Attributes that define your performance at work

We harbour different inclinations, outlooks, standpoints and dispositions towards our lives, individual pursuits and capacity to influence matters. These views, principles and theories, as they may be called explain all our achievements in life and at work.  

Our dogmas comprise many concepts and values; and jointly, they impact our capacity to shape a successful career. All successful people generally harbour such convictions in varying forms, the major ones relate to your own capability vis-à-vis the following qualities:

· Nerve to be a genuine you: You simply cannot have a duplicate face to show if you have to be successful. You have to be true to yourself and all your networking and relationships should be based on this canon. Success will elude you if you tend to hide behind a smokescreen. There are many people who adopt double standards and act in a manner in which others expect or prompt them to do. Resultantly, such people lose their poise and are unable to conduct themselves within the secure parameters of established reasoning and anticipations. You should remember that you will never succeed in putting in your best if you remain apprehensive of putting forth the best in you. You have to be an outstanding account of yourself and not a mediocre form of somebody else.

· Generation of own actuality: The image of actuality that you eventually build about yourself is characterised by whatever you decide to reflect, undergo and indulge in. If you elect to consider that you have no jurisdiction over your life and that success is contingent on your luck, you will suffer immense powerlessness. In the process, your life will become such that it revolves around only possibilities and probabilities. You need to dream big because dreams ultimately get transformed into an actuality of feat and accomplishment. Whatever action you undertakes give birth to fresh dreams and the cycle carries on to generate the utmost configuration of living. The one thing that is central to success is dreaming about the times ahead and then making all-out efforts to ensure that the dreams fructify.

· Respect for own competencies: You will be able to make optimum use of your competencies if you know and respect them. This means that you should have no doubts about your capabilities because if you do, you will always be reluctant to act and opportunities will be missed. If you happen to be working under pressure, you would be required to try new methods of work; and if you then doubt your capability, how can success come to you? You must at all times feel self-assured and have full faith in your abilities.  

· Faith in your actions: If you select a career that has, in your perception no significance for you, there is no way that you can prosper in it. Your job and your career should be your passion because doing anything that you love invigorates you. Success thus automatically follows. You have to believe wholeheartedly each and everything you do. And most importantly, you must also have faith in yourself and your worth. If you restrict your faith in yourself, you will never enjoy contentment and fulfilment. It is essential that you realise that there are several aspects that you need to gain mastery of, yet you are the best and most suitable to attain success. 

· Readiness to learn: There is no person who is qualified at all times to take on all responsibilities at work. You will never possess the requisite skills to fit into the next higher slot at all times. There are people who resign and feel that they simply cannot step into a higher position. Such an outlook is prompted by a feeling of having reached the limit and an inability to learn any further. Such an outlook is neither desirable nor advisable. It is essential that you believe in your capability to learn new things and move ahead.

· Grit to persist through odds: Your career journey will never be a smooth ride. You will encounter obstacles and potholes; sometimes, the experience could be extremely depressing. Most people give up in the face of odds and then they simply stagnate. Impediments are meant to halt you; they are intended to be negotiated by you. You will have to go over them, bypass them or simply bump your way through them. The situations that you encounter will have to be altered to suit you; any inclination to be treated as a casualty should be avoided. Remember that if at all there is somebody who is the master of your destiny, it is you.

You could be still far away from the position that you have wished to be. But it is important to believe that very soon that would be accomplished. Your sanguinity[H1] , confidence and buoyancy should be of such magnitudes that the course on which you have embarked remains significant and that sooner or later, things will unfold in your favour. And ad interim, all that is expected of you is resolution, perseverance and a steadfast focus.

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Underpin your prospects of career success

If you peep into the lives of people in the quest of doing well in their careers, you will find that most of them invariably dream big and seek more than the ordinary. And such people attain whatever they aspire for. Their outlook and disposition is such that success comes to them on a continual basis.

