Don't be a pedant for self-authored rule-books

Each and every stage of our life is a learning experience in some sense or the other. And there are certain rules and regulations within whose parameters we are required to function so as to derive maximum advantages. An issue that certainly dogsour mind repeatedly at every moment is whether we should be fusspots and nit-pickers for rules or not.

As individuals, we harbour different and at times, conflicting views on the issue of being pedants for rules. While quite a few amongst us would be unwilling to deviate from laid-down rules, there will be many who get pleasure in violating rules and procedures. There will be a third category also who take things casually and weigh situations on need to need basis before arriving at any concrete decision.  However, overall, all of us are inclined to follow some rules in any sphere of activity; the prompting factors for such doings are largelyinstinctive. We may not realise this, but most of the rules are self-imposed and whose reasons for adherence are neither known nor understood.

Self-imposed rules impact your career and prospects for success tremendously. They are generally of three categories:

· Organisational rules:  These are always well enunciated and cannot be breached. All countries have their own laws and it is expected of citizens to not violate them - be they criminal laws or civil laws. That disconcerts many who tend to believe that indulging in acts of swindling, prejudice, aggressive behaviour both within and outside home and persecution are not really decadent activities. But the fact is that such people are lawbreakers. And so are many who, as a habit, violate traffic rules or copyrights. Offenders have to be proceeded against and invariably are by law enforcing agencies.  

· Societal rules:    These incorporate intricate matters like moral principles, beliefs and values. The truth is that community rules are more or less one-sided and to that extent, can be regarded as skewed vis-à-vis official rules. You may have strong viewpoints and reservations on certain matters but there are some situations that will bring about an altered outlook and opinion. Community rules are contingent on situations and perceptions. All of us break them some time or the other, repent for having done so on the premise that to err is human, absolve ourselves and eventually forget whatever we may have done - that people who may have suffered on account of you still remember you is a different matter.     

· Self-imposed rules: These are those that people at every workplace talk about and you get to hear at every workplace. There are some supposed principled men and women who assert that they would never find any middle ground as far as their main beliefs are concerned.  There are also others who swear not to indulge in backstabbing or backbiting. And how can you not notice some who avow not to tolerate particular types of colleagues and bosses. These contentions are what are known as self-restrictive or self-restraining conduct. Ironically, we do not have justifiable rationale for such affirmations and paradoxically, we cannot visualize the results that may follow. 

Some of the self-imposed rules can be rather upsetting and shattering. You do not need to do a deal with your values to move up in your career. But you will not have to let go a lot, including your individual necessities and consider as above all your organizational interests. Perhaps you may not be as honest as is warranted; on the contrary you may be egoistic or self-regarding; and fearful to relinquish that much command. It is also likely that you may be terrified of a failure. As far as backstabbing and backbiting are concerned, every workplace witnesses them and people who claim they do not indulge in them are not honest to themselves. And people who swear not to tolerate particular types of people at work are the grouchiest people themselves.

The fact is that all self-imposed rules lack basis and are all about striving to gain control over matters that are confusing or disorganized. They are unreasoned and impose restrictions over your freedom of action. You get to be misled ourselves to a stage of misbelieving that we hold the reins. The only thing that you gain is some obstacles to your very success. And if success is delayed, your skills and capacities plunge. That is precisely the reason why self-imposed rules are also known as self-restricting conduct.

The best way to break self-imposed rules is by having an illuminated presence. What is presence anyway? It is nothing but a mental frame wherein we harbour opinionsthat are sluggish and unconsidered;and because of which we fail to scrutinize things and make worthwhile decisions. Over a period of time, we lose out on our balance and go off-track.

Therefore, the question that arises is whether you ought to be following rules or not? Well, if you seek to be successful in your career, remember that organisational rules simply cannot be violated. With regard to societal rules, you should exercise due diligence to make judicious decisions. And in the case of self-imposed rules, ask yourself who made them in the first place? The answer itself will indicate to you their redundancy. 

Workplace diversity

    Workplace diversity denotes the assortment of people at any place of work the variety that exists between them. It may seemsimple, but the medley includes gender, background, nationality, maturity, experience, designations, credentials, education, and countless other aspects.

Diversity by itself has two weightyconsequences. The first is their perception of themselves and the second is how they perceive others. Such perception has a direct effect on their conduct and relationships. If their organisation desires that they exist as a unified body, issues related to interactions, change and adaptability will have to be taken up. In recent times, workplace diversity has indeed increased and hence organisations are adjusting themselves to it by making appropriate budgetary allocations and earmarking time for effective diversity management.

DIVERSITY PAYS:There is no denying the fact that the profitability and ability to contend of any setup is contingent on its capability to welcome diversity, be at ease with it and bring to fruition its benefits. When organizations review their diversity management initiatives, several advantages accruing to them are identified, major ones being:

· Overabundanceof outlooks: All organizations that have on its rolls employees who are at ease conveying and sharing different standpoints customarily have a bank of plans and schemes. Organizations thus can always look for responses to their requirements of business and clients, without having to look for them elsewhere.

· Widescope of service: An assortment of knowledge and expertise, to include ethnic comprehension and verbal skillsplacesanyorganizationatanimmense advantage. Such diversity facilitates capacity to offer to its clients a service extendable to any corner of the world.

· Greaterflexibility: Establishments that have employees from varied segments are known to deliver superior resolution of customer care, resource allotment and responsibility allocation glitches. Highly workable solutions in consonance with ever changing business trends and client aspirations come to the fore when employees from diverse backgrounds take initiative.

· Effectiveapplications: Organizations that support and give confidence to workplace medley stimulate their staffto put in their best. And once such a ball is set into motion, they are geared well toimplementtheirpoliciesandreapthebenefits of superioroutput, larger turnover, better yields on investments and increased earnings.

CHALLENGES: Workplace diversity is not an easy deal; there are tests and trials too. Unless challenges posed are overcome, organizationscannotreaptheadvantageshighlighted above. Some of these challenges are:

· Hostilityto change: While some employees are flexible in their approach, quite a few are not. Those who are not, always and invariably tread on a different path. Generally, they are unable to accept change and in addition, question it. Such an attitude tends to gag and pioneering ideas and put growth in suspended animation.

· Effectingvariety in policy: Thiscouldwellprove tobethedominant issue. All those who support diversity will suffer immense puzzlement too but ought to consolidate available information and data for formulating plans to make the best use of workplace diversity.

· Promoting interactions and exchanges: Impediments posed by language issues, culturalconsiderationsand perceptionvariances have to be removed for any multiplicity scheme to take roots. If primary objectives are not communicatedclearly, there will be serious disagreements. Also, inspiration intensities would nose-dive and team-spirit take a beating.

· Accustoming to workplace diversity: Mere acquaintanceof diversity issueswillnotbe adequate in any executionpolicy. A well-thought off action plan should be articulated and put into motion to bring about acultureof medley that dripsdownto each and every employee of the organization.

MAKING OPTIMUM USE OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY:Different organizations adopt different measures to make the best use of workplace diversity. Some notable actions initiated by many setups that have been successful are:

· Assessment of workplace diversity:All good organisations regard diversity tracks as an inescapable part of their management policies. Depending on the nature of diversity that exists, endeavours are made to find out satisfaction level amongst employees. These findings by themselves facilitate identification of questionableand problematic issues. Accordingly, remedial actions required to be initiated are also planned. When such endeavours are made on a continuous basis, advantages, if any that accrue from workplace diversity are also quantifiable.

· Institution of resolute leadership: Diversity enterprises need to be merged into every possible policy and initiative of an establishment. It is a known truth that all attitudes harboured by different people have their in the higher rungs. They percolate down. To be able to deal with any such trickling own of wrong signals, an effective and resolute leadership is essential at every level. In addition, cordial intra-department relationships are also a necessity to derive maximum benefits from workplace diversity.

