Ownership - Just one step to a great career

Below is the ultimate secret to professional success.  If you do one thing at work - do this. I'm dead serious.

But before we jump in head first, let's take a step back and look inside your manager's mind.

Whether your manager is effective or not, hardworking or lazy; her most precious resource is not time (although time is of course very important too) - it is mindshare.  

We all have a limited capacity to keep proverbial balls in the air.  This is why a manager should not have more than a handful of direct reports.  This is why we have a limit to the number of relationships we can maintain. And there's a limit to the number of projects we can manage.  Projects are like classroom sizes - a good teacher can probably manage 35 kids, but 12 is a lot better for everybody.

So the most valuable thing you can do for your manager is to reduce the number of "floating" balls.  Give your boss complete confidence that she does not need to worry, that things are under control.  And the way you do it is by taking full ownership over every project you take on.  Act as if a project is a small business and you are its owner, and your manager is your customer.  If the product isn't delivered, you do not get paid.  

What does that mean in practical terms...?

1.  It is YOUR responsibility to understand precise requirements and the desired outcome.  Don't be afraid to ask questions, to challenge, to offer better ways, but once agreed YOU need to make sure that you fully get it.
2. It is YOUR responsibility to drive the project forward.  it doesn't matter that your computer crashed, that IT screwed up your access to systems, that a colleague promised to deliver a product update and the deadline came and went.  It is YOUR responsibility to find another computer, borrow a colleagues credentials or find another workaround.  It is YOUR responsibility to hold your colleagues responsible to their commitments.  
3. It is YOUR responsibility to give your boss updates.  Often, the frequency of updates goes down the longer you work together but it is YOUR responsibility to give your boss full confidence that things are under control.  This is called "managing up".
4. It is YOUR responsibility to deliver the highest possible quality of work.  There's a famous story about Henry Kissinger and one of his staffers.  The young man brought Kissinger a report.  After a few days, Kissinger asked the staffer whether this is the best work he's capable of.  The young man took the report and came back with an update a few days later.  Kissinger asked him the same question and the young man answered "Yes.  This is the best work I'm capable of."  Then Kissinger replied "Good.  Now I will read it."
5. It is YOUR responsibility to recognize when you are over your head and when the best you can do is not good enough.  It is your responsibility to seek help from your colleagues or from your boss.  I doubt that you will lose points for admitting that you cant do something and I guarantee that you will gain points for self-awareness.  Nothing will give your boss as much confidence in your ability to handle projects as asking for help at the right time.
6. And if you do come to your boss for help with a problem, it is YOUR responsibility to present a couple of solution ideas.  If you run into a brick wall, go to your colleagues, look on the internet, ask your Linkedin connections but do not come to your boss empty-handed.  The reason you got that project is because your manager trusts your judgment.  So offer your ideas and your solutions.  You can read up more on this concept here.

Do this, and you will see nearly immediate results.  And if you haven't been doing this, go to your manager and tell her how you plan to change things and take greater ownership.  It'll be like music to her ears.