Summary of “AAIV Presents: How (and Why) to Assess and Then Convey Your Value to Senior Leadership”

By Pamela S Mitchell, D.V.M.

On February 11, 2019, Brenda Andersen delivered an interactive webinar, “How (and Why) to Assess and Then Convey Your Value to Senior Leadership.”

Brenda is the Chief Strategy Officer, Stephens and Associates and Founding Partner, The Bridge Club.
Brenda took the participants, in thoughtful progression from self-assessment of skills to demonstrating value to leadership.

She shared Peter Drucker’s “Managing Oneself,” published in the Harvard Business Review, 1999 for the self-assessment.

1. “What are my strengths?”
2. “How do I work?”
3. “What are my values?”
4. “Where do I belong?”
5. “The second half of my life”
6. “Take responsibility for relationships”
7. “What should I contribute?”

She discussed value and how to determine what is valued by senior leadership. The steps to learn this are: Watch, Listen, Act , Respond. To demonstrate one’s value, one must show up, speak up, share, solve, and support.
She summarized and emphasized:

• Don’t assume good work will speak for itself—the burden is usually on you to find a way to communicate with your boss.
• Don’t hide your contributions, ideas, success – be very visible about your skills, your contributions, and your connection to what’s important to the company
• DON’T HESITATE TO ASK FOR OPPORTUNITY AND TO SHOW WHERE YOUR SKILLS BRING VALUE TO YOUR ORGANIZATION.
• THIS IS A SHOW AND TELL WORLD –  YOU HAVE TO SHOW YOUR ORGANIZATION WHAT YOU CAN DO AND TELL THEM HOW YOU PLAN TO DO IT 

Members may access a recording of the full webinar by logging in to their AAIV member account and visiting the Webinar Archive page under the Member Toolbox tab.