Talk over your career plan with your boss

You are responsible for the direction your career takes. Hence, it ought to be your responsibility and your boss or any of your colleagues may not be genuinely concerned for you. They may periodically give you advice and also indicate opportunities that you could grasp, depending upon your enterprise. Though you may have clarity of thought with regard to your career plan and what you desire to accomplish, you cannot have a presumptuous approach about others also being equally clear.

If you think that your boss can facilitate accomplishment of your objectives, there is no thing wrong in talking over your career plan with him. 

• Know yourself & have a plan: Your career objectives have to be set before you  need to set discuss your career plan with your boss. It is essential that you are well-aware about yourself and the endpoint of your career journey. That calls for serious reflection on the the shape of things that you want the future to roll out for you. Before meeting your boss, you should be able to clear about what you seek to do in the immediate future, the skills that you need to possess for that and likely obstacles in your dreams that will prevent your advancement. You must clarify to your boss how certain responsibilities, if assigned will help you make progress in your career. A well-formulated career plan will send positive signals about you and also indicate your determination to do well in your career. 
• Advance appreciation of viewpoints: You should keep it in mind that you were hired for a particular job and responsibility. Therefore, discussing a career plan is a sensitive issue and hence should be undertaken intelligently. You must gauge what your boss thinks prior to entering into any discussion with him. In the light of the foregoing, you should be clear about the degree of encouragement that your boss is likely to give to you and others as well; and pressures, if any being exerted on him. You should also know the whether your company is favourably disposed towards the career growth of its employees or not as distinct from your boss’ capability to influence the management in your favour. It is only after such appreciation that you can decide on how you should proceed with the discussion.
• Organise your discussion suitably:  You cannot question your boss about his plans, particularly the time for which he is going to be there so that you can step into his shoes. You may aspire for it alright, but you should not make such an intention known. If you are able to convey your thoughts intelligently, you will be able to get support and encouragement. What should then be your line of action? First and foremost, you should express your gratitude to your boss for looking after your career interests; talking about specific instances will be of great advantage. You must also talk about your present work profile and the level of expertise that you have been able to develop; expressing gratitude to your boss for it will be beneficial. At the same time you can express your view on your career journey in your present company and that you are enthusiastic about making useful contributions. Having done that, you should talk about how you envision your future, higher responsibilities that you want to shoulder, people with whom you like to be associated with and qualifications that you want to acquire to realise your dream. And finally, you can request him for his support for and guidance in your efforts.    

It is essential that you identify an appropriate time-slot for a discussion with your boss. It may well turn out that your preparation for the discussion is perfect and your boss is envisaged to be good, But you apprehend that things may not turn out in your favour because of other reasons. Under such circumstances, you must defer your decision to talk with him. Actually, the best time to for discussing your career plan with your boss is during appraisals because your boss will be able to appreciate your performance better as it would be on record. 

The best of career plans will serve no purpose in the absence of a favourable disposition of your boss. To achieve that, the need is to be clear about your goals, understand what your company stands for and how your boss is disposed. You need to have confidence in yourself and your fortes to do well in your career.

Guarantee yourself job success

It is quite possible that have the best of best jobs in the world or you are in a career that you always thought was your cup of tea. But if you are not performing well, sooner or later, disappointment and dissatisfaction will have the better of you. You will find yourself face to face with failure. 

How can you guarantee yourself job success? It is essential that you harbour a correct outlook, positive mind and an upbeat perspective towards everything. Ten initiatives on your part that will help you succeed at your work are:

• Think & apply yourself logically: It has been noticed that employees crash at work because they fail to think and apply themselves rationally. People take wrong decisions and arrive at wrong inferences. You can believe, think and act in a logical manner by observing others who do likewise and in case you have any doubts, questioning them in an insightful manner. If you can have an open mind to improve after any mistake, things will emerge better. Remember that any presumption that you know everything about your work and duties will not stand you in good stead, on the contrary, it can spell failure.
• Don't drift away from your work: All jobs are a contract; you work and get paid for it.  Therefore, there is no way that you should not work or perform. It is thus essential that you while at work, you do nothing but your work. If you stray away from your assigned duties, deliberately or otherwise, it is a breach of trust and a violation of the contract that you have entered into with your employer. You can maintain the desired motivation to do that if you occasionally place yourself in your employer’s shoes and then ponder over your expectations from those under you. It goes without saying that you will have to persist with a high level of devotion to accomplish all objectives set for you.
• Understand that learning is an eternal process: Nobody, especially your employer will appreciate you if you portray that you know everything. This is more so during your initial days at work. Learning is an ongoing process and every day at work offers a new experience. If you fail to understand this, you will end up frittering away your time and efforts. Also, if you do not boost your performance level, you will lose out on your worth. 
• Don't allow your doubts to persist: You should not hesitate to seek clarifications, even if others are reluctant to do it. You are empowered to know your charter of duties and if you are dis- charging them properly. This also necessitates knowing if you are on the correct path and who should you look upon for assistance, if required. If you are clear on these aspects, your move forward to achieve workplace success is more or less assured. 
• Stick to your values: As human beings, we have a natural propensity to assist others. You must look inwards to dis-cern how best you can utilise your skills to perform better. By building and adhering to such principles and standards, you will derive happiness and will come to be acknowledged by your employer. The worth that you offer of yourself in this way will enhance your chances of success.
• Accept & be a part of change: Today, workplaces and working methodologies are changing; and you simply cannot afford to be hostile to the changes being ushered in. It will be in your interests to accept them in a straightforward manner and view them as learning opportunities. Remember that as you acquire fresh knowledge, you automatically give a boost to your and your organisational worth.
• Know what you stand for & what others feel about you: Many people lose their jobs on account of personality clashes and issues related to moral turpitude. Personality clashes take place if you remain in a shell  and unnecessary alarmed. On the other hand moral turpitude is related to dishonesty; it needs to be understood that that dishonest is not acceptable at any workplace. You need to display moral uprightness and a high degree of self-esteem. It is necessary that you make efforts to know what others feel about you and display due consideration towards your seniors, colleagues and juniors alike; this can be made possible if you harbour a positive attitude at all times.

Positive feelings steer you to success. Today, all organisations emphasise the need to have a congenial workplace atmosphere so that employees do not get victimised by stress. You need to be positive from all angles, because only then will you be able to thwart adverse situations. If you work sincerely, success will be yours to kiss. 

Plan, develop & administer your career

Career advancement is an ongoing process that calls for intense focus and determination. Put in simple words, the planning that you do for it helps you to reflect over who you are and the status that aspire to accomplish in your career.

In order for you advance in your career, continue with your learning efforts and achieve a good degree of dynamism, you should assess changing situations and the appropriateness of the goals that you set for yourself. And if you fail to do so, you will have a monotonous life ahead of you that will offer no satisfaction.

You should remember that you are unlikely to achieve anything in your career unless you set objectives for yourself. It is necessary that you are clear about the position that you aspire to reach from a year’s time from now as also at the endpoint of your career journey. You hold also reflect upon the level of satisfaction that you are deriving. The fact is that career development is not merely progressing through your job alone; it also implies possible career changes to stay in harmony with changes of your aspirations and requirements. It is also essential that you ponder over facets that you would like to specialise in or be an expert at. Your passion to acquire more knowledge about a specific line of activity or associated skills will serve to inspire you to do well in your career. Therefore, it is all up to you to unearth your fortes.

Having pondered over the above issues and identified your true calling, you need to find out ways and means to give it a concrete shape. That is what career planning is all about. You will need to identify the best course that will take you to your envisioned destination. Making a plan for your career journey will invariably necessitate the following:

• Deciding on actions that ought to be executed by you with utmost determination and sincere conviction so that you emerge as the most suitable candidate for the post that you aspire to be in.
• Single out various qualifications that you need to acquire over a period of time and a timetable for the same. 
• Researching different situations, groundings and achievements of men and women who reached similar positions.
• Identifying different organisations where vacancies exist for you and where you can companies and organisations that can offer you opportunities to achieve your objectives.
• Contemplating over your existing contact base and the way it can be further expanded to achieve a sustainable professional network.
• Selecting specific steps that you should be taking to move on the preferred course to facilitate attaining the objectives that you have set for yourself. 

