Be a plucky leader

Today, with the shaky economy that exists worldwide, extensive apprehensions have made several company cultures plummet. Under such circumstances, stressed employees at all levels are indifferent to what is happening around them and they do not voice any views to be able to live through difficult times. The need of the times therefore, is daring, spirited and assertive leadership.

People who have the nerves to advance, possess inherent enterprise and are capable to be at the vanguard of alterations will surely arise as victors. You will have to handle sore discussions, respond to queries in the absence of supporting data and decide to undertake new ventures headfirst. It is only then that others will emulate you. If you want to indulge in more plucky action and want your team members to do likewise, you need to perfect the following traits:

· Challenge actuality frontally:  You should not be evasive but look all circumstances, particularly difficult ones straight into their eyes. In case you ignore ground realities, you will fail to deliver and also be unsuccessful in piloting your team.

· Listen to reactions & criticism:  There is no person who does not have weaknesses; they have a telling effect on our dealings, collaborations and relationships with others. Truthful comments may be hard to digest but they can rejuvenate your life and associations, provided you are cognizant of them.

· Be candid in your expressions:  Genuine expressions can be perturbing, more so when there is a clash of interests. If your conversations are frank, be they unacceptable or disliked, you will be able to circumvent ambiguities and pierce through consequential matters.

· Support positive disagreement:  Most people heading groups, big or small are perennially under pressure to have in their pockets responses to all doubts. You should invariably welcome positive opposition; in doing so, you will bolster your team’s potency and also demonstrate the fact that the strains of diverse opinions also prompt a right answer. 

· Act fast on output matters:  Quite a few leaders tend to disregard issues affecting people at large; they find defying them a tough task. But when water flows above their heads, crisis situations develop. In case any subordinate employee is unable to deliver, he could well be shifted elsewhere or given the pink slip to protect organisational interests.    

· Keep your communications frank & regular:  You should not let communication channel collapse, even if you are unable to clarify doubts or respond to queries by others. You simply cannot afford to take shelter behind gobbledygook. While all information should be disseminated, admittance of inability to respond is a good option.   

· Steer transformation:  In all settings that are plagued with uncertainty and apprehensions, there is a marked tendency to safeguard existing state of affairs. You need to visualise superior methods and resolution to such predicaments. Your methodology should be resolute and transparent with an option always at hand to apply midterm corrections to overcome muddles.

· Take bold judgments & step ahead:  Many people feel insecure in making their views and line of actions known in milieus under tying situations. They are also apprehensive of taking steps forward. You should not let any state of scrutiny deflation overtake you and preclude your decision-making ability. It is always good to be in a dynamic state rather than one of stagnation.

· Acknowledge contributions by others:  You should not refrain from acknowledging the good work done by others; in fact, giving others more than their share of credit is recommended. You should dispel all apprehensions about being rendered redundant and remember that a proficient person is always inclined to take more blame than acclaim; the environment will know the truth, come what may.

· Be chargeable & make others answerable:  You should expect people to acquit themselves well and should they fail, you should not mince your words in conveying appropriate displeasure. Liability always starts from the top and percolates down. Therefore, the need to be accountable in shaping the performance of others in tune with your beliefs needs no emphasis. 

A genuine leader does not search for compromises, but builds them. Today leadership is all about getting along with people and hence you should endeavour to improve upon this facet, but concurrently be a yardstick of quality.

Choosing your field of work

Choosing a career is apparently an unnerving task, but the problems get reduced when you have alternatives at hand and adequate time at your disposal to mull over them. Gone are the days when people subscribed to a lifetime job theory; today, the line of work that you decide to take up is an important constituent of your life. You need to discern in advance the place where you will spend half your day and the prospects it holds for you to fork on the basis of your primary capabilities.

The above evidently calls for careful consideration so that you select a field that goes with your personality and inherent skills; and also afford you the liberty to confidently make a change, if required. So, how do you get going? Here are some step-by-step tips:

· Define & decide what you seek to do: The first step should be to find out what you want to do. You must do so appropriate research to determine what goes well with your inherent skills and those that are generally required in various arenas of your preferred work. Taking help from others can also be resorted to.

