Coming to grips with workplace diversity

That no two individuals are similar, is stating the evident. At a workplace, the dissimilarities may be there by way of religious denomination, personality type, culture, race, social standing, educational exposure and even outlook. To be able to manage such workplace diversity is an essential prerequisite of any leader, irrespective at the level he or she is operating. It is an established fact that mixt and diverse groups are more adept at examining any matter judiciously and offering better resolutions to difficult issues. Therefore, in the true sense, workplace diversity is a significant tool for the management of any successful venture.

The aim of workplace diversity should be to bring together various social and ethnic differences on a common plane to create an all-embracing discerning group. In a larger context, this would imply a presence of individuals irrespective of their upbringings, personal history and social class. It should never be forgotten that it is the headship that goes to make an organisation. Therefore, healthy and unblemished leadership skills give a boost to positive interfaces and collaborations across varied cultural assemblages. Besides facilitating arrival at better judgments and resolution of crisis situations, workplace diversity also helps in generating superior ingenuity and inventiveness. The net outcome is that organisational productivity in all spheres of activity stands enhanced.

An organisation that is disposed to adopting a culturally inclusive workplace atmosphere is often faced with the issue of how to integrate people from diverse cultural consortia. The entire exercise can be rather complex because different groups and their dogmata generally end up serving the authoritarian pecking order of establishments. Under such circumstances, it is essential that besides appropriate superintendence, moral and conceptual advising is resorted to. Any communication will always have the peril of misunderstanding attached to it unless there are bars of fairness and impartiality instituted that set specified criterions. In the light of the foregoing, an organisation has no option but to devise policies that place in order the views of their side-lined staff to ensure that nobody feels or appears to be a square peg in a round hole. A company that subscribes to the tenet of harmony despite assortment will invariably have a bright future. The importance of systematising and upholding workplace diversity thus needs no emphasis.

It also needs to be acknowledged that differences will persist come what may and any conclusion that they have been eliminated will be rather presumptuous. It will always be apt to acclaim and rejoice in such differences; any move to buoy up display of such diversity will pay rich dividends. The value of any employee stems more from his ethnicity rather than any other factor and hence it is of no use compartmentalising them.  

An impartial action and an unvarying action are two different things; and only one can be used to address the issue of workplace diversity. If you think that by dealing with everybody equivalently, there will be no problems, you are sadly mistaken. Instead, you should treat every single person objectively by paying due regards to the differences that go in to make whosoever he or she actually is. Any insensitivity towards an individual or his beliefs, howsoever trivial it may be, is bound to give birth to some sort of an umbrage and generate sentiments of being isolated.  

Like charity, management of workplace diversity also starts from you. You should pay special attention to oversee your own outlook and conduct. It is your self-awareness that will go a long way in cultivating and promoting a safe and sound; alive and well; and unbiased workplace environment, particularly when diversity in various forms abounds. If you find that somebody is advertently or inadvertently not coming up to the rules of the game, it is necessary that he or she be appraised appropriately and at the earliest. The bottom line of functioning is that there has to be no disregard to ideas and no discrimination in the allocation of tasks that may stem up based on prevalent diversities.

If any diversity linked issue comes to your knowledge, there is no harm in talking it straightforwardly with the employees. But that would need to be done in a non-argumentative, non-aggressive and non-provocative manner. Motivating employees to work with others hailing from different backgrounds or denominations and encouraging them to understand divergent viewpoints will go a long way in promoting an atmosphere of amity.

There are just three primary colours, but when combined, the number of shades that can be created are unimaginable. That goes to prove that strength lies in differences and not in similarities. Workplace diversity is thus an asset and has to be dealt with accordingly.

Find your way up in your current organisation

“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.”

- Nido Qubein

Everybody finds moving up the career ladder a challenging effort. Your career progression is supposedly your baby and to expect that your company will campaign for it, is like asking for the moon.