You may harbour varying ambitions and aim to achieve different objectives. But if you engage in the some fundamental actions, you will find that success comes to you at all stages in your career journey. The actions per se will help you know and appreciate your precise aspiration in life; steer you in the correct direction to carve out your individual professional distinctiveness; and help you to muster the desired backing in the eventuality of a tough going. These actions are:

·  Let your worries be converted to motivating factors: You should know how to convert your fears into hutzpah, qualms into certainties, reservations into confidence and apprehensions into encouragement. Such a dexterity will help you look challenges that you may encounter straight into the eyes and deal with them assertively. The crux of the matter is that you should learn to be more liable, in control and adept. You should view all experiences, howsoever trivial or big, as learning experiences. Should you interrupt or put your feet up and not be able to make use of your experiences in the correct manner, the success that should rightfully be yours will always elude you. It is essential that you find ways and means to revolutionize all negative aspects into positive matters so that you can change, succeed and prosper.

·  Have no ambiguity about your objectives: Being clear about your aims is an important prerequisite to do well in life. You ought to have no doubt about what is relevant to you and what you seek. In continuation, you should also be clear about what you will be ready to sacrifice for the purpose. Your objectives have to be clearly defined. You simply cannot say, “I want be something different’ or “I want to do something that carries weight.” You will have to introspect and determine what that ‘something’ means to you – both in individual and precise contexts. Today, when people do not succeed in their lives and careers, they make no efforts to find out what they are actually worth and cut out for. If you are clear about these issues and have confidence in the relevance of your visualisations, windows of opportunities for immense growth will automatically open up for you.

·  Pledge complete devotion: No success will come to you if you waver in your devotion and sincerity. You have to be venturesome so that you display dynamism when otherwise the general atmosphere is static. This does not mean that you should adopt a reckless approach; mid-term corrections will have to be applied without fail. The implication is that you should anticipate problems and obstacles; and know in advance who to contact for assistance and guidance. It goes without saying that your devotion should be of a high order towards all activities that you indulge in. A flexible approach is what is recommended so that you are able to fill up voids pertaining to your shortcomings. Remember that people who are aware of their shortcomings but work conscientiously to overcome them enjoy greater chances to succeed in their endeavours.

·  Communicate assertively: Successful people are invariably great narrators. They can hold audiences spell-bound. When they talk, their speech serves to enthuse others to take a leaf out of their books. Successful people are generally clear about what they are engaged in; interestingly, people who get drawn towards them also harbour similar standpoints. When successful people speak, they know what every word uttered means and are able to ensure that no one gets antagonised. Communicating effectively also means giving a patient hearing and calls for good negotiating skills. It is through the power of your word, spoken or otherwise, you build good rapport, gain widespread support and beget cent per cent loyalty.

·  Impose your boundaries: When you have no doubts about what you seek, you will have to be robust enough to safeguard your boundaries; stick to your main concerns and urgencies; and make your intent and whatever is essential for your success known to all. There are thousands of people who are otherwise smart and intelligent but are unable to communicate their intents, their clarity of objectives notwithstanding. They just get carried away; in other words, they give up and concede. There are several contributing factors for such surrenders, yet men and women out to do well in their careers should be able to overpower their apprehensions, insecurities and other allied feelings. They should display strength and stand up for what is right and they deserve; should things not work out in their favour, there is no harm in demanding what is due to you.

·  Cultivate & foster good associations: During your career journey, you cannot afford to be aloof and isolated. You will never be in a position to attain you objectives and realise your visions all by yourself; you will require outside support. To be able to elicit support, you will have to spare time for others so that you are able to generate a mutually advantageous state of affairs whose common values are conviction, trustworthiness and uprightness. It should not be forgotten that in your way up in a competitive world, you have to be cautious enough to not display one-upmanship in any form. This also calls for a strict discard of sycophancy. The important point is that dishonesty in any form will not boost your development and success; you will have to play the game by adhering to the laid down rules.