The goals that you identify for accomplishment together with your plans should be clear and precise. It should be kept in mind that nothing unfolds as planned and hence, you will have to keep assessing and evaluating things on a continual basis to institute corrective measures to stay on course. If you document them in your planning, you provide a shape to them, thereby making it easy for accomplishment. They will also serve to remind you of various actions that you ought to take to move in the direction of your aspirations.  

Career management is a sum total of two things - career development and career planning. The responsibility to manage your career is entirely yours and that highlights the need to guard against anything going off-track. Your employers will seldom offer you full opportunities to stay abreast with the latest developments and acquire necessary proficiencies to make certain that you do not become indispensable. They will encourage you so long as their interests are served. In the light of the foregoing, if your career objectives are not in sync with the prospects offered by your employers, the responsibility to assess the entire gamut of your actions to remain dynamic is yours and yours alone.

There will may facets and circumstances at your workplace and outside it that will have an influence on your career. You need to be aware of them and this can be possible if you manage your career by periodical reviewing of your advancement planning to include re-evaluation of your career objectives. There are bound to be unexpected roadblocks and you will have to find ways and means to negotiate them. Your career plan will make certain that your move ahead is smooth and to your advantage.

Check out your career options

Whenever you take up a new path to move on, it is always better to know what is in store for you, You ought to understand everything related to your decision fairly well. And this is equally relevant when you make a career decision. The process of selecting a career option entails obtaining explicit information and evaluating them for their appropriateness vis-facts you.

The first step should be to collect facts and figures about different careers that you feel you could go in for. This can be done by perusing literature and publications that give details about different careers, qualifications that need to be possessed, the nature of work that you will be called upon to do, salaries offered and growth opportunities. You can also carry out research by surfing the internet; various websites that you will be  connected to will provide significant information. However, you need to take everything with a pinch of salt because the information could well be biased. 

You could also get to know different careers through practical knowledge. Whatever you find out can be used to build up on it so that your knowledge bank about what is relevant to you is extensive. Since experience is invariably a long drawn-out process, you will use only viable options. The best option is thus to work in an environment that is similar to the career that you have been wanting to embark upon. In case you fail to get a job in the desired field, you could well work as an intern or take up a part-time job; this will facilitate gaining a practical insight into it. Adherence to working conventions as specified will be an inescapable requirement and any deviation should be avoided. Norms like punctuality, discipline and dress code should always be followed. It will stand you in gain if you make notes of all your observations and avoid asking too many questions. Once your attachment is over, you must send a note of thanks to the concerned people.

A good method of obtaining practical knowledge about various facets of a career is through informational interviews. These entail talking to somebody who is practicing a career that you intend to pursue. It is human tendency to be happy while talking about a subject that happens to be your passion; and any work involves passion. Informational interviews can help you widen your list of con- tacts; people that you meet and add on to your network can be valuable references or influence wielders during your job hunt subsequently. You must make a record of whatever is spoken about and ensure that you get to know how the other person went about preparing for his career. Perhaps, if you adopt the same tactics, you may get into a career and job of your dreams. 

The last step is to evaluate everything related to your career in an all-inclusive manner. You should deliberate upon their plusses and minuses; and be contented if you are able to secure a good salary package. You should make a record of all important features like your fitness and contentment intensities; scope of work and prospects; and opportunity to make use of your skills and ingenuity. If you prioritise things, you will be able to discard issues that are meaningless and irrelevant. As you move ahead with your evaluation, your focus should be to find out things that are necessary and actually exclusive. Due caution will have to be exercised in case you are going to make inferences based on your meetings and encounters. The possibility of some off-centre and exceptional situations of your workplace portraying a wrong picture about a career or those in it already cannot be discounted.

