance in the workplace. So acting with integrity at all times is essential for you as an individual and for the success of the organisation.
Persistence
Persistence is important as it is the achievement of outcomes that leads to business success. Once a useful idea has been generated, considerable follow-through is often needed to reach the final goal. Self-discipline and commitment will be needed to put the idea into practice as the path forward may be long and unfamiliar.
Enthusiasm
Demonstrating your eagerness to take on a task is very attractive to employers. Enthusiasm is often infectious, and can motivate those around you and assist the team to move forward.
Improvise, adapt and overcome
This phrase is so strongly infused into U.S. marines that it has become a pattern of thought for them.
It was made famous by Clint Eastwood in "Heartbreak Ridge" but has been a catchcry of U.S. Marines for much longer.
Marines have an amazing capacity for creative thinking. Not for the creative arts but the type of creative thinking that gets a commander six or seven extra truck parts at midnight right before an inspection. This all stems from a Marine's utter drive and dedication towards accomplishing the mission, even when faced with what appear to be impossible odds.
Being able and willing to improvise, adapt and overcome when a task or project is going pear-shaped is an essential part of the toolkit of each individual and is also highly valued by employers.
Grow through personal challenges
We all have to go through personal challenges from time to time. There really seems to be no exception to this rule. Whether they relate to financial or family problems,relationships or careers, everyone will experience their own challenge at some point and you really have to be able to overcome these challenges if you want to make sure that you are living your life at the highest level that you can.
How you react to the situations in life that are challenging will have a lot to say about you and your character, and whether or not you have what it takes to persevere and weather any storm. And remember that if you want to be able to achieve success in any area of your life, you have to be able to look at these challenges as times where you are able to grow and become stronger, and not a time to shrink or run away.
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