Teri Burgos-Gutierrez, Corporate Trainer

Teri Gutierrez is a corporate trainer, author, speaker, and web columnist. She can be reached at gutierrez_teri@yahoo.com.

Winging It in the Workplace

“The most effective leaders appear to exhibit a degree of versatility and flexibility that enables them to adapt their behavior to the changing and contradictory demands made on them.” --Ralph Stogdill

 “Wing it (an American colloquialism) means to act or to speak with little or nor planning or preparation. (Source: Webster’s New World Dictionary of American English). This article is not about how to do more, how to do it better, or how to do it faster. It may not even be about how to do it. We can put aside perfectionism. This is to keep you by your nightstand at the end of another had- to-do-it-all-day, when the most of your weary self at the workplace can handle some easy-to-do- steps in being a leader and with a gentle tug at your heart. This translates thousands of studies into skills and information that can be applied directly to the job. Allow me to quote a participant who attended my workshop related to the type of information you find below: “This was a well-conceptualized workshop. The tips I learned on Monday I was able to use Tuesday morning on the job.” Improve your productivity, quality, and morale in the workplace. Wing it and enhance your leadership effectiveness or work toward achieving it.

1. Understand that leadership is an influence that includes inspiring, motivating, and persuading others. Hone your leadership potentials every working day.
2. Develop self-confidence by achieving small and simple goals and then continue to achieve progressively more difficult goals. Assert yourself in the workplace. This is your right! Believe that you can and you will!
3. Enhance your charisma. Learn to let your emotions show when expressing yourself. Smile! It takes only a few muscles to do this. The end result is immeasurable.
4. Remember people’s names. Your co-workers will appreciate you all the more if you do this.
5. Empower your communication skills - verbal, nonverbal, and active listening, to the point that you become very convincing. This is your gift. Use it well at work.
6. Use a grab bag of influence tactics to positively inspire people. Humor spices life in the workplace. Laughter makes life in the workplace easy to deal with. It connects you with your co-workers.
7. Praise your co-workers for a job well done. Do it sincerely and it will make them feel good and proud of themselves. You will be a remembered for a lifetime for your selfless effort in doing so.
8. Continue learning. Read. Read. Read. This will open your door to excellence in both the local and international markets. This will become your window in the borderless world we now live in.
9. Lead by example. Be a model of how you want others to perform. This will help mold leaders out of your co-workers.
10. Wing it to be a world-class and global member of the workplace. The starting point is to convince yourself that although other cultures may be different from yours, they are equally valuable. Being multi-cultural will help you become a more effective and efficient participant in the professional arena you are in and in the society where you belong.

Wing it, believe in yourself, dust of your wings, affix your halo, and maintain a happy balance at work without burning it. The workplace can indeed be another home for you, for me, and for all of us!