Posted by If you are also a professional out there, what is the most important aspect of your working life? Is it the salary you are earning, the knowledge you are gathering, the human interaction you are having, or the career path you are striving for?
For me it is all of the above, but also the inspiration I got from my peers, I summarized some of the most important qualities that in my opinion would inspire young professionals, and I hope some day you could also inspire other people.
1. You are passionate about what you are doing.
Passion should be the number one motivation for you to choose what you do, demonstrating that you love what you are doing and you strive to work your best towards the target would encourage the juniors to do the same.
2. You are confident
The confidence you are having wins the trust of other people(especially younger professionals) and gives an immediate good first impression.
It might not be something that you are born with, but it is definitely something you can work on yourself. If you are looking for some tips, my previous post 6 ways to build up your self confidence might help.
3. You are an expert in something
Your expertise is the most basic reason people come to you for advice, use your other qualities to inspire other people!
4. You care
It is very often that as a young professional, they feel confused about their career and they are seeking for professional advice. If you are someone they trust, they might turn into you with some silly questions. Don’t walk away, show them that you care and talk to them, if you cannot give good advice, even spend some time and listen to their doubts would help.
5. You share your experiences
When giving professional advice to others, it is very common that you use some of your past similar experiences to help giving a direction. If you also share some of your failed experiences and explain the reason they failed, it is a big help for them to learn from your mistakes, you would definitely win huge appreciation.
6. You criticize but don’t judge
“Praise makes you good, criticism makes you better.”
Criticism is very important when being asked to give an opinion. Some people might think that as a professional, you should never talk bad things behind other people, it is considered as being an hypocrite. I am not in particular a fan of hypocrisy, and I am definitely not promoting it here. However, when being asked about “what do you think xxx”, it is always important to give your honest opinions, and do criticize if necessary, this gives a chance to young professionals to improve. Of course, stay neutral but not judgmental when giving feedback.
I am really grateful that my colleagues are very open to correct my pronunciation, pointing out my working attitudes and even dressing codes, and I see that they do this out of caring for me, I have grown a lot through the interaction with them.
7. You are calm
Calmness shows a persons degree of maturity. No matter how well things are planned, there are still chances that something goes wrong. You deal with emergencies with a mature manner and if possible calm down the panicking juniors around you.
8. You are challenging
It is probably a personal preference, I would prefer a challenging manager rather than a manager who always gives positive feedback to my work.
If I am always getting “Good job!” about my work, I would feel either:
1. My work is too easy, I am not learning anything, maybe I should change
2. My manager does not examine deeper my work and does not want to help me to improve.
I am convinced that a solution can always be better, even if it is not the priority, some advice given for improvement is always appreciated.
9. You are open minded
You are not someone who has lots of experience and thinks you are right all the time, you are also open to doubts and challenges from others. This would encourage younger professionals to be creative and suggest new proposals/solutions, who knows maybe another proposal which would save millions come from your team member.
It is incredibly hard to find someone at work who truly inspires you, look around to see if there’s any. If you cannot find anyone, maybe it’s time for you to inspire others!
And of course, if you have any other opinions, don’t hesitate to leave some comments.
Criticizing but not judging — one of the most important things, but also difficult to do for some people. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Hi Natalie,
Thanks for commenting.
I think it also depends on how we look at if from the receiving side. Some people are taking it too personally that he or she interprets any comments as a bad signal. Usually I would analyze the advice only and throw the emotions away, otherwise it is too much to handle, and it works well, I improved a lot by listening to others, and others are happy to give advice too 🙂
Lin
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