It will be difficult for you to taste success sans actions highlighted above. It is not that you will not move ahead at all, but the journey would be full of problems, resulting in a feeling of avoidable disenchantment. Therefore, you need to engage in them with all sincerity at your command.

Allay anxieties & stress of unemployment

“Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”

-        Benjamin Franklin

There is no better thing for an unemployed person than an employment. If it cannot be offered, then you need to pep them up. And the best way to pep them up is by sharing with them how you faced similar situations and qualms. Uncertainties are always very discomforting, particularly when you have liabilities that have attached with them financial obligations.

The fact is that nobody knows anything about the turn of events and it is this aspect that prompts people to venture out. In the end, the results, if they are astounding are contingent on the efforts put in by you. So, the pertinent question is, “How do you face uncertainties?” The basic requirement, in this context is letting go of certainty. If there happens to be uncertainty of any sort afflicting you, you need to have an open mind and display acute interest and inquisitiveness. You will have to cuddle up with contradictions and enigmas.

The eventual and most critical challenge is to accept yourself precisely as you are. However, you should never ever give up on your endeavours to learn and move ahead. Employment or unemployment, you should remain calm. Here is what you ought to be doing to defeat the unease and worries of unemployment:

· Remain resolute: This advice may be easy to offer but is difficult to follow in real life. Your job-hunting efforts should not be found wanting because some day or the other, the result of your cumulative efforts will pay very rich dividends. Everybody feels miserable and drained out without a job, however, the feeling of resoluteness and determination keeps you moving. An absence of a good news today does not mean that every day to follow will be devoid of one.      

· Discuss your fears: Unemployment will always cause you anxiety. You must discuss your worries and apprehensions with others – those close to you, friends and relatives alike. It is wrong to presume that if you do so, you add on to their list of problems; in actuality, they feel better. Moreover, they get to know what is going on inside you. You should make special efforts to ensure that you do not become a victim of your sense of self. Remember that it is no crime to be without a job because you have no control over the state of affairs that prompt such a condition. When you discuss things out, you also create opportunities; for all you know the people who listen to you may be rather compassionate and propagate your case for getting w job.

· View things from a different perspective: The fact that you are unemployed should be viewed from a different perspective. Every single experience that you gain is a reason for self-examination. You need to focus inwards to determine various breaks and openings that could be there to set sights on other expanses that possibly fascinate you. And this ought to be your best prospect. In any case, you have nothing to lose whatsoever. There could be several pursuits that you perhaps wanted to take up but for some reasons could not do so. You should take time to cogitate over additional qualifications that you always wanted to acquire but never had an opportunity to do so. Informational interviews could prove to be a boon for you at this stage.    

· Set aside your sentiments and sensitivities: A period of unemployment is akin to ups and downs of an emotional journey because each passing day without a job can prove to be an intense experience. Under such circumstances, you need to forget all emotions of annoyance, resentment and despair because such feelings act as impediments to your decision-making abilities and adversely impact your judgement-making aptitude. You should remember that there are few issues that cannot be pushed in haste; you have to be composed and at ease with prevalent conditions. You should consider yourself free to do whatever you like but never ever get lose your balance or feel low about anything. Positive things will be drawn to you if you remain positive.

· Bash on regardless rather than waiting: Like in life, in your career too, there are certain aspects that simply cannot be altered and there are certain things that will come to you in a time-frame over which you have absolutely no control. Now, does this imply that you keep sitting dormant over them and accept things as fait accompli? The answer is a big “No”. In other words, you should agree to take rather than repel; put in simple words, you should keep doing what you should normally be doing. Whether it is forwarding your curriculum vitae to prospective employers or requesting friends and acquaintances to be on the look-out for openings, you should not be found wanting in your efforts. You will have to be in a dynamic mode if you want things to be in your favour.

All your anxieties are a threadlike stream of dread trickling through the mind. In case you encourage them, they will cut a channel into which all other thoughts will be drained. Your efforts should be so directed that you do not get attached to your worries in the same way that they do not get attached to you.

