6 secrets to Career Growth By: Rob Maxey

One of the exciting things about growing is that new people are constantly joining our family of companies.  Over the last several months, I have been in many interviews and those conversations have reminded me of a very important principle that we believe at JD Food.  People often want to know about advancement, asking, “What does it take to grow within the company?”  My reply usually reminds people that it is the people that you work with that decide how you grow.  I thought it might be good to unpack that idea a little bit in this article.  While we all do our best to get to know one another, the reality is the people who know you best are the people that work directly with you.  When your co-workers say you work hard, learn fast, or have a great attitude that makes a significant impact when evaluating growth opportunities.  Those characteristics are what we are looking for when we have an opportunity for growth.  Here are six things that will grow your reputation amongst your co-workers.

1. Have a positive attitude.  Work can be hard and stressful, but people with positive attitudes make the workplace more enjoyable for everyone.  Be one of those people.
2. Be open to learning new things.  Do not get stuck doing the same thing in the same way every day.  We can always be learning.
3. Don’t run away from the hard jobs.  People notice when you embrace a difficult job, maybe there is a way to make the job a little easier for someone else in the future.
4. Be reliable.  Another way to say this is, be where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there.  This could apply to breaks, lunch or job responsibilities.  Your co-workers will notice if you aren’t and they will be the ones who have to fill the gap if you are missing.
5. Think about how your job might affect your co-workers job.  All of our jobs are interlinked, which is how we are one big team.  Having an idea of how our actions impact others will make us more effective in what we do.
6. Show up consistently.  It is hard to build the right reputation with your co-workers unless you are here.

I am proud to work with people who live these things out on a daily basis.  Remember as we have new people joining our team we want to continue to model these things to others.  In the process, you will find yourself growing with the company.