“Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time.”- Arnold H. Glashow.
Indeed, nothing succeeds like #success and success brings #happiness in everybody’s life. Success is a very essential component of our life, in every field and at every stage of our career. All parents wish and work hard to give the best possible #education to their children and want them to do far better in their careers and lead better #quality of life. As children progress to professional colleges and universities, in-home country/abroad, things become costly and very #competitive. Here young students learn basic education and theoretical concepts of their chosen field of studies. They also learn about #personality development, co-existence and competition among students from diverse backgrounds, countries, states, social statuses, and cultural and financial backgrounds. Towards completion of their academic studies, they select a #career as per their choice / #capability. Some do not get the right choice but pick up some job for immediate take off with the hope to switch for a better career as soon as possible.
We all like to have a good job/career and quick success to have impressive #status and live a happy life. As we are living in world of great #competition and high #uncertainty, where employer/organization seeks good value for money and in response, we as employees expect a good pay package to have good social/financial status and a comfortable lifestyle. However, success is not available to free, like wind or sunlight. You have to equip yourselves with appropriate academic # qualifications, #skill sets, positive #attitude, listening to others, honouring #commitment and #determination to meet #expectations of those who matter. Likewise, #entrepreneurs and small business people need multi-skilling, multi-tasking, #collaborating and building new #networks and alliances. As an employee, you are required to make #commitment and declare your Key Result Areas (KRAs) and carry out a self-audit as to how you are moving ahead to fulfil your commitment. Some organizations are using SAP “Success Factor” like software tools to assess the # performance of their employees while carrying out annual #appraisal. Hence your growth and success in your career are linked to your commitment and performance. The above book is the master key for all young professionals to open the gates to reach new horizons.
The goal of this book “A2Z – 26 Steps for Assured Success” is to provide jargon-free, compact and easy-to-grasp material to young minds and propel them to achieve success in their chosen career. It will be a handy #reference/guide for business executives, #team-leaders, #managers and educationists having 3–15 years of service to re-assess them, recharge and progress faster in their career. For people of senior management who have 20 years or more experience, they may revisit and revalidate some of their already tried out #procedures/processes and business #practices. All the 26 steps are in alphabetic order and in bulleted form for ready to be used as PowerPoint (PPT) slides, by teachers, professors, HRD managers and career counsellors.
This book is designed to empower all young #professionals of any field like #engineering, IT, business management, marketing/sales, #design, production, #projects, #banking, #insurance, education, #health-care, #journalism, defence services and government or private sector. Its contents are in simple language to help all professionals quickly grasp the essentials and become good performers. Repetition of certain words in various steps is deliberate to reemphasize and create a deeper #impact. I have tried to add value, based on my 30 years in the Indian Army (Signals), 10 years in senior management in the corporate sector, 12 years as an educationist and long association with leading #universities in USA, UK, Australia and India. Even if you follow only half the steps and, apply to say 50 % of the contents, still you will see more than 30 % improvement in your professional #capability. It is recommended to keep this book nearby and daily spare a little time to open it and highlight on few pages, till you reach the last step “Z” (26th). This book is not a novel for one-time reading and drop, but to keep it handy as your partner in success. For those who are very busy and cannot spare much time, they still can gain if they just go through the first chapter on Introduction and Summary at the end. Rest assured that within 45 days of picking up this book, you will notice many of your hidden strengths/talents and self-belief will start blossoming and you will shed all fears to become a great performer.
To pick up a good career of your choice, you should have required formal education at degree/diploma level, from a recognized college or university. One needs to earn 3 to 4 years of diploma /degree level education with a good grade. All employers have a very high #standard of aptitude test and #interview to select the best candidate. Generally, 30% to 40 % of professionals can get their #choice while others have to try again with other #recruiting agencies. They hope to gain some corporate exposure and #switch jobs in 2-3 years. The fee for a private college or university is quite high and one cannot afford regular full-time studies and moves for distance learning or online courses. In India and most Asian counties distance education is not at par with a regular #degree. Therefore you should have undergraduate (3 or 4 years) degree as a regular student. Likewise, if you do any skill-building or technical diploma/certificate level course, you may study in any mode but must get certified without which it will not be given the required recognition. Always search for #excellence and raise the bar. If you believe in #mediocrity, you will not reach the top. You must #continuously improve your #knowledge, skills and creativity to stay relevant to the market. As a #leader, you must always do your best and deliver excellent results on time and within budget, This will ensure customers’ delight and your organization will become a #benchmark for others to perform well. Some basic steps taken from the above book are given below:
· Attitude. A person with a positive attitude has no fear of any #situation/task and takes it as a #challenge or #opportunity. The one who has a negative attitude takes the task as a burden or problem and keeps sulking and cribbing. A person with a positive attitude keeps trying and retrying till he/she succeeds while a person with a negative attitude keeps criticizing the organization/team, grumbling and giving up soon. You can’t hide your attitude as your subordinates, peers and even superiors will notice it in no time. To improve your attitude, you need to practice control of body and mind, do #introspection and be in the company of positive thinking people.
· Believe in Self and Team. A belief is #trust in self and others. If you believe your doctor, the medicine will show a better effect on you. Have full belief in your own #capabilities and move on with full #determination. You can accomplish anything if you believe that you can do it. Have full belief in seniors, peers and juniors. A #collective effort will take you toward success. Your self-esteem should be always high and there is no need to worry or feel depressed. A popular saying is ever true
“If you think you can, you can”.
• Belongingness. A sense of belonging to your organization is very important. Likewise, as a manager/team leader you must prove to the team that they belong to you and you are looking after them. In return, they will give their best for your success.
· Commitment. You must fulfil your commitment towards your customers, your organisation, seniors and your team. You should be #trustworthy, where you say what you mean and mean what you say. It builds trust for establishing good alliance partners.
· Communication Skills. The most sterling quality of a successful manager or leader is effective #communication. During discussions, there should be clarity and no room for misinterpretation by customers, vendors/suppliers, or team members. Irrespective of the medium and means of communication, you must be clear and effective to the audience. Good communication skills help during # negotiations with customers, vendors or any regulator. Your teammates, seniors and customers will appreciate your clear and #transparent communication. You must consider whom are you talking to and where are you talking. It is important to say what you mean but most important is how you say it.
· Determination. In any challenging job/task or race, it is the determined person who puts an extra bit to achieve the #goal while others may quit just short of the finishing line. In the words of George H. Lorimar ---
“Go to bed with satisfaction and get up every morning with determination.”
· Effective. Your team must take you seriously and the assigned task is #executed faithfully to meet all #requirements. The product or service when deployed must be effective to fully satisfy customer requirements. Similarly, your communication with peers, stakeholders or any audience must be clear and effective to create the required #impact.
· Efficient. One must be #efficient while using his/her skills and get the best result for optimum effort. If you are efficient in your job, you will be able to complete the job within the scheduled time and with no cost/time #overruns. Similarly, the product you deliver must perform to its efficiency and be easy to operate.
· Emotional Stability. As a team member, you must deal with facts while making any decision and not be moved by any emotion. There are people who are #oversensitive and get emotionally disturbed on a very small issue at their workplace or even at home. You have to control your emotion and stay calm. Today the employer gives more importance to #Emotional #Quotient (EQ) than #Intelligence Quotient (IQ). They have an expert to evaluate your EQ during the selection process.
· Evolution, not Revolution: Evolve a sustainable solution through collective efforts. Revolution leads to #disruption and disturbance. Do not provide a solution to the team. Instead, involve them to showcase their talent and evolve a #collective solution, built around their #competency. This encourages team #participation and #synergy.
· Focus. Stay focused on your mission and make #contingency plan to tackle emergencies. Your aim must be to remain on track and achieve the goal on time and within the available budget.
· Forgiveness. It is the best policy to #forgive others and ignore their small mistakes. They will become more #faithful and help in your achieving success.
· Goal Achiever. You must have a #realistic goal and go for it with all the available efforts. Do not waiver, remain focused, keep going and the goal is in front of you.
· Hope. Never give up #hope to reach your #goal. Our hope is the elixir of life. Hope coupled with determination keeps you going even when chips are down. You must keep going, must not quit and soon things will turn your way. Some give up almost close to winning a race or reaching the mountain top. A little bit of extra effort and keeping good hope, bring you success. After a good night sleeps, sunrises daily with new light and hope. Therefore cheer up; there will be a rainbow after the rain.
· Idea Generation. Getting a new #idea is part of #creative #thinking. The idea need not be yours and it may be of any team member and it must be appreciated. Every idea may not be successful and you must be determined to make it work. