I thoroughly enjoyed Liz Wiseman’s descriptions of impact players and how they approach challenging work situations in her book, Impact Players.
I’ve also included at the end the following references I thought was helpful:
- 15 Ways to Alienate Your Boss
- 15 Ways to Earn Trust w/ Your Boss
On Messy Problems
- He saw people spending too much time on presentation slides, developed a tool to fix that, rolled it out globally. He saved us hundreds of hours of work.
- It wasn’t her job. She just did it.
- Repeatedly pivots to become the expert in what is needed.
- Looked at the whole picture, then fixed the problem for everyone.
On Unclear Roles
- You don’t need to ask him to do something, he just starts it.
- She gives credit to others and doesn’t need to claim [all] the success.
- She makes everything better.
On Unforeeen Obstacles
- It is more often that he’ll remind me of a deadline than I have to remind him.
- She recognizes problems and issues before they become big problems and solves them. She doesn’t rely on anyone else to solve her problems.
- He can hit a roadblock, figure out a way around it, and keep on moving rather than getting disheartened and slowing down.
- She sees things to the end even if she gets no credit.
On Moving Targets
- He seeks out new information without being prompted.
- She takes feedback as a positive.
- She learns quickly from errors.
- When I have feedback, she takes it and does something with it. She doesn’t get down, she sees it as a chance to improve.
On Unrelenting Demands
- He frequently comes to me and says, “What can I take off your plate? How can I make your job easier?”
- She avoids drama. Things don’t get to her. She is compassionate but refuses to be an actor in any soap opera.
- She exudes positive energy. It’s just big fun working with her.
