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Learning My Way L6-7 Skills, Behaviours and Personal Development

Adding Value

Introduction

Businesses succeed when their employees go above and beyond to add value, show commitment and strive to achieve better outcomes. We all hope to be those outstanding individuals but don't often take the time to think about what it means to add value and how we can achieve it.

Adding value requires you to:

Be forward-thinking and an ability to create a moving-strategy even in the face of uncertainty;
Anticipate what an individual’s and/or organisations future needs and requirements will be;
Identify opportunities that can add value for customers, clients, your manager, team and organisation.

Watch

For those of you who like to watch a short video, here are just a few interesting ones that consider different aspects of creativity and innovation including how to build creative confidence, and the secret to creativity.

Netflix competing with other streaming services| FT

The FT's Alex Barker explains why the streaming service is beginning to look less than invincible as rivals, such as Apple and Disney, launch their own products and rising debt hinders future operations.

Social media and the age of AI misinformation

Scroll through any social media network and you’re highly likely to encounter content created by artificial intelligence. Some of it, like the ubiquitous cat videos, will be cute and harmless.

Adding Value by Bill Gates and Steve Jobs

Microsoft founders discuss what Adding Value means when it comes to the people in an organisation.

Read

If you prefer to learn through reading, below are very different items to read that relate to adding value. There is a short report on what defines value for money according to the National Audit Office; a global report on the vision and mission for the future of thousands of businesses; an article on how a brand did not create a moving strategy but rather forged ahead regardless of the feedback it received; and many more about adding values to inspire.

Eight Ways To Add Value To Your CompanyLearn why adding value is important and discover eight ways you can add value to your own work for your employer and customers.

Build a Culture That Aligns with People’s ValuesIt’ll improve retention and recruitment efforts.

Council Post: 13 Smart Ways To Add Value And Become A ‘Network Benefit’Building a strong network helps you connect with people who can refer customers or provide insights that give you a competitive edge. The key is to ask not what your network can do for you, but what you can do for your network.

What is added value in business?A business makes money by providing value. Read our guide to learn the best ways for your business to add value, and improve your revenue.

Three steps to creating added value for your customersMarketers always talk about 'adding value'... But what does that actually mean and are your definitions aligned with those of your customers?

5 reasons why (and how) to add value to your employer | Association Global Career HubEmployers want to see their employees succeed, and prefer to avoid losing financial performers. Here are five reasons how you can start adding value to your employer.

How to Add Value Through Contributions in Your OrganizationUnderstanding the value that you add to your company and how what you do brings success to their operations and makes you a valuable employee.

4 Ways Employees Can Add Value, Every DayA few ideas to consider to help increase your impact and add more value to your online trainings and eLearning programs.

8 Ways to Add Value as an Employee | Career MasterclassEmployees who know how to add value to their job often command higher salaries, more exciting projects, and better job...

The Secret of Zara’s Success: A Culture of Customer Co-creation | Martin RollZara is one of the most successful global fast fashion retail brands competing on design & styles, strong retail marketing, lean supply chain and strong corporate culture, Inditex is the world’s largest fashion group with 170.000 employees, operating more than 7,400 stores in 96 markets worldwide and 49 online markets

7 Ways To Add Massive Value To Your BusinessBrian Tracy shares his seven secrets to adding value in your job, business or products for greater success.

5 Ways To Build Your Personal Brand At WorkPersonal branding allows you to stand out and differentiate yourself as a professional. Here are five simple ways you can begin building and reinforcing your reputation within your organization and beyond so you can open up more career opportunities.

Value-Added Product: What It Means in Industry and Marketing

Do

Now that you have taken time to 'Watch' & 'Read' you should apply this learning through the following two Open University courses on strategy and commercial awareness. You may also like to take part in the 'Stretch and Challenge' activities.

What is strategic human resource management?This free course, What is strategic human resource management?, is about the interplay between decision making in HR and the multiple environments within which such decisions are made. The ...

What is strategy?

Commercial awarenessThis short course encourages you to look across your organisation, at your place within it and the value you create. It considers how getting different perspectives and widening existing ones...

Stretch and Challenge Yourself

Learning to stretch our thinking skills is integral to accelerating our development. This is a really important part of the learning process, and gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your skills and show progression in your Apprenticeship.

Here are two challenges for you to pick from- should you choose to accept, this will help you to develop critical thinking, evaluation skills and encourage creativity.

Challenge 1

Identify a new way that your team could add value to your organisation, Consider the different interactions with other departments, organisations and clients. Create an action plan presenting your recommendation evaluating the advantages and disadvantages to the organisation. Discuss your plan with your manager and ask for some feedback. Reflect on the feedback and identify an area where your recommendations could be improved. Discuss your reflection with your Talent Coach, justifying your conclusions.

Challenge 2

Identify a direct competitor, and compare with your organisation, looking at the way in which they both add value to their propositions. Evaluate the extent of the value-added to the customer considering the typical profile of their customer and the true cost of the added value. Conclude which organisation you feel overs the best-added value to their customers and make at least one recommendation to improve your organisation's offering. Discuss your reflection with your Talent Coach, justifying your conclusions.

Update your Learning Journal in OneFile with your evaluation and your reflections ready to discuss with your Talent Coach at your next review.

Reflect

Reflective practice is, in its simplest form, thinking about or reflecting on what you do. It’s a really important part of learning from experience.

Within your apprenticeship you will be encouraged to reflect throughout your programme, the reason for this is two-fold.

Regular reflection will accelerate your development and help you to identify areas to develop helping you to constantly move forward.
A summary or log of your reflections on your development will be required as part of your endpoint assessment activities. These reflections should demonstrate your ability to 'critically evaluate' your performance and development.

Reflection is a skill and practice will make it easier, it should also be an enjoyable experience and a chance to concentrate on what you need.

To support you to develop this skill we have gathered a range of resources and articles to help you find a reflective model that works for you.

Click on the button below to access the Reflective Practice page for additional resources.

Reflective Practice

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