· Identify skills utilized while doing things that offer pleasure: You may be engaged in some activities; you must identify those that you enjoy doing. This will serve as an important pointer of what you want to take up as a career. And once you discern a potential line, you will be geared up to tone it with your skills.

· Contemplate on broad fields of work:  The implication of a field of work extends much beyond a particular job. In fact, several jobs can be possible from a single field; and hence you should be able to reflect on your training and related concerns for several jobs. You should remember that the extent of any field of work is also contingent on your ingenuity, initiative and efforts to acquire necessary qualifications.

· Reflect on related pursuits:  This entails determining what you seek to do and become in life; and the qualifications you need to acquire to attain the same. It will be essential for you to deliberate over the likelihood of switching over to various related disciplines. The need to ruminate outside the ambit of your current or future rights and claims also needs no emphasis.

· Get to know about qualitative requirements: These should be pertinent to the fields that inspire you. Internet, reading and even direct interaction will help you in this context. Your efforts have to be systematic and in-depth to conclude on the type and quantum of further actions on your part. In addition, you will also be able to uncover the shape of things to follow.  

· Identify people in similar fields:  Having identified the jobs that you think match your interests and inclinations, you should establish contact with people already pursuing similar lines. Their suggestions and recommendations will stand you in good stead. Even informational interviews or enlisting for practical exposure will make your perceptions clear.

· Evaluate your choice in the light of your discernment:  Whatever information you have gathered should be evaluated vis-à-vis your own discernment of and stance on your potential career roadmap. You have to arrive at a well-poised reckoning. Aspects related to the type of routine and life that you desire to lead should invariably be factored in to preclude disenchantment at a later stage; it is always prudent to not affect compromises having enduring implications.

· Acquire qualifications that you may be lacking:  When you do so, you must take full benefits of your contact base so that you keep getting advice on a continual basis. If you lay hands on opportunities to get a practical exposure concurrently, you must not let them go. This will help you to sift and sieve all unnecessary or superfluous requisites; and concentrate on the essential ones necessary to broaden expand and develop your perspectives.

· Maintain an upbeat disposition:  Now that you possess the prerequisites for your dream career, it is important that you stay focussed. You must maintain a positive outlook and approach towards life as a whole. It is also necessary that you display appropriate flexibility in all your pursuits and transforming challenges into opportunities. This display of flexibility should not be at the cost of your principles and individuality because most employers appreciate such attributes.    

The crux of the matter is that you should venture out to live the life that you have dreamt for yourself; that is how you will make your dreams come true. It is necessary that you reach high because stars lie there. Your dreams should have depth because every objective follows a dream. What is necessary is to face the right direction so that you keep moving.

Building a meaningful career

A meaningful career implies one that offers you a profound and telling working life. It ought to have a momentous effect on your career and concurrently great weight in your life. Is it possible to build a career that is truly consequential? The answer is ‘Yes’.

But how do you do that? You need to perform a few actions for self-evaluation and self-estimation; exercise some deliberate and on purpose picks; and value and be pleased about what you have to tender to be able to build an indeed meaningful career. These are explicated as under:

· You must know yourself well:  The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself. The better you know yourself, the better will be your standing in the world. And you have to know yourself to improve yourself. You may take a look at yourself with some seriousness and you will be able to discern who exactly you are and where you aspire to be. However, if you happen to get confused, you should take help from a career counsellor who will evaluate your personality and recommend measures for a meaningful career. The inescapable requirement is to be fully aware of your principles, standards, concerns and whatever you have on your plate. This consciousness will help you exercise apposite career options; the selection undertaken by you consequently and consequentially steers you towards a meaningful, focused and decisive working existence.        