Exercising a correct career choice has inherent difficulties, despite the best of planning and preparation that you may engage in. Any mistakes or aberrations that you commit will be learning experiences. You will be able to refine your thinking process and transform your decision making abilities. However, the point to always remember is that unless you undertake more than your capacity, you will never be able to do whatever you are actually capable of doing. You may go in for any career and there will be numerous rues that will govern it. But none of them will work unless you are on the up and go.

Career advancement in today’s competitive world

During the last decade and a half, the world has been witness to many revolutions in the fields of communications, partnership and performance at work. But in the field of career advancement, things have remained unchanged because people still believe that doing well at work is all about rising up in organisational hierarchy. Men and women fail to understand that career advancement is not climbing the corporate ladder; it could well be a lateral movement or even a step back. The truth is that career advancement is a monumental trial of your own fortes and those who fail justifiably feel disenchanted. 

In the present day competitive world, you must adapt yourself to different workplace methodologies. The concept of having a work-life balance is dictated by new factors. The gap that once existed between the two stands reduced because of ongoing technological advancements coupled with availability of reliable communications. Organisations have been suffering immense resource crunches and that has prompted a reduction of hierarchical setups. The pyramid has therefore become steep and difficult. New-fangled career configurations have come about because of the foregoing. The inference thus has been that one cannot indulge in general or restrictive career planning.

People have understood that they cannot eat their cake and have it too. That is why they are more than willing to forego many significant aspects of he personal life in exchange for a job. They are increasingly realising that their job has to keep going and for which, they will have to develop themselves by comprehending the manner in which careers come to pass. Today, career progression is not about how many people you have working under you or how much salary you draw. It is Today, it is not about moving vertically but moving to the forefront. You cannot see a career ladder resting against the wall in front of you and which it is imperative for you to climb in order to be successful in your career. Career success can be accomplished by even lateral or backward movement. The truth is that the entire process of career advancement is something like negotiating obstacles over different tracks and which individually lead you in the direction of success. And when success is within accomplishing distance, you take delight in it. The point to note is that the visualisation of success will vary from person to person.

Considering the above, you ought to have no doubts about what success means to you and accordingly what is the nature of work that you ought to be engaging in. You should also be clear about your objectives and various skills required to attain them; it goes without saying that you will have to make deliberate efforts to acquire them. If you can arrive at your answers without any trial or tribulation, take it for granted that the organisation for which you are working at the present is good.

It is essential that you understand the significance of career advancement for you and the manner in which it can be achieved. If you fail to do this, you can safely assume that you are not moving to the forefront. Now if that happens to be the case, you should reflect upon various factors to find out in no uncertain terms what precisely you are seeking because there does not exist any magical formula for your career advancement. It is also necessary to envision the position that you aspire to be at in the coming years and also how will you do that, including how your current organisation will be able to bring it about.

  You cannot rule out vertical growth in your career altogether. It is also necessary. From the perspective of employers, growth is possible only if there exist suitably qualified people willing to shoulder higher responsibilities. But given the environment that prevails in a majority of organisations, every individual mayn't emerge successful. Under such circumstances, lateral movement or even a step back is also an equally significant manoeuvre. It is the development of knowledge that matters and which should be appreciated in the right spirit.

The modern day career path is like a busy road. You will have to take turns lot the left or right, move into different driving lanes, take detours and even a break so that you you reach your destination. And that calls for great determination and dynamism. Any letdown in your motivation and perseverance can prove to be catastrophic for you. 

Be alive to current employment trends

Conditions that prevailed in the job market ten years ago are more or less the same even today. The number of job seekers far outnumber the number of jobs available as much today as they did then.  It is therefore, nothing but natural that hirers have vast choices available to them; they are positioned on a higher pedestal and can even dictate salary packages of their employees.

