Make a difference in your career

Most people acknowledge their desire to work hard and make useful contributions. They want themselves to have an effect. But whether they are actually doing so is a million dollar question. If they are on course, they will surely be mattering.

As years tick by, people have a tendency to kill time and hope like hell they will get a job that they have applied for or a promotion and a hike; or for that matter, even an appointment to their liking. They are of a my-horse-also-ran category – keep hanging around and not exert themselves. There are people who also look forward to a go-ahead; they may want to do more but in the absence of an acquiescence, do not take any initiative; perhaps they need to be prompted, even if it comes to helping out a colleague.

If you want to make a difference, you simply cannot adopt an attitude of relax-and- hope-for-the-best. Nobody will ever make a difference on your behalf; it is you and you alone who has to exert and strive for it. That implies switching over from a knee-jerk to an upbeat mode; and if you do so, you will automatically change your stance from a discontented to a contented one. Such a change will undoubtedly be electrifying, if not bloodcurdling; and will necessitate ingenuity on your part.

The crucial issue is how do you go about to make a difference in your career? You can achieve significant results if you are:

·    Resolute:  If you are not resolute, you will never be decisive; and if you are not decisive, you will never be able to take off. Therefore, you should be determined to make a difference and attain all that you have been missing so far. As you move ahead, you will shed the tendency to not consider yourself excessively vis-à-vis other persons and begin to view them in a positive manner. Resultantly, you will start taking initiative and not wait for directions; you will also gradually take control of your career and steer yourself on to the correct career path. You will emerge rejuvenated and vibrant; and be armed with rationale and intent. All that you will now require is a potent line of action.

·    Discerning:  When you attempt to discern anything, your imagination runs wild. And when your imagination runs wild, you tend to come up with ideas. You should make a note of all ideas that cross your mind. Thereafter, you should query yourself on who all you are likely to make an effect on; a record of all such persons will have to be made. This will help you visualize them unmistakably. The manner in which you want to impact them will also have to be finalized along with the sequence in which you would like to proceed. This is the line of action that you need to follow.

·    Impacting: You do not have to wait for an opportunity to make an impact. The iron will always be hot and you can strike anytime because you know whatever you are required to do. You already have a. list of people who need to be impacted as also an appropriate line of action; you can well start off from the No. 1 on the list and keep moving ahead. It is a general tendency amongst human beings to assume that they will be unable to concentrate on others if they are concerned about themselves. But this is unfounded because your spirits soar if you shift your attention to anything other than you. When your spotlight is outwards, you will encounter hordes of breaks and openings. And if your career happens to be at a point that is not in consonance with your aspirations and you seek to jolt it for the better, the opportunity knocking at your doorstep will take care of everything.

You should remember that the difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's strength of mind. There is nothing in this world that is unfeasible to assiduousness and dexterity; and grand attainments are a result not of might but resolve. Be determined and you will make a difference in your career.

Do a career audit

Who doesn’t want his or her career to be progressing well? Wouldn’t you like your career to remain on course and derive contentment? But the pertinent question that you need to ask yourself is, “Are you are ready to infuse the requisite punch to your career?”

            Most people who attempt to bring into line their careers give up on their drive soon after having taken off. They then look forward to their careers recovering on their own; later they realize that things do not move on their own. Therefore, you should think things over, draw a line of action and act in accordance with it. This can be done by performing a truthful career audit vis-à-vis the present state of affairs of your career. Here is how you can do that:

·   Comprehend that success is a result of planning: You will have to spend time to take stock of things on a continual basis and simultaneously think of measures that you need to institute. In case you regard yourself low in any sphere, you should get over it. What you lack is adequate information and awareness. Remember that all changes are time consuming and hence it is essential that you understand various factors that bring about the preferred outcome.

·   Recognize that you alone are answerable: The degree of control that you exercise over your career is directly proportional to the accountability that you display towards it. You need to get involved in your work; this will bless you with increased self-determination and freedom of action. You should never justify your shortfalls; on the contrary, you should assume responsibility for whatever you bring about in your career.