RESOLUTION OF CONTENTIOUS ISSUES: In organisational interests, the top leadership ought to practise diversity too. This would facilitate an open environment, the outcome of which will be a quicker attainment of set objectives an optimum realization of gains. But efforts invariably have to remain focussed on the following:

· Promotion of transparency: Identical importance and appreciation to every individual should be assigned. Simultaneously, people should be persuaded to speak their hearts and minds out.

· Capitalisation of diversity training: Alltrainingeffortsshouldbeviewedastools togive shapeandprofiletothediversity policy instituted by the organisational leadership.

· Changing hostility-towards-change attitude: This change should be brought about by members of the staff, irrespective of age, seniority and appointment.

· Review of efforts: An exclusive employee satisfaction evaluation system should be initiated and its findings made use of to put into practice effective procedures to curtail ill-effects of diversity.

The world today recognizes no barriers. It is indeed a global village with markets and financial systems towing the same line. Considering the foregoing, the need of the hour is to address workplace diversity issues professionally and competently. 

Working with different personality types

All people harbour different traits and hence can be grouped according to their behaviour, outlook, demeanourand character, to name just a few qualities. If you know the personality traits of people who surround you at your workplace, you will perform better.

Different types of personalities that you could bump into at your place of work can well be many. However, their major categories are as follows; the likelihood of people having a combination of sorts cannot be discounted:

· Performing types: Frank, smart and likeable, this lot is adept at gelling with others. They possess excellent PR skills and can generate widespread popularity even if contributions made by them are minimal. When promoted to senior appointments, these people are more prone to not appreciate the performance of subordinates and have a tendency to make critical remarks. It is thus essential that in the eventuality of such a personality over you, necessary cataloguing of all orders and directions be done, together with the results attained. Likewise, in the case of as similar personalities as subordinates, you should not get swayed at all.

· Casual & easy-going types: They are reluctant to shoulder additional duties and refrain from taking initiatives. By temperament they are reserved, comply with orders and prefer to work in isolation. If such a person happens to be your boss, he is unlikely to be amenable to new proposals; accordingly you should try to flock with birds of your feathers. But if you have juniors of this category, you could end up being driven round the bend and hence need to give them comprehensive directions.

· Pleasing & appeasing types: This category is amiable and never decline appeals because of their inclination to regard everybody as their kith and kin. Resolution of crisis situations apart, they have apprehensions facing them. Appeasers in senior positions rarely offer positive censure and hence you have to rely on others to get advice. Junior appeasers place immense stress on personal ties and tend to disregard organizational interests; they thus are unable to point out mistakes and hence call for regular exhortation.

· Interlopers: They are generally scornful and contribute to low workplace confidence. Interlopers suffer from a superiority complex and are highly critical of others in all forums. In most instances, they lead juniors to the verge of collapse. While dealing with bosses of this category, you should try to not have frequent interface with them. Junior interlopers can discourage others and hence should be periodically counselled on man-management methods. Interlopers should be considered for their ability to assume disliked assignments and make impassive resolutions.

· Persuasive: They are more often than not brusque and generally refrain from frittering away their time on small points. Without intending to affront anyone, they invariably give up on diplomacy to assert their viewpoint. There is also a marked tendency amongst them to retain control and not entrust responsibilities. While dealing with senior among this category, you should endeavour to build confidence with them and exhibit your intentions to accord precedence to arrangements and outcomes. In junior appointments, they could be excessively forceful and antagonistic; you should leave the implementation part of assignments to them but make known in no uncertain terms the final result that you intend to achieve. Intransigent types:This lot is indisposed to fixed arrangements and do not go well with regulations. They generally miss out on finer points and have problems in meeting deadlines. Their relative ineptitude can be disturbing. If they happen to be your seniors, you should not expect provisioning of requisite infrastructure and hence the responsibility to formulate operating procedures and targets has to be yours. Intransigent types have a tendency to render their bosses redundant and it is recommended that they need not be given any assignments that entail long-term accountabilities.

