The needs of a human being are never ending. One after another, it keeps on coming out. In exams, the talented students are never satisfied with their grades. Whatever they get, they feel it was less than the talent they have. They deserved more but did not get that because of the gaps in the education system. While in a job, every individual thinks that I have done better work than other persons. Hence whatever rise he gets in his salary, he feels I should have got much more.
This desire to be on top (though many don’t have relevant skills) turns into great competition and war of power. The person reaches the top is favored by management but disliked by those whom he has defeated to get on top. This goes on each place. This is a rat race and it has become an essential part of everybody’s life.
Not all people are born to become a leader. It requires many qualities either purposely developed or inborn. A leader needs some kind of property in him to become successful. Leaders are sometimes unanimously chosen because they possess such qualities in them that people automatically start following them. At the workplace, it is the leader’s influence that determines the achievement of the set target. Leaders use power as their main weapon. However, the utilization of power depends on each leader.
Leadership Power:
It is the authority leaders can use to influence or give direction to his followers. The leader decides the path of getting to the goal and accordingly he instructs his people about what is to be done when. This direction was given to the followers also varies from leader to leader. This depends on the character of the leader. Humble, arrogant, egoistic, and different types of leaders handle the path differently but their goal is the same. Influence is the key factor in leadership because a leader won’t exist without his influence on people. It is a key component of power and authority.
Power and Authority:
To achieve a goal power and authority can be used alternatively though they meant to be different than each other. Power is the influence one will have over others whereas authority is the right to have the influence. In both cases, influence may come with the will of the follower or without will. This could give rise to war or power kind of situation if some people want to follow some other person.
Types of Power:
- Legitimate
- Coercive
- Referent
- Charisma
- Expert
- Information
- Reward
- Moral
- Connection and
- Founder
However in a career, one cannot always exercise the power or influence because of the limitations in the authority. For example, a leader may have many of his sub-ordinates as his followers but that won’t give a leader growth because the followers don’t have the power to do that. Only the completion of the project successfully will give a push to the leader and he may achieve a higher position. In the corporate world, the employee needs to possess or develop slightly different types of skills for career growth.
If one wants to grow in his career he needs to have proper career planning and develop career skills
- Resume being update from time to time: The most important thing in your career path is to prepare, review, and update your resume from time to time. Keeping your resume update will let you understand how your career is growing, whether you need to improve or it is going well. This step in career planning will help you to grab any opportunity coming your way.
- Regularly revise your career planning schedule: Before the end of your corporate year, it is better to sit and revise your goals. Analyze what you have achieved till now and what you are seeking in the coming year.
- Study your career path since the last session of your Career Plan: Reflection on your career path will be a good guide for you. You can ask some questions about your career to date. What I have learned to date? Whether I have achieved till satisfactory level? What is my next goal? You are only your critics and guide too. You can find the solutions to your difficulties in the job. Even you can discuss it with your boss if you want to learn from some different fields.
- Study of what you like, dislike, need, and wish from your work: Based on priorities our likes and dislikes change. You can review what you liked in your job, what you didn’t like. What you need to do for growth and what you wish to do in the same or different job. This exercise will give you clarity of your aim and will be career path guidance for you.
- Keep a track of your achievements: Whenever you do some achievement in your work, keep a note of it. it is always seen that while appraisal you fumble to tell what you have achieved in the previous year. Keep a record of it and present it to your superiors during annual discussions. These achievements also have to be updated in the resume.
- Spot your transferable skills: You may have some remarkable knowledge about some different fields where you are not working currently. You need to list out such transferable skills and try to find other opportunities relevant to those fields. Multiskilling is a huge advantage as there is more than one option open.
- Set the goal of your career: List down your short-term (usually coming year) and long-term (five to ten years) goals. Though it is possible that you are in a good position without a goal, you could be in a much better position by setting goals. Work on SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) goals and share your goals with someone so that you can have the intent to achieve that goal to prove your worth.
- Explore new training or education opportunities: The more training and education you get from your job the more you have a chance to grow. Your career path needs the relevant knowledge and you can grab every opportunity to learn new things. Professional growth development trainings organized by companies are a great platform to showcase your skills and also learn new skills through these trainings.
- Learn from others and push yourself: Relating with leaders within and outside the company will help your growth. You will have all the updated knowledge about improvements around you. Attend job-related seminars; listen to great personalities who are successful. If you increase your network you will find more opportunities for your career growth.
- Come out of your comfort zone: If one desires to get success in life, he has to work hard, get more knowledge, and apply it at the right place at right time. The timely solution to your organization problem will give you the credit. All this can only be done if you come out of the comfort zone. The comfort zone is a circle that will not allow you to achieve a higher position. You will always remain satisfied with what you are.
- Find out other opportunities for career development: As one grows in his career and goes on achieving a higher position, the options get thinner. While in your career path you have to keep tracking of other options also. Research what are the alternative paths you can follow in the future. Where you want yourself in the future? If you can answer this you can very well start exploring new directions and keep yourself growing.
Apart from these skills if one can have soft skills it will be an advantage to him. Nowadays more is said about developing soft skills. Soft skills do not mean a person to be of soft nature but it is a skill that will give that added push to your career. Building interpersonal relationships with others, taking part in other activities hold by the organization, guiding your team, and helping them to learn more and more, build confidence in your team to face all circumstances, and there are a lot of such skills. These skills will always help a person as because of these skills one can get more recognition than he otherwise would have got.
Do not hesitate to speak in the meeting. You must learn how to do a good presentation. The one who gives a good presentation is supposed to have a good knowledge of the subject. You can give respect to your boss but no need to be scared of him. You can talk to him openly about your ideas or improvement suggestion in the work. You would get a good and strong recognition from him. If your suggestions can be implemented he will be more than happy to work with you. If you are a manager then permit your sub-ordinates to share their views on the subject.
Wrapping Up
If one wishes to accomplish his career at a great height he has to have above career growth skills. While growing in the career it is essential to take short breaks periodically and analyze where the path is heading to. There is no doubt that without hard work the ethical success won’t come your way. There are no short cuts to success. If you study the lives of the most successful people in the world you will find that they have gone through the most struggling period in their lives and only after coming out of it by sheer hard work they have become successful.