· You must make on-purpose choices:  Your future is contingent on the choices that you make today. In fact, making a choice is a characteristic of wisdom. It is the choice that you make shows truly what you are, far more than your abilities. Therefore, when you are out job hunting and an offer of a job is made to you, rather than accepting the maiden one, you need to evaluate it before taking your decision. The same goes for every job offer as also for a promotion. The prime imperative is to be in command of yourself and your career; and should things be the other way around, a meaningful career will elude you. The satisfaction and contentment that you derive when you make a choice on the basis of your set objectives is much more vis-à-vis a choice prompted by apprehensions, despair or anxiety. While it may not be always possible to do so centred on perfect conditions and circumstances, you can always exercise caution and act prudently.   

· You must generate a support arrangement:  When you inch forward towards a career of your choice and supposedly an ideal one, you need to be certain of support arrangements. These arrangements have to be positioned at various point in your career journey. The easiest method is to have someone who all along has provided encouragement to you and stood up for your career objectives; you will find the going easy moving in their direction. Since, the going cannot be expected to be eternally smooth, you should be mentally prepared for holdups. But the support structures that you have in place will render negotiation of such hurdles easy. In addition, they will also serve to remind you of your long-term objectives when you go astray or get stuck.

· You must utilize your talents optimally:  Every single soul on this earth possesses inherent or may be latent flairs. Your effort should be to make choices or select projects that are in consonance with your aspirations an also permit optimal utilization of your aptitude and abilities. Remember that arenas outshining are people specific; and hence, the more you utilize your exclusive or distinctive talents, the chances will be more for you to have a meaningful career. Evidently, you will make useful contributions in your company and besides being lauded for your good performance, you will also derive feelings of tremendous fulfilment for having made use of your intrinsic endowments. 

· You must understand & prize what you have:  Your ideal career may be a thousand miles away and so would be your cherished position. While you may appreciate your accomplishments so far, you also will have to continually remind yourself about them so that you stay driven and inspired. After all, your career is an ever-changing and ever-developing course and hence, even if your final objectives are distant from your present set of circumstances, there is every likelihood that will learn tremendously from the place wherever you are today.

It is very difficult to beat a person who never gives up. So, you need to make a pact with yourself to not give up. There are no shortcuts to any place worth going and a meaningful career is no exception. Work hard and you will surely succeed because no one has ever got drowned in sweat.

Leaving a job on a cordial note

Surveys conducted have revealed that over one-fourth of professionals have switched jobs more than once during the last five years. It has also been inferred that over fifty per cent of employees in any organisation are constantly on the lookout for better pastures, their current jobs being apt considering all parameters notwithstanding.

Today, work force, irrespective of their positions, suffers from feelings of instability and hence are compelled to embark upon newer career paths. If that be so, resignations from current jobs has come to be a very common feature of the career landscape. The issue is whether people quitting their jobs at the drop of a hat should do so with an element of prejudice or resign with grace.

You never know when your current company or people under whom you are serving can come to your aid in the future. This necessitates the need to leave on a cordial note and in a professional manner. If you are planning to leave your present job, you need to weigh things in the current perspective and consider various factors holistically before arriving at the ultimate judgement. Resigning from a job is a delicate decision and calls for legerdemain of sorts. The following aspects need special focus:

· Convey your decision professionally:  Your decision to leave should be conveyed tactfully and everybody required to be kept in the loop informed. Your immediate boss ought to be told before anybody else followed by your colleagues. Under no circumstances should the information reach your bosses through other channels

· Provide adequate notice period:  You should go through relevant company policies and familiarise yourself with the process. You must give adequate notice period and leave your company in the lurch as it would amount to back-stabbing. If propriety calls for serving a bit longer, doing so will boost your friendliness and facilitate the handing-taking over process.       

· Communicate your decision in writing:  You may communicate your intent to leave verbally, but you must invariably follow it up in writing. Your resignation letter should be concise and diplomatic; and should serve as your desire to maintain good relationships rather than an opportunity to protest.

· Complete all assigned tasks:  Your efficiency will be spoken about much after you are gone if you leave no task unfinished. Even after you are relieved, if necessary, you should not be reluctant to spare some time on odd days to help in finishing incomplete tasks.    