A wise man said that the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. And it is hard to beat a person who never gives up.  What can you do to rise up in your organisation? Some tips that have universal applicability are:

· Acquire additional qualifications: You may be deficient of a specific qualification and which perhaps is impeding your advancement. You must endeavour to acquire it at the earliest; seeking support for the purpose from your boss is recommended. In case, your company is not willing to subscribe whole-time for your study, you can also enrol for a distant learning programme or an online training programme.

· Gain practical experience: If you can identify a person who his performing a role that you aspire to be in, you must take his help. Even a short experience in a higher role will help you in the long run. If you acquit yourself well, your company will see your effort as a positive initiative and keep you in mind when an opening comes up. In fact, you would have created the desired responsibility for yourself.

·  Ensure that you develop individually & professionally: You can do so by cultivating the habit of reading and attending special events like symposiums and practicums. You should remain enthused at all times so that you harbour a perennially star outlook. The change that you exhibit will be observed and make a monumental alteration to your career forecasts.

· Deal with all matters professionally: You should strive to be a thorough professional. Be it your dress, demeanour or work, it has to be professional so that you are distinguishable. And when you stick out and show up, more than half your battle is won. It is necessary that you remain upbeat at all times, particularly during difficult times. A professional approach also calls for undertaking responsibilities beyond your charter; besides being projected in good light, you can use the experience gained for your self-promotion too.

· Be a solution provider & not a problem poser: Nobody will ever appreciate you for posing problems. If there is a hitch that you get stuck at, you must have a method for a way-out before seeking any clearance to address it.

· Enlarge your contact base: You need to increase your networking within your company, particularly people who could be prime movers of your growth. In this context, while it is also important to be well-aware of your fortes and career objectives, you should not miss out on events that are likely to be attended by people who are luminaries in their fields so that you can strike a chord with them.

· Sell yourself: You have to drum up your worth. You must always catalogue your accomplishments and make them known to the environment diligently. This will ready you to clutch larger functions as and when opportunities unfold. 

· Know how to handle your seniors: Your seniors, particularly your immediate boss can prove to be your best sponsor. But you too has to help them by sharing their workload. There is nothing wrong in indulging in a casual tête-à-tête with your boss on your own career goals and artfully apprise how you too have contributed in he or she discharging her functions well.

· Have a mentor to guide you: It is necessary that you identify a mentor within your company. This will give you a flying start. But if you find that it is not possible, you should identify a suitable external guide who can help unravel your capabilities and disable any restrictive or off-putting dogmas that you may harbour.

If you are realistic in your expectations and work conscientiously, you will be afforded opportunities for growth. It is essential that you conduct yourself professionally at all times and keep your company interests above everything else. Your aim should be to keep trying to do your work to the best of your capability so that you are able to establish your worth. There is nothing that can convey your talent and worth to your employer better than the results that you deliver. It goes without saying that the people who thrive and advance are the ones who are just not afraid of putting in their best.

Remember that if you want to taste success, you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success. And do not get bogged down with problems; grey skies are nothing but clouds passing over. And most importantly, you should not ponder over whether you are good or not. Get to know who you area and start acting like it.

Reflecting over career change

    Your work and career occupy a large part of your life. The only way to be truly contented with them is to do what you trust is terrific work. And the only way to do terrific work is to adore whatever you do. When you feel that you are not growing in your work, it should be seen as something that is not really terrific. If your life is not broadening and deepening or if your work is not a perpetual tonic to you, it is evident that you have not found your place.

Do you feel jaded and stressed at work? Or do you feel that your job is no more inspiring? Either way, it is apparent that you are set for a change. However, before you proceed any further, you ought to decide if it is your job that you do not like or your career. You simply cannot jump to a conclusion that it is your career that is to be blamed. It is essential that you cogitate on what precisely you are seeking, lest you undergo a penitent experience once again. And if you are convinced about your readiness to embrace a career change, how do you go about it? You need to find honest answers to a number of questions like:

· What are my core assets? Everybody has attributes related to makeup, expertise, capacities and familiarities. Since they impact all your actions, you must bring your core assets together and express them well.   