Employees who work hard to remain in an organisation have no alternative but to come to terms with the lower packages being offered to them. However, this may not be applicable to the senior lot, the management of companies are well aware that the true strength lies in the low and middle position employees. But true organisational progresses is dependent on the unquestionable efficient senior lot who are offered compensation packages as demanded..

Few major trends prevalent in today’s job market are

• Ability to perform: Today, organisations look for employees who can perform and contribute well to their productivity. And keeping that in view, most companies have taken note of technological advancements to include including communication facilities, changes in the pattern of education and shifts in value systems. They have thus adopted new operational methodologies. However, with all the societal and infrastructure changes that are taking place, organisational focus on productivity and output is not compromised. Companies expect their employees to make maximum useful contributions and do not compromise on the performance factor. They want their employees to adhere to new work codes and which call for a flexible approach in order to facilitate achievement of set goals and targets. In other words, non-performers are just not acceptable in any organisation. If an employee is to be viewed as loyal, the only yardstick to gauge it is the quantum of efforts put in to achieve maximum productivity and his or her continued retention is dependant on this requirement.
• Commensurate remuneration: The trend is that you get paid for what you actually do. In recent times, there has been a marked shift in the modalities related to salaries and perks. One cannot be assured of being granted annual or time-bound increments. You get rewarded for what you do and that is why the compensation packages are a confidential matter. People who are new entrants can draw more salary than those who have been working for more years. If an individual draws a higher salary, it is on account of better professional skills possessed.
• Dynamism: This attribute has several connotations. Every employee is expected to display initiative & leadership qualities that are commensurate with his or her designation, seniority and role. Emphasis is laid on realising that everybody is a functional part of the organisational hierarchy; and hence is accountable for shoring up organisational representation and foresight. The hitherto fore responsibilities related to superintendence alone are too more valid today. It is expected that every employee possess and display leadership traits, have flexible approach and continually better their expertise to discharge organisational obligations efficiently.
• Versatility: While weightage on people skills vis-à-vis academic qualifications is another new trend, dual or even triple trades are in vogue. If that be so, versatility of appointments is much sought after. Issues like comprehending and regulating responses; good communication skills, networking and associations; and capability for productive interactions are given due weightage. An employee has to be confident, possess a positive outlook and be capable to work under conditions of stress and strain.

Today, the Indian industry is full of opportunities. While it may be perceived as difficult, employment opportunities exist for everyone. Automobile, aviation, telecommunication, biotechnology, infrastructure development and information technology sectors are expanding. All of them offer scopes to everybody - technical and nontechnical. In addition, banking, hospitality, media, retail, marketing offer good openings. But the inescapable requirement is to be willing to learn and contribute. It goes without saying that metros and larger cities afford greater job prospects. Surveys conducted have revealed that Mumbai and Gurgaon top the list with around forty five per cent share. Delhi surprising has approximately twelve per cent to its credit with Bengaluru close behind with ten percent. Cities like Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Kolkata are fast emerging as job hubs too with their share ranging between six and nine percent.  It all depends upon you as an individual to be on the lookout for circumstances and if you are unable to find them, you must must create them so that you can actuate a meaningful life and career for yourself.

Boundaries at work help maintain work-life balance

      The workplace of today places colossal challenges and work-life balance is one of the greatest ones. In case, one is not able to prioritise work and personal obligations, life can become very stressful. Stressed life impacts individual wellbeing and thus adversely affects productivity air work. Under such circumstances, it is in the interests of one’s work and individual self to set boundaries and priorities at work. in case one does not do so, his or her physical and emotional health will be crippled.

A disturbed work-life balance plus the many distractions that exist at a wordplay compounds the many problems faced by working people. It is necessary that steps are taken to do away with distractions and measures instituted to fix boundaries so that a workable work-life balance is accomplished. This cannot be regarded as an easy task, but will have to be embarked upon to protect your comfort zone.