· Critical: This category is painstakingly scrupulous and has a tendency to get involved in minutiae. If any new proposal is given to them, they get into the negative aspects of it and may even recommend its rejection. Extremely guarded in their approach, checks and verifications run in their blood. Bosses who are critical of ingenuity too and hence, while dealing with them, you must not accept any mistake so that their confidence stands maintained. If such category happens to be your subordinates, you should be mentally prepared to be overloaded with information. The forgoing necessitates restricting your pursuits to large game-plans.

Which type of personality are you? If you are able to discern your type, you will be able to use the information to decide on the methodology to be adopted in undertaking tasks and discharging your duties. You will also be able to envision how others would be doing their bit. And once that happens, all your moves will be in order. 

Engender opportunities for yourself

This is a proven fact - opportunities will keep coming to you if you recognize them, make sincere efforts to seize them and go all out to pursue them. And the more sincere and intense you are in your efforts, the brighter the future and better the prospects you are likely to enjoy. However, you need to do some very serious planning towards laying hands on opportunities time after time. If you remain resolute enough and do not abort your plan, you will stand to benefit immensely, particularly when you are out on a job hunt.

How do you generate opportunities for yourself? If you follow the following three steps, you can do so:

· Know your plus-points: Generation of opportunities is possible only if you know your inclinations and strongpoints. Having identified them, you should examine them dispassionately for all aspects and embark upon an inspired and ingenuous path that will cater to your interests the best. This approach is valid for businessmen and salaried people alike. It is likely that you have bright thoughts to do something well, efficiently and sans excessive costs.

· Accomplish complete proficiency: Your forte should extend beyond whatever you excel at or inspires you. Once enunciated, you should endeavour to be more familiar with such issues vis-à-vis others of the same social and professional groups as yours. Thereafter, you should attempt to enlarge your swaying area and become noticeable. Over a period of time you will become a friend, philosopher and guide to many people; you would be thus on a higher pedestal.

· Volunteer to shoulder additional work: If you render advice or help others without expecting anything in return, popularity will kiss your feet; progress will be automatic. The pace of progress will be accelerated if whatever you offer pertains to matters that you are deft at. In addition, your very skills will be bettered in a consequential way. The results of such an effort will be varied and many; you must catalogue the ones that are okay with you depending upon what you seek, like objectives, renown and employment, etc. Remember that if you obligate yourself to anything, opportunities will come knocking at your doorstep.

The important point is pursuing an opportunity. How can you do this? As a matter of principle and practice, you will never able to execute and accomplisheverything. What you need to do, however, is to devise and select your line of action. More importantly, your plan should be implemented. Remember that if a plan remains confined to paper, it is of no use.

You can generate opportunities for yourself only if you are in command of yourself and of yourcareer. Being in command implies knowing your own strengths and vulnerabilities; desires and aspirations; and passions and inclinations. Remember that opportunities have to be seized by the beard because they are always bald behind. You generate your opportunities by asking for them. To be able to doso, it is essential that should:

· Harbour a correct attitude towards your life and career.

· Be venturesome, display enterprise and explore new avenues.

· Be well-acquainted with what you possess and what you are striving for.

· Have a forward-looking approach and be able to envision what the future holds or will roll out for you.

· Make certain that you remain well-qualified in all respects to acquit yourself excellently at work.

· Be dynamic, self-motivated and willing to take on extra responsibilities.

· Display a high degree of resolve and persistence; and not fall prey to any temptation to drop out mid-way.

· Not be disillusioned when the going gets tough and have the guts & nerve to overcome hindrances and hitches.

· Possess adequate resilience to work well under conditions of stress and strain.

· Have an open mind and a flexible approach; the forgoing calls for being amenable to suggestions and change.

Opportunities will cometo you in different forms and from different directions. If you are vibrant enough, you will be able to shape them to your advantage. One simple truth that should never be disregarded is that the road to success cannot be traversed in a day or two and that success cannot be achieved at the push of a button. What matters and makes it possible is your perseverance. You cannot keeping wishing; you need to take your foot out to move forward. Remember that all opportunities are fleeting things and once you are able to seize any, they get burgeon. 