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Oversee your career for an unbeaten innings

A large majority of people, at some stage or the other, start having serious doubts about the career that they have chosen. They wonder if at all they are in the right job or not and occasionally think about other avenues available to them. A square peg in a round hole is always a conundrum and hence you need to know if you are in the correct job or not. And it is equally crucial for you to be aware of opportunities and prospects available elsewhere, primarily on account of the fact that you simply cannot move forward if you do not know where you stand. You should be clear on where you stand and what you need to focus on; these per se manifest the importance of career planning and career management on career success.

If you happen to be standing at the crossroads of your career, there are some questions that you need to ask yourself and the answers to which, will help you to arrive at sound career decisions. You could even seek advice from others so that you are able to view things in the correct perspective and recall aspects that may have slipped your memory. Some questions, the answers to which you must seek are:

· What is about you that you are marketing? If you are out job hunting, you need to know what your USPs are. You should know specifically all your strongpoints that will be of use and significance to the company that you intend to join. These aspects could be your explicit talents and abilities; your acquaintance with and awareness of job responsibilities; your contacts and network; and most importantly, your name. You may find it to be a rather tough and challenging task to be pragmatically unbiased in this matter; and hence it will be in the fitness of things to discuss with others to strive for confirmation and validation.   

· How do you function and what is your approach towards work? In order to find out roles and charter that are appropriate for you as also the best working atmosphere, you need to know more about yourself. You should know what you and your personality are all about and how you are disposed towards your work. To illustrate the point and notwithstanding the type of job you may be embarking on, if you have a tendency to heavily concentrate on your work, then an advisory role in any organisation may not be your cup of tea. Remember that the way you work is perceptible to others better and hence it is advisable to ask for an opinion, if at all it is probable.  

· What is that you aspire for in your career? If you want to do well in your career, you must formulate a line of action. You need to have a career strategy and towards that, it is necessary that you identify fields in which you want to excel and stand out in the crowd. There will be several elements that you should be highlighting; identifying and incorporating them in your career strategy should be the focus of your attention. You cannot afford to be presumptuous in your approach; on the contrary, the need will be to specific to the maximum extent possible and accord precedence to various issues. A pragmatic outlook to include deliberations on important issues like salary and side-issues like getting into the good books of your seniors should be adopted by you. And all these basics and fundamentals should become your career objectives.  

· How do you propose to execute your career moves to attain success? You would have thought about alternatives, should you not succeed in one of your endeavours. Either you decide to not move out for a new job to another company and stay put in your current position; or decide to go in for a lateral transfer. It is also likely that you may decide to switch to a brand new career or say bye-bye to your job to set up a venture of your own. You must ponder over all such possibilities so that when the time comes, you can go in for the best one. There is nothing wrong if you seek feedback from hirers about where you stand vis-à-vis other competitors and then take a final call on it.

· What is that you should be doing for achieving your career objectives? This is best identified if you reduce to writing a to-do list that will facilitate accomplishing your career objectives. One such action could be redrafting your curriculum vitae. Expanding your contact base could be another. You may also consider enrolling for a course in consultation with your line manager. Whatever list you come up with, you should catalogue each one of them and set a time-schedule for their attainment.

The crux of the matter is to have well defined aims for attainment in your career journey. The journey by itself will always be a practical acquaintance with professional subjects and learning. However, the important point is to ensure that you work hard and keep working hard. 

Fostering trust & respect at workplace

There is something similar between workplace politics and domestic subtleties. Every individual comprises a bigger whole and has a role to play within the group he is assigned to. An elder daughter takes care of her siblings at home and hence at work takes on to logistic work. An elder son who is generally the cynosure of everybody’s eyes, at work tends to be a domineering leader. Likewise, somebody who has been brought up with care, will invariably be quiet by temperament at work. The roles that we undertake at work have a link with what we do at home. Just as we tend to bring about changes at home to promote wellbeing, at work too, we do likewise.

