Being Proactive
I used to work with a German guy named Landgraf, and when asked what I could improved, he said that I was not proactive enough. I am paraphrasing this, as this was more than 10 years ago and I don’t remember the exact words. He said that it didn’t seem that I understand or show understanding when he explained things, but after working with him for a while, he said that he noticed that that was untrue. It’s just I didn’t show my comprehension. Also he said that after a while I was engaged more with the work, and seem active enough (maybe not as far as being able to be labelled proactive).
So there are two things there, but both are about appearances. The first is about appearing to be engaged/proactive, while the second is about appearing to understand. Even to this day, I think I have the same problem because I feel that colleagues think (I am reaching a bit here) that I do not listen or participate in the work or discussion that is being done. To be fair I’ve not gotten the same feedback that I have received ten years ago, but that can also be because people in my workplace are a bit polite and indirect. Anyways, I think the main weakness, or improvement that I can think of is to talk a little bit more in meetings and discussions. I am a slow speaker so I always feel a bit hard to chip in, especially in English. Even in my native language, I am a bit slow to engage and tend to listen more.
To help in talking more, I did created a podcast, in the hopes of practicing my speech, but that is now in the black hole of the internet and has not been updated for a while. I am NOT thinking of going back on that as I think the effort is not worth the effort. Also I didn’t enjoyed it much; it felt like I was a narcissist. Instead I am trying to focus on just small improvements here and there, one of it talking to myself about what I have planned for the day, early in the morning. I think this helps, and I will continue to do it. I’ll think of something else to add to this. Any thoughts?
Thank you for reading.