Set your career goals

Quite a few men and women are not happy in the jobs and positions that they are presently in. The dissatisfaction that they suffer is largely on account of tiresome timings, an odd annoying co-worker and inadequate remuneration. The reason why these prompting factors surface is that people do not accord much consideration to their career goals.

A career, besides being a source of livelihood, is also a pursuit where one spends a major portion of one’s life. Regardless of what career an individual may opt for, there is no way in which an individual can do away with career goals to promote career prospects. It is inescapable to have a clear idea about career goals and objectives if one seeks to derive job contentment if career progress.   

Career goals are aims and objectives that a person sets for his or her career duration and may embrace each and everything related to it. The identification and articulation of career goals is as important a life move as working to achieve them. The process is rather systematic and includes a gradual methodology to accomplish personal hopes. In this context, some vital issues that ought to be considered are:

· Increase in resources: Be it a routine chore or a specific pursuit, the only unvarying aspect is change. Businesses, trade and other professional activities are experiencing intense change. This calls for an inescapable need to regularly improve and increase awareness and wherewithal that can be made available to both customers and businesses alike. Therefore, up-gradation of skills and augmentation of skills is essential to make progress in any career.

·  Financial issues: This is the most important issue because if an employee is not remunerated adequately, discontentment will set in as a result of which work productivity will be adversely affected. On the other hand, if an employee is paid excessively, lassitude is bound to set in vis-à-vis his initial stages of employment and again work productivity will be negatively impinged upon. Hence it is essential that pay and allowances should be commensurate with the job profile.

·  Satisfaction: No person will ever indulge in any activity without a motive. And this has an across-the-board application. Being satisfied with one's job should be any individual's key requirement. But this does not imply that one should not try out newer projects and theories or slow down one's development progression. It should be ensured that absolute contentment is derived from whatever work one may be doing.

· Learning & awareness: A man spends nearly seventy per cent of his life working for his livelihood. Therefore it is nothing wrong in peeping into occupational pursuits and move forward. This would entail gaining fresh experiences, from which new lessons need to be learnt. Experience is the most brutal of all teachers and the only source of knowledge. Considering this, there is this need to learn more about people and their culture because in doing so, tolerance levels increase manifold. What follows is a change of outlook, viewpoints and attitude.

· Balance & stability: Every person standing at his or her career threshold ought to be looking for permanence and stability. As and when he or she gets an employment with a stable establishment, issues related to daily requirements or petty needs should be relegated to a lower priority. Efforts should be directed to achieving individual progress and emerge as a thorough professional. An attitude and mind-set like this will make the organization prosper.

Career goals can be of two types - short-term and long-term: While short-term goals may appear to be trivial in nature and the advantages resulting from them trivial, they prove to be immensely beneficial over a period of time. However, short-term goals have to be chased on a day-to-day basis; some actions that should be adopted are promptitude in responding to letters and mails, keeping deadlines, maintaining good relationships with colleagues, having an upbeat outlook, keeping own workstations clean, working towards overall organisational efficiency, boosting productivity and staying abreast with latest developments.

On the other hand, long-term goals extend into relatively long periods of time. But the pertinent aspect is that various related factors work themselves out. Long-term goals facilitate assessment of own devotion and seriousness towards current job or career. They are easily identified by individuals who have a clear insight of the future. Novices in a particular field may not be in a position to visualize things, just as they would not be able to respond to their perception of own position or status a couple of years hence. In actuality, they are based on short-term goals but warrant long-term consideration. Some examples of long-term goals are maintaining proper workplace balance, having adequate savings for an emergency, creating a brand image, switching jobs if required, boosting revenues progressively and ensuring that you remain suitably qualified at all times.

Career goals help us to be in complete control of our lives. It is surely worth the effort to reflect upon where one should aspire to be in the years to come. Having done that, it is necessary that a route chart to be there is drafted by incorporating career goals as elucidated above.

