Move ahead in your career with honour

Anybody making career queries does so with the objective of fast results. Men and women who seek career advancement prefer the shortcut method; they believe that career progress is all about knowing people in the right places. But this is not correct. You have to exert yourself to move up and adoption of dubious ways will never have any longterm advantages.   

 You can make career progress and reach some position, but the difficulty lies in ensuring that you do not collapse. To be able to do that, your outlook and skills matter a lot. You cannot  afford to underestimate the importance of being honest and being respected if you have to lead and superintend people. You just cannot jump to attain success; on the contrary, you do it in a phased manner. It has been established that the splendour of every achievement depends upon the hard work that you put in for it.

Considering the above, the question is, “How do you move ahead in your career with honour?”  The following four guidelines have stood the test of time:

• Don’t be afraid of hard work: The youth of today, as compared to yesteryears is relatively easy-going and does not sweat it out to accomplish anything. They look for easy solutions. You should understand that it is your seriousness towards your career that will stand you in good stead always, particularly in gaining practical knowledge about your work. Nothing can be accomplished sans hard work. Remember that the fruits of labour are always sweet.
• Stay away from dubiousness: Cunning, underhand and devious means to advance in your career also calls for detailed planning.  Therefore, rather than waste time on such planning, it is better if the same is utilised to generate new ideas, work hard and prepare yourself to face challenges. But the foregoing does not, in any way, diminishes the significance of conventional career planning. The manner in which you embark upon different means to boost up your proficiency and achieve your career goals will be contingent on the initiative that you take. It should be remembered that in this entire ball game, your networking skills will prove to be a trump card. You ought to keep in mind that dubious means, if adopted, can cause you great embarrassment when you get get exposed. 
• Spark off new ideas: All organisations appreciate employees who come out with new ideas. But that does not mean that as a matter of practice, you keep making new suggestions to the extent that your boss gets confused. Your ideas and suggestions should be relevant to your workplace and be  a surety for increased efficiency and productivity. It is also likely that your idea may be good but because of your inexperience, somebody else more competent is asked to implement it. If that be so, you should have no objection to credit being accorded to him or her. Your motive should be to work in organisational interests and not with ulterior motives to gain recognition. 
• Be a role model for others: It is likely that you are quite junior and inexperience. If that be so, you may not regard yourself fit to mentor others. But leaders can well be young and there is nothing wrong if you adopt a leadership role and work to inspire others. When you do this, you will get to acquire knowledge and expertise to work your way up in your career. However, you will have to adhere to the tenets of teamwork. As a leader, at times, you may have to be strict to make certain that there are no deviations from laid down procedures. But you cannot afford to be dictatorial in your approach and your actions should be within the parameters of stipulated regulations. 

It is essential that you do remain focussed at all times. It is also necessary that you do not adopt complicated and dishonest stances; your thinking also has to be guided by such principles and values. When you work with honesty and sincerity, you will get to realise the nuances of advancing in your career. You cannot afford to let your self-confidence plummet; your self-confidence will register a boost if you practice self-discipline. Moving up the corporate ladder is best done with honour.