Every workplace is characterised by a distinct working environment. While ethics, aspirations and interpersonal communications vary from company to company, anomalies, irregularities and deficiencies that exist also differ likewise. In the light of the foregoing, all workplaces are explosive setups where existence of politics cannot be discounted.

If you have to muddle through workplace politics, you have to sail across with professional competence. And that implies the need to foster respect and trust. For the purpose, you need to be armed with relevant intellectual and interpersonal abilities. The following actions can help you do so:

· Contemplate over your conduct in an assembly: The manner in which you conduct yourself will be similar to what you do in the presence of your folks at home. Are you a leader or a follower? Do you tend to appease everybody or stand up for your principles? You could be highly reticent or alternatively, you could be in the forefront of all activities and taking initiative to resolve issues. It is necessary that you are aware of how you conduct yourself so that you can address intricacies of workplace politics appropriately.  

· What is that you would like to do? Whatever be the nature of your comportment, there will certainly be some aspects that are bound to put you to obvious disadvantage. You need to be aware of such aspects, particularly those that you want to alter or transform. Such aspects will invariably be in the form of your disposition or feelings; defencelessness, lack of confidence or inability to shoulder additional responsibilities could be some shortcoming afflicting you. Having identified them, you should go through training sessions to overcome them so that you can sail through unhindered.

· Evaluate holistically before taking any step:  You should discern what the general mood is and that would be possible only if you direct your efforts to know more about prevalent conventions, groupings and pecking order prior to voicing your views. It is essential that you display a high degree of professionalism and tact at all times; any tendency to be predisposed and subjective should be curbed at all costs. This will help you to stay away from controversies. It is also essential that you know unctuous people around so that you can take necessary preventive action to fall into traps. 

· Remain embedded & entrenched in the current: If you ponder unnecessarily over the future or ruminate unnecessarily over what has happened in the past, you will not be able to take decisive actions. Of course, you cannot discount the past totally or be brash about the future. However, if you uproot yourself from the present, things will get to be highly unstable. Staying moored with the current will help you to maintain your poise in an otherwise turbulent workplace.

· Guard against loose statements: You need to exercise due caution with what you speak. Blether should be totally avoided and so should be disparaging remarks directed at anyone. It is in your interest to keep your wits about and be careful of the risk of being quoted. Once quoted, your relationships and credibility stands sabotaged; nobody will ever bother to know the context in which you spoke or what you intended to say. This is also relevant to situations that prompt you to react; it is best to cool down first before saying or communicating anything. The golden rule that you should follow should be to exercise restraint in saying anything behind a person’s back that you would not say in his or her presence.

· Be in charge of dealing with your own reputation: You may not realise it, but the fact is that any tendency to brag and boast can lead you into troubled waters. It is necessary that you keep your personal affairs confined to yourself. When in a group, your conduct should be befitting and you should never indulge in any activity that is outside the norms of propriety.

· Be respectful & considerate towards all: You could be holding a senior position or a subordinate one in your organisation. That is of no consequence when it comes to demonstrating respecting others is considered. You cannot escape doing that. Everybody in an organisation has a role to play and you have to acknowledge that. Any form of ego that you may harbour should be dispensed with when it comes to display of deference, reverence, thoughtfulness and consideration towards others is concerned. It is essential that you remain aware of the sensitivities and sentiments of everybody.    

Remember that life is an unceasing fine-tuning of internal relations vis-à-vis external relations. And your happiness can spring from some curious adjustment. Therefore, the need to be accommodative & adjusting at your workplace needs no emphasis. It is only then that an atmosphere of mutual respect will follow. And when that happens, mutual trust will automatically ensue.

Be a leader at work

Who doesn’t aspire for a leadership role at work? Everybody does, but most are unable to get a leadership label.