· What do I aspire for? You should subject your ideals and beliefs to a fresh evaluation; and take a relook at how you prefer to work, including with less remuneration or on an honorary basis? It is essential that you discern and enumerate your central principles because they alone would indicate direction to you, specifically when things are in a state of flux. 

· What is that I need to do? You should be absolutely unambiguous about what you seek to do and what the environment will make it possible for you to do. It is necessary that you are aware of what your prospective employers would look for in you; this will help you to fathom where you stand and what additional qualifications you must acquire.

· Am I willing to make a new beginning? You should introspect to know if you have the capability to change direction. You may have to start from scratch or get back to a learning school. But the procedure can be protracted and if you have any other pressing problems, you may like to put off your decision.

· Is this career apt for me?  You need to work hard step by step to find out details of job prospects, leisure available, remuneration and special qualifications required. A career change can alter your life tremendously and hence any decision needs to be arrived at after serious contemplation. You could perhaps take a trial run by working part-time in your new profession alongside your current job.

· Do I harbour convincing anticipations? You may be fortunate to get a job of your dreams, but will the working environment be cent per cent favourable? You need to ruminate on the good and bad features before thinking of switching careers. Some employers may condone certain deficiencies based on other positive attributes, include your readiness to learn.   

· Can I use my current skills in my new career? Though you will lack practical exposure to the nuances of your new career, various abilities acquired in your current career could well be of use there. You must identify them.

· Which organisations do I aspire to serve in?  Before you actually switch over, you must gather maximum information about various companies, including critical problems afflicting them and your capability to address them. The companies that you think hold out positive prospects should be catalogued for ready reference.

· Who all can be of help to me?  Having shortlisted prospective companies, you could request your family and acquaintances to introduce relevant people to you. If you seek their advice and help, they will feel encouraged and concerned. On your own initiative, you could participate in professional events so that you widen your contact base and stand better poised to switch on to your new career.  

If you can give clear cut responses to the above questions, you will have on your plate everything that goes to make a career change a smooth and beneficial transition. Remember that when you are happy in what you are doing, you will appreciate yourself and derive internal[H1]  peace. When you have that, along with good, you will have more success that you could perhaps have envisaged. And to be successful, you have to follow your passion. The crux of the matter is that you have to stop thinking in terms of limitations, but start thinking in terms of possibilities. After all, life is either a bold quest or nothing at all.

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Set yourself in the lead for career advancement

    Career advancement embraces everything you engage in from the time you begin your career to the time you superannuate. For some people, it could mean simply mean moving up the career ladder to a position of ultimate status and authority. There are others who feel that working hard and performing well; and getting due acknowledgement for your efforts and dedication are important.

As things stand today, there has been a relative decline in the promotion rates in most organisations. It is not that there is no scope of advancement because the effects of recession are fast fading away. But going by the trends being predicted, the competition for top level posts in the corporate setup will intensify in the next couple of years, largely because of the build-up necessitated on account of the previous slowdown.

The above imposes upon executives seeking to gain ascendancy the need to place themselves in a state where they are easily identifiable for promotions whenever suitable openings come up.

Considering the harsh reality of conventional career paths having become obsolete, career paths being adopted by people are devoid of signposts en route that can indicate direction. There are very few organisations that pay attention to succession planning and development, but their efforts are generally directed on selected people in the top hierarchy. The outcome is that middle-rung aspirants are generally without a clue of what they ought to be doing to move up on the career ladder. They continue to do hard slog and suffer from four major fallacies as under:

· If you continue to work hard in your present position, you are bound to be rewarded with a promotion. Working hard may not be adequate; you need to demonstrate increased productivity on a continual basis.

· Your boss will offer you tips and counselling at the time of your annual appraisal. This expectation is unsound because most performance reviews dwell on how you acquitted in your current role and do not offer any tips on what you need to do to move up. Moreover, your immediate boss may not be fully in picture about how you are perceived by the higher management and hence is unlikely to not involve himself in giving any guidelines pertinent to getting promoted.

