Our Affiliate Marketing team has recently put some effort into defining exactly what a senior is on our team. The two basic qualifications are that a senior has to be good at his or her job, and has to be a leader on his or her team. But aside from that, there are some character traits that truly set some employees apart. Seniors on the affiliates team should be PRACTICERS.

Positivity/Passion
A senior has to be someone that loves his or her job. A lesser-known role of the senior employee is keeping employee morale in the positive, and leading by example in this area. For this reason, seniors must connect with the vision of the company and refuse to speak ill of co-workers.

Also, an energy and charisma in the workplace can be infectious. A culture of excellence often stems from a positive and productive work atmosphere. A positive impact can carry a good idea further than the idea alone can travel, and employees in positive, passionate workplaces are more prone to creativity and pro-activity.

Representation
A senior has to be a representative for his or her team. The rule of thumb is that a senior should be able to adequately represent his or her team alone in meetings. This involves knowing the ins and outs of the team and its members, knowing the limits of one’s team, and knowing how to get answers for any question that can be asked of the team.

Autonomy
While no employee is an island, seniors must be able to operate with minimal supervision. This requires a sound judgment and a degree of basic leadership skills, as the senior may be required to step up and lead the team in a pinch.

Confidence
A senior is called upon to be a leader in a variety of situations. This includes facilitating calls when conflict arises, communicating a point effectively, making decisions on behalf of one’s team, and standing up for one’s team and ideas. A senior has to have the confidence to be able to speak with authority on these and a number of other topics. This goes back to a senior’s need to be very good at his or her job. It extends well beyond that, but excellence is the basis for senior confidence.

Tact
A senior must be able to tactfully and diplomatically handle a variety of situations. This is important in interdepartmental relationships, but doubly important for our team, since we spend such a large amount of time talking to (and negotiating with) our affiliates. A high degree of professionalism is required to execute this effectively.
A big part of this is maintaining a level head when problems arise. A senior needs to have the appearance of urgency without losing the calm demeanor. A senior does not get overly-defensive when conflict arises.

Initiative
A senior doesn’t see problems without soon seeing solutions. If there’s a problem, a senior solves it, whether or not it is his or her direct responsibility. Seniors also have to be able to identify and tackle problems that have gone on unaddressed for some time. If a senior does have to go to the higher-ups with a problem, he or she comes with a proposed solution as well. If a senior sees an opportunity to improve team performance, he or she does the same.

Character
A senior needs to be trusted, both by management and other employees. One can’t be counted on if there’s a doubt as to his or her willingness to take responsibility for his or her own actions, and coaching simply does not work if the coach cannot be trusted to keep what’s said in the coaching sessions private. Other employees need to feel comfortable sharing their conflicts and struggles with their coach.

Also, seniors are likely to be privy to official information before other employees; sometimes, other employees will not be told at all. They need to be trusted to keep this information private until it has been made public.

Employee Focus
A senior is directly involved in the personal and professional growth of fellow employees. This includes assessing strengths and growth areas in individuals, coming up with plans to help others grow, delivering constructive and effective feedback to others, and connecting personally with others. This obviously has to be something the senior has a genuine desire to do, because it’s pretty easy to tell when they don’t.

Each of the seniors on our team is coaching other employees on our team. The seniors are in turn coached by the director, who equips us to guide and nurture the rest of the department. It’s a good system, as it frees up the director to focus on larger department issues and it allows more effective coach/coachee pairings based on personality traits.

Reliability
A senior has to be consistent. This includes simple things like meeting deadlines and exceeding expectations of quality and quantity. (Well, they’re simple on paper, but much, much harder in practice.) A senior can be counted on to accomplish any task that could be thrown at the department, whether by doing the work or by delegating it.

Selflessness
A senior is someone who will consider the needs of others before his or her own. It takes patience and great care sometimes to help a fellow employee grow, and it often takes a significant commitment of time as well. A senior will offer help to others, even to his or her own inconvenience.

So that’s our list. This list may differ slightly for other departments, but many of the core values will remain the same. Obviously, nobody is perfect at all of these qualities—each of our seniors exemplifies a few of these traits more than others—but all seniors should be at least good at all of these things.