How do you set yourself as a leader at your workplace? It is important that you do not make such an aspiration too evident because then you run the risk of being branded as an opportunist. The following actions can catapult you to a leadership position that you seek:

· Be venturesome: You should display an acute sense of innovativeness and enterprise. And that will result in some sort of discomfort for you and you should take it in good spirit. When you take risks and play with perilous activities, you could appear to be irrational and reckless. But do you have anything to lose, except your credibility if you are not proactive? All leaders are bold and intrepid; and are not apprehensive of negative outcomes or step back from the tenets that they subscribe to. If you have to be a leader at work, you should be prepared to take the most elementary of all risks; volunteering to take an assignment that others are reluctant will portray you in excellent light.   

· Harbour a winning attitude: It is a known fact that people follow only victors and frontrunners. Your contemplations and attitude should invariably be that of winners. You cannot afford to be a dark horse. It is widely believed that workplaces are rather vicious circles and that if you have to get past them, you need to be calculating and scheming rather than going through the rut associated with them with doubts and suspicions. It is imperative that whatever actions you take as part of your endeavours to shoulder responsibilities should be genuine, unpretentious and authentic. All your efforts should be assertive, but any effort to bulldoze your way or adopt bullying tactics should be avoided. If you want to be a leader at work, you should harbour intense self-assurance and believe in your capability to bring about a change for the better. Your swaying power should be directed to impel a forward movement in the people who look up to you.  

· Shoulder responsibilities & be accountable: If you seek leadership roles, you have to be adept at shouldering responsibilities – for any facet of activity that has your thumbprint on it. The implication of the foregoing is that despite all precautions and efforts, you can still contribute towards a project’s fiasco. Try as much as you may, you could well be the very cause of failure. Shouldering responsibilities means that you take responsibilities for not everything fruitful and successful, but botches and fiascos as well. And if you have been instrumental in any let-down, propriety demands that you own up responsibility for the same. Learning from mistakes is essential and you cannot overlook this dictum.

· Be transparent & amenable: If you do not accept blame and censure, then it amounts to your inclination to live off yourself. You should always have an open mind and that implies being amenable to fresh ideas and suggestions. You will find that knowledgeable and experienced people offering advice and you simply cannot afford to disregard it. Besides facilitating better performance, such tips always be on the success track. It should be remembered that there is no leadership role at work that does not cater to guidance and suggestions. You require new ideas, sans which, you are likely to parch.

· Share your ideas & plans: When you let your ideas remain bottled-up, you are like a cocoon. You have to let everything inside you cause to flow out. Unless you share your concepts, considerations and strategies, you will never come to know your shortcomings. You have to experience what you are susceptible to and then learn to appreciate the proneness associated with it. And when you empty out your mind, you create space to absorb new ideas and suggestions. These new ideas and suggestions will evidently come from both your followers and knockers; and also from least anticipated quarters. And when this cycle is repeated, you will be flooded with new ideas and thus will have more to contribute. Resultantly, your knowledge gets augmented and that any individual with a good knowledge base invariably becomes a good leader. 

· Reduce all planning to a written form: The world is full of people who are akin to locomotives – plain ‘loco’ and no ‘motive’. They are all words and no actions. But if you want to be a leader at work, you have to be action-oriented. You should focus on deeds. You should act on a plan. But making a plan and implementing it is not an easy job. Formulating a plan calls for delving into details and ensuring that nothing pertinent is missed out. Towards that, you must reduce everything that crosses your mind and which you want to undertake to writing. This will serve as a reference too and you can always fall back on to it. Resultantly, you will create an impression of being meticulous, conscientious and assiduous – the more important traits of any leader.

· Be on the lookout for ‘leading breaks’: At your workplace, there will be scores and scores of opportunities available to you for leadership roles. You do not have to bother about creating them. All that you should be doing is to be watchful and clutch an appropriate one. You will discover, much to your pleasure that there will be innumerable breaks in front of you; the initiative to grab one has to come from you. And if you are unable to spot any, then something is going amiss.

When you adopt a leadership role at work, you learn to shoulder higher responsibilities and do work of superior people. To be able to do that, you need to have a strong blend of strategy and character.