· Hand over your charge meticulously:  You need to make certain that each and facet of your work is recorded; this is applicable to assignments that have been completed or are still underway. This will facilitate the handing-taking over process and create a positive impact on your successor; and for which again, you need to prepare a detailed document.  

· Try to arrange your substitute:  Whether your departure will create a void or not, it will be an act of favour if you help in finding somebody to replace you because it is you alone who understands your work the best.    

· Seek acquiescence for references:  You cannot afford to wait for a time when it becomes necessary to notify a reference. The time available with you after submitting your resignation should be utilised to solicit acquiescence in this regard.

· Don’t be censorious: You should make it a point to quit on a very cordial note. It is necessary that you do not indulge in any disapproving behaviour. For all you know people whom you speak ill about today will be in a position of influence tomorrow and you may have to approach them for assistance.

· Bid adios to co-workers:  Any abrupt departure will project you in poor professional light. You must make certain that you meet all your colleagues and accentuate on the good moments spent together. However, you should also ensure that no references are made to your new salary structure or perks. It is also in good taste to leave your address and contact details behind; the same will help you expand your networking.

Quitting your job can be a liberating encounter and a way to commence walking a new career path that leads to more satisfaction. However, the action of leaving is not as simple as relocating to different city. You should leave with poise, decency and lot of respect so that you still remain open to various alternatives and depart on a tinge of cordiality. If you leave on a pleasant and warm note, you will always be remembered by your company and should a situation arise, you will be welcomed back into its fold.

Turning good job offers into great bargains

When the going gets tough, it is a general tendency to accept any job offer that comes your way without weighing it for short and long term gains. Job hunting entails selling yourself based on your value tag. You may display resilience, but making a compromise could well be as good as a self-crushing barter.

Before accepting any job offer, you need to ponder for a while and seek answers to the following questions:

· Are you hard up for money? In case you do not have any pressing problems that warrant an immediate income, you must mull over the offer. But if at all there are problems galore and you are finding it difficult to make both your ends meet, you will have no alternative but to accept any job offered to you.

·  Is the job likely to make you glum?  If you accept a job that is not your cup of tea, sooner or later, you may be out of it. Finding another job then may turn out to be another harrowing experience. Should you be resentful even to a small degree, you should continue with you job hunt.

·  Are you in a position to explain your acceptance?  If the new job entails a step back, you should be able to explain the why of it. If there good reasons, then it is fine otherwise you may not succeed in getting the job in question.

·  What is that holds significance for you?  You may be seeking a particular appointment or designation; in that case if the new job offers you something, you may accept it. But not otherwise.

·  Do you any visualize short and long term advantages?  You should be clear about what you want to seek in the immediate future and some years hence. At the cost of long term objectives, an offer should not be accepted.

· Is there any other option?  To be able to play elastically, you should know how the job market is playing. Are you willing to remain unemployed for some time or do you think that it is better to take up any job? This issue warrants serious consideration for evident reasons.

You will find that job offers will still come to you. But you need not be taken by any surprise. And for that, you need to do your homework well so that you can make best use of your bargaining power. The following tips will help:

· Avoid immediate acceptance: Your thought process should be canny; rather than accept an offer straight away, you must convey your desire to mull over the offer with your folks at home or friends. While companies may not insist on an immediate acceptance, you must seek adequate time for consideration. Asking for a written job offer will facilitate your intentions as oral agreements tend to be forgotten over a period of time.

· Cash on money versus value skills:  You may have a perfect resume and your performance during the interview would have been excellent. Your prospective employer would have gauged your capabilities and assessed your suitability vis-à-vis contributions for organizational growth. Hence, you should be clear about your worth so that you can be emphatic while demanding an appropriate remuneration package. You also need to take advantage of the starting compensation because your income in the ensuing years will be contingent in it.   