Subduing career-related concerns at college

     Nobody takes admission to a college without an aim. The aim is linked with your future. In other words, it is concerned about what you want to do in life. It will be a rather difficult thing to get a firm answer to this query. It has generally been seen that students harbour concerns related to the subjects that they have selected, whether the career path embarked upon is right or not and whether one’s career zeal will unfold or not. These issues have to be considered holistically and not as separate matters because of the inherent importance of each on the others.  
    It will be totally incorrect to say that there is no relationship between the subjects you study at college and the career that you eventually embark upon. There is surely great relevance Affirmations like these are not correct because whatever you study ought to be relevant to between what you study and what you will be doing in the years to follow after your studies are over. Therefore, the subjects that you take up in college should be in harmony with your career appeal, predisposition and passion. For example, if you have decided to take geography as an elective at college based on your interest, you ought to be focussing on careers in forestry, environmental science, hydrology, meteorology or satellite imagery; it would be ridiculous if you seek a career in computer sales.  
     Before deciding on the stream or subjects that you should be opting for at college, you need to be sure that you are on the right track. To be able to find that out, the first and foremost activity that you should engage yourself in is researching and digging into minutiae. It is recommended that you make inquiries about the subjects that you intend studying at college. This implies that you should delve into various job prospects available to you on completion of your studies. It is necessary that you get to know people who had similar subjects and careers that they embarked upon. A study of their lifestyle and schedule would give you an idea about what you would be doing in future.  
    After carrying out some basic research, you must meet people and gain first-hand experience. Personal meetings with selected people will give you a practical acquaintance about things in store for you. Such people could well be alumni of your college. When you interact with such people, you will be able to determine the plusses and minuses of their careers; and also what is fascinating and what is disgusting. If you tag along them for some duration of time, you will be able to have a fair amount of idea about your future routine and schedule. Based on the subjects elected and the career option they offer, it is always a good idea to go through a short job familiarization capsule. Depending upon the time at your disposal, you can enrol for such programmes on weekends or even during holidays.  
    Actions like above will equip you with an adequate knowledge base to facilitate a tangible perception on the suitability of the subjects that you have elected to pursue at college. You can always take remedial measures at any stage and decide to change the subjects of your study. Should such a recourse not be possible, you can always bring about relevant alterations. Worst come to worst, you may have to take a break from the session in progress; a year lost now will inevitably get recompensed if you land up in the correct job subsequently and make advancements in it.  
    It should be appreciated that discovering one’s career passion is a long drawn-out process. You could well be in close proximity to it, but yet getting to discover it could be years away. This is perhaps the reason why many individuals switch over careers even after having gone through one for a decade or two. In the light of the foregoing, the issue is discovering your career passion. You must appreciate that every individual is suited for more than one model career and it is next to impossible discerning different career paths that are in harmony with your passion. A break of a couple of days should be made use of for the following:  
· Career counselling: There are innumerable institutes and on line arrangements for career assessments. You may be harbouring some thoughts and these tests will invariably substantiate them. However, occasionally few strikingly novel ideas do break the surface, particularly when each test leads to configurations bearing close linkages to one another.
· Contemplation: The next step is to look inwards and single out your capabilities and vulnerabilities. The aim is to identify your strong and weak points; and catalogue different activities that you like and dislike. Your answers to the queries pertaining to your hobbies, skills, impelling factors, principles, that you stand for and goals that you want to achieve in life will indicate to you the shape of things to follow.
· Cataloguing findings: The final step is to arrange all your findings cogently. The best way to do this is by cataloguing items that you feel you are good at, take delight in doing and cause others to look up to you. Having done so, seek information about careers where your plus-points are much sought after and where your expertise and talent can be made best use of.
      Under no circumstances, you should leave your career concerns at college unaddressed. If you do so, you are playing with your future. In order to ensure that your future is secure, there is no alternative to preparation for it straight away. And there is no better preparation than studying subjects that appeal to you and recognizing in advance the career that is your cup of tea!