Remonstrating at work but sans any bitter feelings

There is no workplace where there is no divergence of views. Because of diversity that prevails, the principles and convictions that employees harbour are often conflicting. It is not uncommon for many people to misconstrue differing viewpoints as personal attacks intended to dent their individual standings. If that is not perceived, then the other person is seen as a bothersome or problematic character.

The above notwithstanding, whenever a conflict situation arises, most of us think that the Heavens have fallen or are about to fall and take the extreme step of keeping others out of the scheme of things or decision-making process. The results are ruinous; we are unable to resolve issues and come out of difficult situations. So, how do we address conflict?

If there is a conflict situation, you will always find some people more adept at dealing with it. There are plusses and minuses on either side of the conflict spectrum. People who are skilful at handling conflicts have the power to look them straight into their eyes. But they often bring about unwarranted anxiety and stress too. Those who want to escape stress by avoiding conflict situations are bound to be little submissive and possess greater degree of easiness to accept argument and discord. Such people do not get perturbed by small irritants when there is divergence of views. They invariably suffer a disadvantage because their emotions remain bottled up inside them, making situation deteriorate further. 

It needs to be acquiesced that existence of conflict situations is beneficial because you resolve issues. In the process of resolving issues, we need to be cautious in expressing our views without disconcerting and flustering others. The issue is to avoid being jibbed at by others and at the same time be able to sway and motivate them. You need to be an upbeat knocker. When you work in a team, you will see people who have a difficult time in putting across their viewpoints. You will also have people who are at ease doing so; this is the lot who are upbeat knockers. They possess the requisite attributes and employ the following prime strategies that always work and make things happen as expected:

· Recognising & appreciating others: People who have the courage to oppose and challenge invariably acknowledge the perspectives and standpoints of others. This they do by giving a patient and focussed hearing; and seeking clarifications whenever necessary. By doing so, their attentiveness and thoughtfulness is conveyed. Others do not feel muffled, as a result, great transparency is achieved and ambiguities, if any, tend to get demolished. And when they make a point, it is accepted without much hassle.  

· Using non-verbal communications to effect: Words that you speak are important alright, but your gestures and other non-verbal communications need to be in sync with them too. Research has shown that while the spoken word is indeed important, body language is more important. Non-verbal communications convey views many times more. And when you communicate carefully and diligently, you connect better. You avoid the risks of being objected to or labelled as a bulldozer. As a matter of principle, you should refrain from pointing fingers or any other conduct that could be labelled as offensive conduct. Any increase in your fretfulness and anxiety levels could raise the concerns of the other person further; and who may, as a consequence of the foregoing, become more edgy.

· Speaking when required & speaking for effect: This calls for knowing when to speak and what to speak as also when not to speak. Silence is always golden and it creates an impact. If you avoid speaking much, you portray a good impression and contribute to make a dialogue meaningful. You simply have to remain calm, well-poised and unruffled at all times, even when you are making a point. 

· Keeping team interests above everything: Though you may disagree with your team members, you cannot afford to let your team’s interests suffer. Therefore, your focus should always be to resolve matters so that your team marches ahead. You have to act with due diligence and make your opinions acceptable to others. Though contingent on the prevalent situation, if you succeed in getting dissidents and grumblers to add on to your concepts and philosophies, a more integrated outlook will result. 

· Respecting others & gaining respect: It is respect alone that begets respect. So, if you treat others with reverence and veneration, you will also be regarded likewise. Treating others with respect calls for displaying a highly social, concerned and sympathetic attitude. 

· Swaying others while asserting oneself: You need to be able to prevail over others and this is best attainable if you recognise what they stand for. You need to listen to them without interrupting and not oppose any point just because it comes from a person whose ideas are not matching with yours. You will be able to influence others if, despite differences, you are able to channelize dialogues towards a common ground.

When you do not dismiss any opposing view and give credit for a great idea put across, you position yourself at an advantageous position. You will be able to remonstrate assertively, but without generating any ill-feelings. And when ill-feelings are absent, your team’s output increases. Shouldn’t that be your objective?