· Promotions are contingent on who you know. In fact, they are all about who knows you well and if the senior management perceives in you a capability to shoulder higher responsibilities.

· Issues like how noticeable you are in that your dressing sense, demeanour and other allied aspects are critical for gaining a promotion. Yes, they may matter but only to a limited extent. In fact, most organisations lay great stress on your capacity to handle crisis and volatile situations – these generally manifest and come into play at senior levels only.

You simply cannot place yourself on a pedestal and claim a promotion. You get a promotion only if your demonstrated performance over the years has been consistently above average. It is also dependent on the headship attributes and their potential displayed by you. If your track record has been unfailingly good over the last couple of years, you need to focus hard on the following actions to be in the reckoning for a promotion:

· You need to discern various factors that are considered by the company management in promoting people to senior positions. In the light of these factors and in the context of skills sought by them, how are you viewed by it? While most companies bring out a catalogue of leadership skills, most of them are imprecisely and indefinitely addressed; and cannot in any way, help guide individuals. Resultantly, you are at a loss to envision how your top management sees you and hence are unable to decide specific areas that need to be your focus of efforts.

· You also need to find out if your current role places you in a favourable position to exhibit your capabilities or whether you need to another suitable appointment. You have to position yourself so that you are able to demonstrate your strategic skills and aptitudes. To some extent, your boss can help you do that, but eventually it is your responsibility.

· You should also make serious efforts to know where you actually stand. Aspects related to your ability to work well under stress and strain as also take decisions in crisis situations should be delved into. The impression that you have created on your suitability to shoulder higher responsibilities will matter and should be known to you.

Most middle-level employees do not obtain any such feedback, but yet pass time submissively with acute optimism of being picked up for promotions. Such a disposition does not, in any manner, manifest any confirmation with regard to their promotions. You need to display positive initiative to put on show your leadership qualities. This will make you better poised to clench any promotion opportunity. 

How can no-experience graduates discover their career path?

Fresh college graduates rejoice over their degree alright, but get tense if they are asked about their career plan. The anxiety that the question generates is akin to the unease visible on their faces just before an examination or when the results are due for announcement.

Career planning is something that all fresh graduates have to deal with; some of you may even have to struggle with it. The job scene today is rather volatile and this creates puzzlement more than ever before. But you can always rebound back because of immense opportunities available in certain areas.

The most important thing about career planning is adjustment. There are many people who plan their careers with a fixation that changes being witnessed in the areas of technology, political governance and even economy will have no impact on their careers. Changes that take place worldwide will alter job imperatives. Therefore, fresh graduates need to concentrate on one single issue at a given time and direct their efforts to acquire various transferable skills. This may be seemingly counter-instinctive and hence if they do not look too deep into their future. It is advisable to make optimum use of the prevalent conditions and plan for their future extending into the near future only. In case if a long-term planning is resorted to, there can be no guarantee for the career graph consistently going up. There will be changes and alterations in the job market and hence any efforts with the intention of attaining any long-term objective can prove to be counter-productive.

Rather than getting into a job that calls for one or two skills, fresh graduates should seek an employment that offers maximum learning experiences. Since the methodology of work can change, if fresh graduates get to possess a number of transferable skills, they will be better geared to adjust to such changes. Armed with a degree, fresh college graduates need to consider what they want to do further in their life. Here are some tips that can facilitate formulation of a plan to advance further:  

· Seek to know more about yourself: Knowing yourself and what impels you needs no emphasis. You should recollect your favourite subjects at college, teachers that you liked and various pleasurable activities that you indulged in. Concurrently, you should start considering different contours in your jobs and college activities to discern your key interest areas and the direction that you should be setting your compass on. In other words, you ought to know the place you are headed to. Self-assessment is the maiden move to make a blueprint of your career success.  

