Having worked with different kinds of managers over a period of time, One thing that amuses me is how easy it

is to get into their good books. As you all probably know, once they like you work starts being more rewarding and your career suddenly seems to spiral upward. Every manager in whatever corner of the world rates being proactive as one of the most valued qualities of the perfect employee. Being Proactive means that you do not wait for work to be assigned to you, but rather take the responsibility upon yourself. A perfect example for a software engineer... maybe your project has a manual process that takes typically 1 hour to complete and is redundant, just draw up a proposal to improve it or automate it and approach the right person. Your proposal may or may not get shot down. But your intent to innovate and improve will surely be recognized.

An important thing to remember here is to choose right. Your ideas should translate into actual benefits for your company.

Consciously choose Challenging work

You may be working on the toughest assignments in your workplace and am sure that on successful completion you will be recognized. Well here is a tip to increase it manifold. The point am about to make here is not about whether the work assigned to you is challenging or not, As an employer I would be more impressed by the type of work that you consciously choose to work on. There is not much you can do once your manager assigns you work, the assignment tough or not, once completed would mark you as an employee meeting expectations of the workplace. Now to turn the tables on that, next time when a challenging assignment comes your way, just put up your hand and say "Let me do it" before your manager has a chance to assign it to you. It is just a game of philosophy and the image that you project.

Keeping in mind the above, never choose more than what you can accomplish. Once you choose your work and then for some reason should you be unable to complete it, It will reflect badly on you.

Team player

Be comfortable with all the members of your team. You may be more affable towards some than others, this in itself is not bad. Do find time for others as well, an occasional coffee break would do. Be responsive to others problem with work, do not wait till they ask you for help, reach out and let them know that you are there should they need you. Sometimes it is just more rewarding to sit back and let your peers get the recognition and praise though you may have lent more than a helping hand. This will make you popular within your team and surely popularity helps. You will never find yourself short of help and your work environment keeps getting better. You could probably even propose to arrange an outing for the team(being proactive).

Improve business communication skills

The kind of work you do not withstanding, you should have great communication skills and it is not just about expressing yourself orally. Get to know the e-mail etiquette, use professional language at your workplace. Fine tune your body language. Be confident of yourself at all times and learn to accept mistakes gracefully. Greet everyone the right way, show appropriate respect to your peers. There are tons of resources flooding the Internet on these topics, just read through them.

Socialize

Well finally SOCIALIZE. Build up your own network of friends. Do not restrict yourself to a group. You have much to learn from each person you meet in your workplace, It is not necessary that you have to work in the same departments. Get to know as many of your colleagues. It is not required that you know them on a personal basis, a greeting when you pass by and a smile could work wonders.

Do let me know if these tips were useful. Feel free to add more tips.