When you decide to fix boundaries, it necessitates changing your disposition vis-a-vis different issues pertinent to your professional and personal planes. Your personal and working life needs to have a clear demarcation and without it, there will not be any stability. The foregoing calls upon drawing lines somewhere in a positive manner.

Setting boundaries is a difficult effort, mostly because of mental apprehensions and remorse associated with them. The apprehensions could well relate to outcomes if you go about altering your working style and routine. Remember that any alteration or modification to your working style will generate some opposition and hostility because of thee inconvenience caused to others. You may feel that you may hurt others and come to be regarded as as a selfish individual. But in case you do not deviate from your path and do not lose sight of your career objectives, the apprehensions that you may harbour will automatically be set aside. It is because of this reason that any initiative taken in this direction is plagued with difficulties.

If you seek to fix boundaries and priorities, you should learn the art of declining and the proficiency to safeguard your valuable time. During the course of their work time and also leisure, most people are unable to decline and cannot protect their time. This is because assignment of tasks at workplace is a never-ending and thankless activity that is bound to generate some vexation and irritation. In view of the foregoing, the process of laying down boundaries and priorities should not be enforced hastily and instead, executed in a gradual manner to rule out any chances of remaining frustrated. Your boundaries and priorities help in protecting your time, freedom and ebullience, however, you should have no doubts about the following two imperatives:

• Need to have priorities: Your intentions and rationale behind laying down boundaries could be many and varied. You may want to finish an assigned task much before the deadline. You may want to have adequate time to pursue your leisure activities or spend moments of togetherness with your family. It is also possible that you have not been able to hang out with your friends and feel that henceforth you need to engage yourself more in group activities with them. When you examine the need to have boundaries at work, the focus of attention will shift on you and thus remain conscious of the need to operate within the boundaries set.
• Preconditions for saying ‘No’:  The first initiative is to become aware of what you should decline and who has to be declined.  Saying ‘No’ does not imply being absolutely explicit or inflexible. Limited acquiescence can be offered to others without impacting your objectives. For example, you may be called upon to put in extra hours of work which otherwise you may not agree to under normal circumstances. But you may not want to refuse flatly to the directive and hence agree to stay back only a particular day. Your action is actually a refusal but simultaneously also acceding to the request.

You can meet your career aspirations as also help others in meeting theirs as also fulfilling organisational responsibilities by setting boundaries and priorities that are pragmatic. Your boundaries and priorities will not affect the chances of a rewarding career; instead, the time that you will have to yourself will facilitate that. However, you will have to alter your outlook and discern what matters to you and what does not; and thus bring about workable boundary lines. As and when you start actuating your boundaries, you will realise the boost to your wellbeing and your associations with others.

Prove that you are a leader & unrivalled at work

        At workplace, every individual wants to be in the forefront, though there could be some who remain satisfied as followers. The race is to be better than others. If you want to be unrivalled and seek to surpass others, you should know the direction in which you are moving and also be in a position to show way to others. That is what leadership is all about.

There are several ways by which you can prove that you are a leader. Some validated ones are:

• Be actively involved in everything: Anything that bears your signature should be your responsibility. If you seek to become a leader, you have to be accountable. In fact, shouldering responsibility is an inescapable tool for success. In other words, as long as you are part of a task, its failure is also your responsibility. 
• Display upbeat influence: This can be done if you have faith in yourself, something that can influence and change what your seniors, colleagues and juniors feel and think. You need to have the power of swaying others and making the best use of such influence in organisational interests. In short, you ought to give a boost to the motivational levels of everybody.
• Be venturesome: You should be bold in your outlook and be capable of taking risks. Taking risk implies being venturesome; you have to risk both success and loss. It is essential that you remain positive and not be unnecessarily apprehensive of failure.
• Catalogue all plans: As a leader, organisational hopes will be pitched on you; you will have to do something exceptional and phenomenal. educe your plans to writing: Somebody said that every written word is a victory over death. You have to be engaging or ready to engage in difficult situations at all times. And for that, you have to make a plan. Any ideas that you get should be reduced to writing; such jottings may not be a concrete line of action, but will serve to remind you about what and how you ought to move ahead. 
• Don't let opportunities fly away: You will find opportunities to be in the forefront coming your way in abundance. You need to be on the lookout and at an appropriate time, simply clutch them. But you will have to make some efforts for that. The work environment today has opportunities galore, but there not many suitably qualified people to catch hold of them. There are men and women who do not succeed because they do not work hard. It is essential that you also keep an eye on those opportunities that have slipped past others.
• Take criticism sportingly: You need to accept criticism in the correct spirit. A person who does not take to criticism sportingly has no meaning in his life. One has to be openminded and accept viewpoints of others as well. You pay nothing for suggestions and recommendations mooted by others; they could well be facilitators for self-improvement. A leader always seeks response and reaction from others, even if it is criticism in any form because in doing so, he or she becomes aware of existing shortcomings in a person. Remember that criticism sets the ball rolling for self-evaluation and self-evaluation gives birth to fresh ideas that in turn makes a leader more dynamic.
• Think & explore new alternatives: It is a well known fact that giving is more important and beneficial than receiving. If you keep that in mind while unlocking yourself, you will make your life. It is essential that you share your ideas with others and also be aware about your shortcomings. As time passes, you will find that you become a changed individual; your old ideas and beliefs will be replaced by new ones. You will realise that new ideas that you accept will be those that have emanated from people who have been both appreciative and critical of you, but sans any ulterior motives. With more alternatives at your disposal, you will experience an intellectual boost that is an inescapable requirement to be a leader.

If you want to remain inspired at all times, much would depend upon your motivation. However, if you want to go ahead with determination, you cannot afford to relegate excellence in your pursuits. That is how you will be successful. An individual becomes whatever he does on a continuous basis and therefore, you must work hard to be better than others.

Approach workplace diversity with positivity

No two people are similar; at a workplace, there will be employees who have different religious beliefs, hail from a different culture or race, come from a different social background, harbour diverse preferences, have diverse educational qualifications and harbour altogether different outlooks. In other words, you will find people who are poles apart and absolutely unalike. Managing a workforce like that is a skill and an inescapable quality of a leader. 

Research and experience has shown that workplace diversity promotes better analysis and offers better solutions to intricate matters. To that extent, workplace diversity is by itself a great facilitator of better management in any successful establishment. If that be so, what should be the aim of workplace diversity? It ought to be to foster better allegiance amongst various social and ethnic groups and also promote ironing out of various social and ethnic differences on a common plane so as to bring them on a common platform. This will make any group an a homogenous and all-embracing one with a more potent discerning potential. In a larger context, this would imply  presence of individuals irrespective of their upbringings, personal history and social class. 

It should be remembered that it is the leaders and leadership in an organisation that goes in to make or mar it. If the leadership provided is healthy and unblemished, you will find that positive interfaces and collaborations across varied cultural assemblages coming into existence. The group per se, will be better equipped to make sound judgements and resolve crisis situations proficiently.  Workplace diversity will, in the process, generate high quality creativity and innovation, leading to a tremendous boost in overall productivity.

The issue of workplace diversity thus brings to the fore the issue integrating people from different backgrounds. This can be rather intricate, because it has been seen that different groups and their dogmata tend to serve the authoritarian hierarchy of organisations. Considering the foregoing, the administrative machinery at all levels should exercise appropriate supervision and counselling of all employees. This leaves an organisation with no option but to formulate policies and procedures that acknowledges the views and sentiments of sidelined employees; and in the process promotes team spirit and camaraderie. Therefore, the significance of systematising and respecting workplace diversity needs no emphasis.

It also needs to be accepted that you will never be able to do away with differences totally. The best option is to accept them for what they are and delight in them. All efforts to buoy up and showcase workplace diversity will certainly offer rich benefits. Put differently, it implies that workplace diversity promotes employee value. 

The issue of workplace diversity can be addressed well if the difference between impartial action and unvarying action. A common template for dealing every individual may not succeed and can lead to resentment, amongst other problems. It will be apt if every single employee is treated 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.  