· Seek to know your principles & standards at work: You should also endeavour to know what matters most to you in your career and the order of their precedence. In most jobs, such discernments tend to become arrangement servers. Every individual is unique by his or her own standards and has particular requirements that have to be met. The situation may possibly call for using your ingenuity or rendering assistance to others or a need to get recognition for good work done. If such needs go unmet, every single day you will suffer from Monday morning blues. If your principles and standards are met at work, your outlook will become more positive and you will derive greater contentment. Therefore, to start with, you could decide on and catalogue five different things that in your view are your top job prerequisites.

· Seek to take stock of other experiences gained: You can get to identify your inborn flairs and skills by your participation in the activities of different societies and associations. Your leisure pursuits can also throw light on them. The experiences that you gained can go a long way in helping you find out your skills and expertise. 

· Seek to visualise your future: Mulling over possible forms or silhouettes of your future serves to enthuse you towards identifying your ideal job and the path that you ought to take. Both of them are key determinants at the current juncture because sans any direction, you are likely to be afflicted by uncertainty, indeterminacy and tension. Therefore, getting into a dynamic mode at the earliest is necessary to overcome all of them.

As a fresh graduate, you should principally concentrate on the present and your immediate objectives. If you delve too much into your future, you may find yourself to be at a loss. Make the best use of today so that you build yourself to clutch opportunities that will come up tomorrow.

Structuring career planning holistically

Success does not come by accident; it comes only when you prepare for it and preparation implies planning. When you plan your career, you set the ball rolling to make your dreams come true.

Career planning is a structured process and can be beneficial to anybody about to begin his or her career journey or those seeking a career change. It entails the following:

· Self-evaluation: You need to know yourself to bring off a career plan. Various fields that warrant an assessment and judgment are:

Ø Personality & outlook: It is essential that you know your disposition and make-up towards your life as a whole and work in particular. It is also necessary to assess your risk-taking capacity to identify domains that you should not enter.

Ø Abilities & achievements: You must catalogue your abilities and also your attainments to facilitate discernment what you are capable of doing or would prefer to do. Besides this, you should also analyse how you learn best – reading, listening or by way of interaction.

· Work-related exploration:  You need to next look exhaustively into various choices and opportunities available to you. This will preclude any incorrect take-offs. Essentials that you need to research are:

Ø Career identification: You need to be familiar with various careers, particularly those that appeal to you. You can read relevant books or search the internet and gather details of careers that fascinate you the greatest.

Ø First-hand estimation: You must discuss a career with a person who is already in it to discern what it actually involves, whether you possess the requisite aptitude or skills and if it is in fact your cup of tea. Tagging along with him or her to work for a couple of days; or taking up an honorary assignment will help get a pragmatic perspective.

· Decision making: Having got a fair idea about yourself and possible career options, you should make some decisions to focus on only some amongst the latter. Aspects warranting deliberation are:

Ø Aims: You need to be clear about what your long-term career objectives as also your individual aims, including leisure actives and domestic obligations. You may also have certain penchants to work for a social cause and would prefer to join organisations that support your cause.

Ø Eternal learning: You also need to decide if you are committed to an eternal learning process or whether you want to acquire basic expertise related to your job and then concentrate on your private pursuits.

· Engagement exchanges: You will be well-geared to move towards your new career, provided you have done adequate groundwork. Your engagement exchanges have to be well-organised and will usually comprise:

Ø Job hunt: It is necessary to know where openings exist; you can find them out by reading advertisements or searching online. The contact base that you have can be of immense use to obtain information in this regard.  

Ø Curriculum vitae: Your resume should portray truthful contours of your general career aims, qualifications, experience and accomplishments. Depending upon qualitative requirements, your resume could be modified accordingly.

Ø Job interviews:  Your job hunt concludes with an interview, which should be managed sensibly. You must prepare for the interview well and ascertain all organisational information so that you acquit yourself well in it.