· Don’t cave in but confer:  You may have a decade of experience or you may be a greenhorn, but still you should always try to talk things over to your advantage. While your aim should be to not leave any issue to chance or undeliberated, your overall deportment should be polite, respectful and professional. It is all about an intelligent conciliation wherein you and your employer both stand to gain.  

· Reach a deal for the salary package:  The subject of salary should not be brought up by you, more so during the initial stages of the interview process.  Usually, an organisation has a salary structure for different grades of employees and people involved in the hiring process generally do not have the authority to alter the same on your request. You may have to speak to the person concerned who can bring about an increase or wait for a decision. However, it is important to get the offer first and then proceed to catch your pay target. Your expectation should be stated in terms of a range rather than enumerating the minimum for which you will settle.

· Stage-manage offers:  An offer is like a bird in the hand; you may even have two or more of them – with companies that you are keen to join and also those that you are not ardent about. Whatever be the nature of your kitty, you must establish contact with them to make known availability of other offers known. This would result in other offers being made to you for concurrent consideration.

You should remember that compensation packages are not about salary alone. There are other perks like bonuses, medical reimbursement, travel concessions, house rent allowance, executive perquisites, stock options and increments, etc. When all of them are added to the basic salary, the eventual sum could be fantastic.

You & your career progression

Planning for the career advancement of employees is also an important component of business persistence tactics. The question however, is, “Who is supposed to be responsible for career progression – the individual concerned, the organisation being worked for or both of them?”

The discernment and sensitivity of this issue is a subject of continuous effort for the employers and employees alike. It cannot be denied that an individual per se ought to be in charge of his or her own progression to be able to dynamically participate in all career related activities. To amplify this point, is there any person who knows and understands ambitions, motivation and standards better than the person concerned?

It is an unfortunate matter that most employees fail to take onus for their own career advancement. If an individual seeks to have realistic opportunities to make the most of their career prospects and attain identified objectives, he or she should have no doubts whatsoever about their specific needs and goals. They ought to formulate a detailed road map to reach where they want to be. Should an employee fail to match personal objectives with organizational imperatives, he or she will also encounter failures; consequently their frustration levels will rise and output plummet.

If there happens to be no encouragement and guidance rendered to an individual, his or her aspirations and planning will be meaningless; the impelling is best affected by the organisation itself. The foregoing calls for an inescapable need for bosses to be aware of every employee’s visualizations and desires so that inherent inclinations and talents are transformed into convincing usages. This will also help employees find opportunities that go with individual capabilities and dispositions within the larger mosaic of organisational concerns.

It is also necessary that organisations also spell out their requirements to their employees. This makes it mandatory to make known the bearing on which companies are headed to and how it can be juxtaposed on the expectations of individuals. If this affected well, employees will be able to perform optimally and contribute in the attainment of organizational goals. You cannot lose sight of the fact that the success of organizational operations is contingent on teamwork as also individual competence, output and dedication. It is no wonder therefore, that companies are increasingly concentrating on providing career advancement opportunities to employees by way of imaginative enterprises, appraisals and training packages.

Now, if companies make efforts to look after career progression aspects of their employees, they also need to be at wheels. Employees should have faith in their bosses and identify suitable mentors to facilitate discerning gaps and solicit appropriate assistance to plug them. Keeping this aspect in mind, organisations today ensure that their employees enjoy a competitive edge by subjecting them to training in a horde of milieus.

The above notwithstanding, a fallacy exists in the minds of people that makes career progression synonymous with promotions. They fail to understand career advancement is not about vertical growth only; lateral movement also contributes to personal progress. In the true sense of the word, career advancement is realized if you become proficient in any sphere of activity.

You should be astute and intelligent enough to know that the crucial factor that will contribute to your long-term success is your ability to acquire, maintain and update your skills. Contrary to belief, any demonstration of your loyalty to your company ranks quite low in the list of imperatives. Companies find this task quite difficult and often accentuate this aspect in all learning and development programmes. The biggest challenge faced by them is the attrition of trained manpower resulting from glitches and faults in various spheres of work assigned to their employees. And to overcome this, companies formulate and implement retention strategies that focus on a continual engagement of the workforce, based on individual penchants and requirements. This entails fostering a persuasive and triumphing philosophy wherein employee performances are acknowledged and due counseling rendered, where necessary.