·   Generate a comprehensive career image: If your mind is clear on what you intend to seek, half your battle is deemed to have been won; the rest comes with relative ease. You need to know precisely what success signifies to you; with that as the basis, analyze all its aspects, including those enunciated by others. Thereafter, you should arrive at a logical conclusion as to what is relevant to you.

·   Set goals to match your perception of success: You can regard yourself as a successful person if you are able to transform your aspirations into actuality. You need to set goals and objectives for yourself as these will help you stay focused and uphold your poise.

·   Act if you want results: If you are result-oriented, you need to be pushing; a person who takes initiative and acts with fervour always gets to see the results he yearns for. If you decide to act, remember that this decision stems from your decision to alter the circumstances that you are surrounded with.

·   Get to know what impedes your success: You need to visualize things that hinder your progress. If you have any restrictive thoughts and apprehensions, you should shed them and believe that you can do whatever you seek to do. Likewise, you should never harbour any pessimistic ideas about yourself and your capabilities, leave aside ever talking about them with anybody.

·   Connect with rising stars: People with whom you spend time at work exercise the most dominant clout in the milieu that you live in. If you are really earnest about success, company of successful people will matter a lot. You should identify such people who could be followed and whose attributes you could imbibe. In addition, there will be many aspiring people like you; their company will help you in doing something great.

·   Give your appearance an alteration: You should to create an impact on others at first sight by being smart and presentable. Your clothes, your gait and your style of conversing with others, amongst others matter a lot. The idea is to not project an ostentatious image but one that manifests confidence and good grooming because the first impression is always the last impression.

Remember that what you are today is a result of what you decided a couple of years back. So, where do you intend to be half a decade from now? If you are sincere about progressing in your career, you will surely make it happen. All you need to do is embark upon a well-planned action plan.

Career planning has no ceiling

In today’s age, people tend to switch jobs and change careers more than ever before. Therefore, career planning assumes great significance. It cannot be regarded as an activity to be indulged once and then forgotten. You should regard it as one that offers ideas about what you intend to achieve in your life besides emancipation and satisfaction.

The process of career planning is not as difficult as generally perceived to be and you need not be unnecessarily apprehensive about it. Here are some simple suggestions to go about it:

·   Let it be a yearly affair: Don’t we celebrate our birthdays or anniversaries? So why not career planning? You will need to find a day or two for the purpose and apply yourself optimally to discern what you actually want to do and achieve in life. You will have to ensure that there are no interruptions and disturbances to facilitate a pragmatic identification of your potential impediments and measures to overcome them.

·   Review what you have done: You need to evaluate whatever has transpired since the last time you indulged in career planning. Without getting into details, you should ponder on the course that you set out on and whether it has been smooth sailing or a bumpy ride. You will thus be able to understand why your journey has been as it has been. It will also help you to identify your shortcomings and ways and means to do things better.

·   Ponder over your preferences:  It is likely that a pursuit that you have been indulging in is not as satisfying as it was a couple of years ago. You need to mull over various aspects of your work and life; what you like and what you do not; and what your aspirations are all about. The findings can then be used to scrutinize your present career and job. If your findings are not in consonance with your job, perhaps it is time for a change.

·   Reflect on your leisure activities: You do not work 24/7 and would be indulging in other activities as well. A large majority of people want to give wings to their passions because then they are their own bosses in the true sense of the word. . For example, Srikkanth and Venkatraghavan, both great Indian cricketers are engineers but loved playing cricket. They gave up their technical profession and opted for the game; their success was phenomenal. Hobbies are great pursuits as a career too.

·   Recall your attainments: We tend to disregard our successes and fail to include them in our curriculum vitae. You must keep a record of your triumphs as they are of great utility in career planning. There is great likelihood that an achievement that you regard as trivial can prove to be a monumental asset in boosting your career.

·   Look beyond the horizon:  Many people get so much engrossed in their job that they have no time to think about any alternatives. There is typical expertise related to a particular job. Rather than having a frog-in-the-well approach, you should catalogue yourself in terms of requisite proficiencies. Resultantly, you will be better geared to apply such skills to a plethora of jobs in diverse careers.