· Work: Your career gets set to take off now, however, you still need to mull over various issues on a continual basis:

Ø Job Offer / Your acceptance: When you have an appointment letter in hand, you achieve the maiden but a vital outcome of career planning. It is likely that the terms and conditions set may not be in consonance with your ultimate career objectives; if that be so, you should deliberate over them seriously.

Ø Performance at work: Career planning does not finish when you get into a job. You should not lose sight of your career roadmap and keep assessing your performance on a regular basis. All experiences gained should be viewed as advancement breaks and efforts made to strengthen your capabilities and overcome your weaknesses.

· Aspirations: The final stage of career planning comprises linking your efforts to what you aspire to do and be in life.

Ø Planning for future: This ought to be an incessant process and calls for regular stocktaking. You simply cannot afford to slow down on this aspect.

Ø Reassessment: As years roll by, your concerns may get altered and a shift in focus brought about. You need to be cognizant of such changes. Concurrently, you must be on the lookout for better prospects and in case necessitated, your career plan can be modified appropriately.                   

Career planning is a challenge to everybody. But the underlying issue is that it has to be done because failing to plan your career implies planning to fail in it.

Coping with uncertainties & insecurities in your career

Given the unemployment that exists in our country, all our career decisions are awe-inspiring. This phenomenon is more pertinent when you attempt to cope with changes in the job market with practically no surety of moving forward. Considering the uncertainty that prevails and the risks associated with them, it is evident that our moves are directionless, though we make our route-charts as we keep going. That is why people do their utmost to make a related career out of often apparently unrelated jobs.

Your tomorrow will not be as it was in the case of your parents. The days when one joined an organisation and retired from it are gone. And this fact makes it inescapable to restructure your approach towards career management so that you are able to cope with various qualms and its associated perils. Some new schools of thought on this issue are:

· You need to possess capabilities to transfer your acquired knowledge to resolve workplace glitches.

· Your employment will be project-oriented and hence part-time or contract assignments will be its key feature.

· To be able to cope with changing parameters of employment, you should be venturesome enough vis-à-vis your expectations; you may not always succeed, but will nevertheless have to keep progressing by refocussing and redeploying.

· You need to be fully aware of your fortes and identify areas where they can be optimally utilised.

· You will be required to remain firmly at wheels and use your authority to proceed on a new course altogether.

The connotation of career development today is settling on a broad turf and instituting a determined advancement strategy that should include possible job prospects and relentless learning efforts. If you look around, you will perhaps find many people who have changed jobs and even careers, not on their own choosing but more because of imposed inevitabilities. And in a number of cases, such changes were affected at very short notice.

Career management is not a static process, but is unendingly dynamic and constantly rolling. Besides entailing effectual use of analytical skills and wherewithal at one’s disposal, there is also the need to take calculated risks. It is all about development of prospects that exist around people in their environment; and which need to be discerned, clutched and exploited. At first sight, this may appear to be very practical, but when you go about translating it into action, there could be serious snags. Because you would be trudging on not very well defined path, your self-assuredness will have to be of a high order so that unilateral decisions that you make are sound. You will have opportunities and you will have to build your self-trust through them. To be able to deal with risk and uncertainties, you should:   

· Re-identify your fervidness: When somebody tells you to give wings to your passions, there will be many who will contest it. You ought to know what inspires you the maximum. Something that perhaps was your passion earlier will over a period of time stand transformed into your very objective. Getting to know that objective will help you update and enlighten your career decisions and current prospects. All this may call upon you to move out of your comfort zone so that you can see the changing world realistically and take necessary initiatives, to include bold decisions.

· Don’t shy away from seeking assistance: This is where your networking will come in handy. Even if it amounts to taking help from professional counsellors, you should not hesitate to do so. Outside help and advice will go a long way to modify, hone and perfect your tactics and outlook alike.

· Treat all encounters as learning experiences: You should always be keen to learn from any and every thing that you do – job, apprenticeship and even honorary work. It is essential that you evaluate the outcomes of all your decisions so that you can apply them niftily on ground. That is how you will be able to take better decisions in the future and ensure that you do not miss out on newer opportunities.

