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| Tuesday, 12 October 2004 |
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How to shine and excel in your profession The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) recently recruited 26 new engineers. An induction training program was held at the CEB Technical Training Centre, Piliyandala. Dr. K. Kuhathasan, CEO, Centre for leadership Excellence and Personality Development addressed the participants on "How to shine and excel in your profession". Here are excerpts from his presentation. Work is central to people's lives. Not only do many of the world's citizens depend on it for their survival, but it is also a source of integration into society, self-fulfilment, and hope for future generations. Managing Your Profession Your profession has the potential to be an important source of happiness, satisfaction and stimulation as well as offering security and financial reward. Your professional development, therefore, deserves all the analysis, preparation and planning. You need to be clear about what you want, what resources you have, and how you are going to put your plans into action.
Identify your personal needs and wants in your working life. These may be concerned with the type of work you would enjoy. The level of commitment which would suit you, the challenges demanded and the level of the security you need or the work environment. It is important to recognise that good working conditions, high salary and pleasant colleagues do not automatically guarantee satisfaction in your job. To be really satisfied you need to be sufficiently motivated. Motivator elements for you may be, for example, determining your work content or using creative talents. For others using communicative skills, feeling challenged or stretched may be the crucial factor. Think carefully and work out for yourself your own motivator factors. Write down a long list as you can. Where Have I come from? One way of getting to know yourself, including what motivates you, what you like and dislike, and what is important to you, is to answer the question. Where have I come from? What is my background and how does it relate to? How I think and feel about myself? Know your skills Knowing your values and interests helps in determining what you want from a job and career. Understanding your abilities and skills helps in determining what you can offer to an organisation. Begin by recording your personal inventory of skills. Avoid comparing yourself to others. One suggestion is to brainstorm on this subject, listing as many skills as you can. Then you can rank them according to those you feel best about and those you want to improve. Keep your list where you can add to it as you identify new skills or more fully develop existing skills. Skills can be developed through training and experience. A good career plan identifies current skills, those needed for the next job, and those likely to be required in the future. The plan can then provide for when and how the needed skills will be developed. The next step is to plan how to find the right position to move you along in your career. Make a Mission Statement Think of yourself metaphorically as a small company. Develop a mission statement that expresses your philosophy and central values. In you statement, include How do you want to come up? What do you want to do?, Your most central values!, Who you are? - describe your character, Describe the contributions you want to make! Establish and visualise your goals Stephen Covey urges people to "begin with the end in mind". He points out that "all things are created twice". First there is the mental creation, or visualisation, of what might be. Second there is the actual creation. People who have a clear vision of their values and goals tend to direct their behaviour towards fulfilling their mission. Peak performers frequently are visualisers. Be aware of career stage Keep in mind the opportunities and pitfalls related to each of the career stages you will pass through. The first stage usually runs from your twenties into your thirties. In this stage, your goal should be to gain a variety of experiences and to develop basic skills that will be transferable to other positions. Communicate a positive attitude Enthusiasm and a positive outlook are contagious. For some people, expressing these traits comes easily. Others have to work at it. The effort is worth the benefits. This is obvious as it is crucial. Yet some people lope rather than run in their first jobs, and some focus so much on the jobs ahead they forget to perform in the present. Excellent performance becomes a habit, just as does mediocre performance. Capitalise on luck and build on setbacks Luck often comes to those who have worked hard and prepared themselves for unexpected events. Do not count on luck to help implement your life and career plans but if it should come, rejoice and be ready to capitalise on it. Everyone has setbacks but successful people respond positively to them. They find ways to learn from and build on the setbacks to help them get back on track toward reaching their goals. Develop a Network Some people concentrate so much on their job at hand that they fail to develop relationships throughout the organisation. Usually some conscious effort has to be directed towards building such a network. Those who have established relationship, enjoy the benefits of being hooked into informal communications. Also, friends in strategic places can help you to achieve results that might be difficult if you rely only on the formal organisation. Find a mentor, Be a mentor A mentor is someone, usually older and more experienced, who helps another person achieve his or her career goals. The mentor serves as a guide, coach, advisor, and counsellor. If there is no formal mentoring program. You must find someone in your organisation whom you can trust. However, remember that a mentor is no substitute for performance. Often a mentor is not a direct superior but someone who cares enough about you to share his or her accumulated wisdom and experience. As you develop experience, look for opportunities to serve as a mentor. Helping others achieve success, is an important attribute of successful mangers and professionals. Plateauing Virtually everyone who works for a company eventually reaches a plateau beyond which he or she does not advance. For some, this is frustrating because they both want to continue advancing and are qualified to do so. But in pyramidal organisations, the opening as the top become increasingly scarce. Some find plateauing a normal experience and continue to contribute and find satisfaction in their work. Expectations and attitude have much to do with how employees experience plateauing. Those who find a great gap between their expectations and reality are likely to feel dissatisfied and frustrated. Job satisfaction It is yours finally it is the dream you have had night after night and it has come true to step out into the real world, the world of the working with confidence, commitment and dedication. Sincerity is the key to job satisfaction and it goes a long way in telling your employers what you are all about and where you come from. Let the company's vision become yours so that you know the goals you are working towards, for yourself and for your company. For as long as you are with it. It is yours too! Adopt the following resolution to make your work more interesting and challenging Work is a fundamental element of my life, an activity essential to all aspects of my life. Improvement in work will improve all other aspects of my life. Work is not just a means to an end. My work can and should fulfil and satisfy me at the deepest levels. I possess unique capabilities and talents from which I can create something of lasting value. The responsibility to improve my work rests first and foremost in my own hands. Work occurs in three basic dimensions: doing, developing, and discovering. The key to success in any endeavour lies in organising when and how to emphasize and mix the three dimensions of work. |
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