Remember that the strongest of the trees in a forest is not that is protected from the sides by other trees and which the heat of the sun cannot devour. In fact, the strongest is the one that stands in an open patch and survives hail, rain and blazing sun. You can emulate this tree by bearing in mind that the ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity. And with companies focusing on the creation of an atmosphere in which employees feel an innate responsibility to move forward and also afford adequate opportunities for the same, whose responsibility is career progression - yours or the company’s? The answer ought to be evident. It is yours!

Attain professional fulfillment

Success is never bequeathed. People who achieve success are invariably those who envision things, do detailed planning, carry out periodic evaluation and toil hard. There are many people who are unable to succeed in their careers primarily because they are unaware about the relevance of success for them and hence are unable to decide on a line of action for its attainment. Given below are some time-tested recipes to help you move along your career path steadily and attain your objectives:

· Have a purpose:  Before deciding on your objectives, an all-inclusive evaluation of what they entail to facilitate according precedence to them is essential. You need to know the nature of stability that you desire in various spheres of your life like money, relationship, personal advancement, career and well-being. The chances of your career success will be weakened if there are inconsistencies in your career objectives vis-à-vis other domains of your life; hence the need to focus methodically on your endeavours.

· Remain unswerving: Having set objectives, you should work hard to attain them. They should be pragmatic and pursued with devotion. There may be occasional downbeat situations wherein you may find yourself disheartened. During such phases, you should tell yourself that you indeed are worthy of being successful. Besides directing your efforts on doing whatever you are required to do, you should also concentrate on attainments.

· Gauge & quantify your success:  Regular evaluation of your achievements will help you determine the correctness of both your rate of knots and bearings. It is essential that you remain cognizant of the outcome of your efforts on your company in terms of assignments completed, profits generated and new projects launched. You will surprised to learn that the most trivial of them can have a monumental effect.

· Promote & sell your achievements:  Good efforts going unrecognized is quite common as also others drawing credit from your efforts. To enjoy the benefits of success, you need to market yourself so that your achievements are acknowledged and appreciated. However you need not blow your own horn all the time.

· Create & enlarge your contact base:  Success is also contingent on your reputation and influence. If you nurture good relationships at work and outside, your name will always strike for any new and rewarding openings. You can enlarge your contact base by shouldering additional responsibilities, agreeing to participate in prestigious happenings and attending professional training events.  

· Refine & upgrade your expertise:  Every single assignment that you undertake and finish ought to be a new learning experience. A system of continual learning is very vital to your individual progress and career success. You should identify a roadmap for training that should serve to narrow down fissures in your expertise, boost your plusses and help to maintain that crucial competitive advantage.

· Guide & be guided:  You cannot run the career race all by your own steam. You will require a guide; finding one whom you regard and seeking his help on intricate matters will ease out things for you. In addition, you must also come to the aid of others; such actions will project you for your leadership qualities and expand your zone of sway.

· Connect effectively with others:  To be able to do so, you need to articulate your views effectually and assertively. It is also essential that you make others a part of your learning and success; this will inspire and sway them. Your career success is contingent on your communication skills too as they invariably wield power of persuasion and comprehension.

· Have candid discussions with your seniors:  Any reticence to engage in conversation with your seniors will do you no good. You must talk to them regularly; this will establish good rapport that will help in your career progress. Remember that the more they get to know you, the more comfortable they will be with you and as a result, you get in their good books. 

· Uphold your professional reputation:  Above everything, it is your professional reputation that counts. To be successful, you also need to dress up, appear and proclaim the role; it is necessary that you keep upbeat company – people who have been successful and who regard their careers as earnest business.

You should remember that you have to keep striving to achieve new standards of professional success and resultantly, greater degree of professional fulfillment. And it is never late to take a step in that direction.