· Be ever ready to accept change: Remember that your career will always be subject to changes. Therefore, you need to be flexible and buoyant to embrace them. The resilience that you display will help you overcome the unexpected. You will thus accept your new reality, even if it is less good than the one you had before.

What lies ahead is always mystery. You have to acknowledge the inevitability of uncertainty in your career and knowing how to cope with risks associated with it is the only way out. Life does not provide warranties and guarantees; it only provides possibilities and opportunities for those who dare to make best use of it. You need to develop confidence in your own decision-making and be ready to take the next step.

Crafting a career development plan

In order to craft a career development plan, it is necessary to ruminate over several factors. The most important thing to do is to spend time cogitating and understanding yourself, your skills, your interests, your motivations and your values. You need to spare time to know more about yourself and your concerns; and what actually counts for you and how this measures up to you and your life.

A career development plan is simply a methodical and focussed technique for swotting where you happen to be in your career and deciding the position that you aspire to be at. Towards that purpose, you are required to set smart objectives so that you indeed reach that position.

How can you create a career development plan that is in consonance with your career goals? Here are four simple steps to do so:

· Determining your current position: Wherever you are now is your starting point. You can call it SP. It is important that you are aware of the following aspects:

v What all stimulate and motivate you the most?

v What were the factors that prompted your career choices?

v What was the methodology adopted by you to embark upon your present career path?

v What are your qualifications and skills, both academic and professional?

v What is the experience that you have gained so far?

v What are your concerns, leisure pursuits and pastimes?

· Deciding on the position that you aspire to be at: The position that you want to be is your career destination or the finishing point. You may call it the FP. With reference to the FP, you need to introspect and find answers to the following questions:

v At what positions do you visualise yourself one, five and ten years from now?

v Supposing that there were no limitations of time and you had at your disposal all the wherewithal, including influences to exert, what would you like to be?

v Whatever qualifications and skills that you possess and whatever experience you have to your credit, how have they helped you in discharging your role in your job?

v If things went tickety-boo, that is, you could make absolutely correct decisions and were not deficient of self-assuredness at all, what is the appointment or designation you would aspire to hold?

· Knowing what it involves to reach your aspired position: This step entails checking and validating actuality. It is nothing but bridging the disparity and space between your SP and FP. This is achieved by exhaustive study and making sound decisions. To illustrate the point, you receive an email informing that you can work part-time from home and earn a six figure compensation. Your excitement apart, what do you do? Don’t you carry out some ground-checks to ascertain the veracity of the proposal? You would definitely like to know details of the employer for whom you would be working and in all probability visit his office to make certain that you do not become a victim of a rip-off. And surely, you will not accept the offer at the face value of it. Of course, there will be several other concerns that you would like to be addressed and clarified. It is the same in your career. You will have to reflect on the time and money that are required to facilitate reaching your aspired position. Do you have them readily available? Or will arranging them will take time? If so, how will your planning be affected? You may have to make sacrifices. Are you willing to do so? 

· Reducing your plan to writing: Having identified actions required to bridge the gap between your present and aspired positions, the next step is to summarize your career development plan in a written form. You must list out the larger mosaic and the intervening actions that will propel you to your ultimate career objectives. When you have your plan reduced to writing, you will see it on a daily basis, thereby making its implementation an effortless affair. Your subliminal sense will prompt you to take action on issues that are essential for attaining your objectives. In case an objective appears to be big, you should split it into smaller sub-objectives and set out to achieve them one by one. Remember that success will come to you if you are steadfast in your outlook, relentless in your efforts and intelligent in your actions. And as you move along, you must keep monitoring the results achieved by you on a periodic basis so that you remain convinced that you are on the correct track.

If you do not want your career development plan to be a simple theoretical drill, you will have to seriously go about implementing it, In case you do not, it will gather dust hoping that someday, you may get going on it. And as you start working on it, small successes will accrue to indicate that you have been on the correct track.