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.

Management of workplace diversity is the responsibility of each and every individual. It ought to start from you. Special attention needs to be paid to ensure an unblemished conduct and disposition by everybody. In this context, your self-awareness is important. It is your self-awareness that will eventually bring about a working environment that will be safe and unprejudiced. And if there happens to be any individual who is not playing up for whatever reasons, there should be no reluctance in pulling him up. However, the bottom line of functioning should be to display no disregard to ideas and no discrimination in the allocation of tasks that may otherwise be seen as stemming up based on prevalent diversities. It should be remembered that the strength of any organisation lies in its differences and not in its similarities. And therefore, workplace diversity should be viewed as an asset rather than a liability.

Embark on a first-rate career path

Every person has personal interests and concerns; and hence harbours different aspirations. That is why you cannot have a career that could be appropriate for everybody. It is therefore understandable  that choosing a career that is great for you is an important action on your part.

What is that you should consider and deliberate upon while selecting a career? Some aspects  as pertinent to you and of significance are:

• Work location that you will settle for: You may prefer to work from a location that is to your liking. It could well be from a massive complex in the heart of a city with your office on the top floor or it could be a small premises on the outskirts of a city. It is likely that a job involving frequent travel is not your cup of tea and that you want a static job with a fixed routine. Therefore, your work-location will impact your career selection.
• Perception of work-life balance: Your outlook on life as a whole and penchants in particular will influence your work-life balance. Additionally, your priorities will also dictate it. It all depends whether you attach precedence to domestic matters or to work imperatives; a job with fixed timings will be appropriate for the former.
• Your social attitude: You may be a loner and feel comfortable remaining aloof. It is possible that appreciate team-functioning and get inspired by the requirements of others and your capability to resolve issues. Identification and knowledge of what you like facilitates selection of an appropriate career. 
• Remuneration expected: As you advance in your career and acquire additional expertise, you will invariably seek better compensation. You will have a family to look after and with passage of time, your obligations will increase. In case you have a working spouse, you will be better off financially. However, the decision to settle down with a job that offers less remuneration or otherwise will have to be arrived after consideration of various allied issues. There will be a compromise involved. It is recommended that you opt for a career that gels with your financial aspirations.
• Inherent capabilities possessed by you: Everybody possesses some inherent skills and with the passage of time, they do get acknowledged and rewarded. It is necessary to know where your inherent skills lie because they impact your career selection process. To be able to overcome all enigmas, it is essential that you identify tasks that give you pleasure and then discern the manner in which you can apply your skills so that tasks at hand become interesting.
• Preferred working methodology: No two individuals are alike and that is why no two working methodologies will be similar. Your preferred working style impacts your career selection significantly. It is thus necessary that you are familiar with the work & workplace that suits you best and in the process derive utmost job satisfaction.
• Handling work pressure:  There are several men and women who can go to great lengths as far as their work is considered. Needless to state, such people are trusted and relied upon for the simple reason that they can work well under conditions of stressing strain. Just in case you are one who likes doing things in a laid-down manner with deadlines attached, your performance in high pressure jobs will be par excellence. On the other hand, if you seek a relaxed routine, you will have to search for other avenues.
• Outlook towards publicity & limelight: There are some careers that ensure that you always remain in limelight. Such limelight call for public interaction and acceptance, besides making you popular and famous. The manner in which you view publicity and limelight should be considered too while selecting your career.

There will be occasions when career selection may not be easy and a decision not easily forthcoming. Your judgemental skills should come into play so that when you embark upon a particular career, switching over to another at a later stage is not difficult. In other words, you ought to be making a sound choice today keeping in view all factors with simultaneous plans to evaluate things after a decade or so; this will have to be in harmony with your objectives.  It is important for you to acknowledge that with the passage of time, you as also your requirements and priorities will change. But for the current, it will be adequate to deliberate upon issues enumerated above to make a first-rate career choice.