Working with an opinionated boss

At your workplace does anybody get preferential treatment at the hands of his boss? Is a work supposedly well-done by him, if at all it is so, blown out of proportion and lapses, if any are simply and regularly passed over? Does any employee feel that since he is in the good books of the boss (for whatever reason), he can get away with anything. Are there instances when a boss pulls up one person in public view but chooses not to do so with somebody else as a matter of routine?

If the above happens to be a frequent phenomenon at your workplace, you need to do something about it. You need to address the issue on priority because sooner or later, the working environment is bound to be undermined. Favouritism, nepotism and preferential treatment, if allowed to persist will lead to a disheartened and deflated workforce; and eventually decreased productivity. And the earlier you start to deal with the malaise, the better it will be.

How do you deal with an opinionated boss or setup? Here is what you should be doing:

· Status evaluation: An opinionated boss by virtue of the prejudice and bias indulged in by him causes immense harm to the congeniality of the workplace. Sincere and conscientious employees are bound to get disillusioned when such happenings take place. You ought to be keeping a tag of various instances wherein preferential treatment has been extended to any individual and the precise reasons that prompted it. It is likely that on different occasions, somebody else would have been accorded similar treatment; if that be so, then it may not be a serious matter. You should be clear in your mind about the prompting factors and specific instances which, in your perception, could be construed as partiality, bias or discrimination  

· Discussion with co-workers: Remember that your observations and inferences are your own and that they be prompted by individual penchants and perceptions. You may feel very strongly about an issue but in respect of others, it could just be a normal happening that raises no eyebrows. Therefore, before you rake up an issue, it is essential that you talk it out with your colleagues so that you are able to discern the appropriateness and rightness of your awareness or awareness. You should seek details of other instances that could possibly be in their knowledge and perhaps missed out by you. It is essential that you go about objectively and ensure that do nothing that smacks of preconceptions towards a colleague or the boss alike. What you ought to do is request for specifics and actualities; and then arm yourself with them as preparation for portraying the state of affairs unambiguously and without pronouncing any verdict.

· Tête-à-tête with the boss: Now that you have drawn conclusions and are convinced that indeed something improper or indecorous has been happening, what stops you from walking into your boss’ cabin for a confab? When you are face to face with him, you should adopt a candid, but respectful approach. It is essential that you put across whatever your observations have been and how you have sensed the state of affairs. You must quote specific illustrations in support of your observations. No generic comments should be given; on the contrary you should be precise and unambiguous while narrating instances wherein an employee was afforded special treatment. If possible, you should take another trusted co-worker along to back you. Additional information provided by him will lend credence to your views and also indicate to your boss that the situation is indeed serious. Any perception that the issue has become a subject of discussion will further prompt your boss for corrective action.       

· Striving for a transformation: While you are engaged in a dialogue with your boss, your objective should be to bring about upbeat breaks and exchanges. It is only then that the emerging circumstances will be positive. You should invariably regard your boss as knowledgeable and capable enough to be able to discharge certain responsibilities better. This is necessary because you never know that he may ask you things that you want changed. You should endeavour to make the entire gamut of conversation a positive process; this can be attained if you dwell upon actions that are future oriented rather than being repentant of whatever has happened.

· Keeping the management in the loop: Acts of favouritism, if allowed to continue can be highly detrimental and it is not necessary that your boss will readily agree to make changes. Under such situations, it is recommended that the matter be raised with the concerned authorities. The HR Department should be approached and apprised. In doing so, you must ensure that real facts are made available to them together with a gist of whatever transpired between you and your boss. This will facilitate better comprehension of the issues and initiation of appropriation corrective action.

It is necessary that neutrality and impartiality of a workplace is maintained at optimum levels. Favouritism and bias in any form should be discouraged; and should it be found that it is continuing, efforts should be directed to put an end to it. And even after pointing it out to your boss if things do not improve, there is nothing wrong in reporting the matter to the management.