·   Gain knowledge about new drifts: You need to be forward-looking and imagine yourself where you stand several years down the line. To that extent, you need to keep yourself updated on various new trends related to the job and career market. You will thus be able to determine what additional qualifications you need to acquire to climb up your career ladder. Most importantly, you should not be apprehensive of setting your sights on things beyond, that is alternative careers.

·   Identify objectives and targets: You should formulate a concrete plan for succeeding in your current job and career. The objectives and aims that you set for yourself should be pertinent to both immediate and distant future. And as you move forward, a stock-taking will be necessitated so that you can apply mid-term corrections to remain on rails.

            The fact is that career planning has no restrictions vis-à-vis your experience and even age. It is a highly beneficial activity that eventually results in a successful life. After all, you want to do well in your life and that implies a continual assessment and evaluation. The process of career planning helps you to do precisely that. 

Unethical conduct at workplace

“Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will.”

– John Macdonald

Every organization, big or small will have bad hats. These people may indulge in acts of   indiscipline or unethical behaviour; the outcome is that their presence is always viewed as detrimental to organizational interests.

Acts of indiscipline may range from absenteeism, irregularity in reporting for work, stealing time and the like; they make a dent on productivity. On the other hand, unethical conduct implies making use of business facilities for personal purposes, making copies of official documents for illegitimate use subsequently; misrepresenting facts to derive personal gains, misappropriation of funds and fudging business documents. Additionally, back-stabbing, intimidation of fellow employees, credit stealing, discrimination of any type, taking bribes and sexual harassment also falls within the gamut of unethical conduct.

Though there is a very thin dividing line between acts of indiscipline and unethical conduct, it the discretion of the management to deal with errant employees in a manner that organizational interests are protected.

Most employees, junior or senior generally feel that discovering unethical behaviour is a trial of their own principles, standards and morals. There are activities which may appear trivial and at first sight warrant condoning; and hence puts an individual in a quandary as to how to proceed – whether to report the matter or take action against the delinquent individual. Since no two human beings are alike, there will be a variation in perceptions on what is ethical or unethical.

Everybody at work is generally aware of what they are expected to do and what comprises right or wrong. So, if anybody notices somebody indulging in an act that they know or perceive as a violation of laid down rules of conduct, their own good judgment and intelligence gets into play. If such an employee is assiduous and honestly disposed towards his work and company, he will be able to promptly arrive at a decision to tick off the errant person, stop him or her from going ahead, reporting the matter or overlooking it.

If an individual decides to not overlook any unethical conduct, there will always be dilemmas and predicaments. A horde of situational tight spots will be presented, particularly with regard to options available. Should the errant individual be confronted directly in an individual capacity or his undesirable activity reported to his boss? Such befuddlement has to be overcome.

Organizations institute varying methods to deal with unethical activities by their employees. Every company formulates codes of conduct and which, are required to be promulgated periodically. These codes identify the values on which relationships are based and which in turn influence the functioning of the organization. Such codes are generally in the form of a booklet and are an important component of company policies and business rules. They are intended to provide a framework of shared understanding in relation to the way in which employees are required to conduct themselves and interact with those who are associated with the company.

The codes of conduct are required to be perused by each and every employee; a written record of such perusal is invariably maintained so that any doubt that may crop up in the minds of employees who are witness to any unethical conduct is removed. This will also facilitate action as deemed appropriate with due promptitude.

It is essential that organizations spell out the ramifications and impact of unethical conduct. In doing so, employees – both errant and those witnessing – will be sentient towards the likely actions that may follow. Needless to state, reporting procedures will also come into play automatically.

In the environment that prevails today, our thinking and behaviour are always in anticipation of a response; and therefore, is based on some element of fright and alarm. Unethical behaviour can best be dealt with by proper communication and dissemination. The point to ponder is how can you fix ethics or decadence if you cannot spell them?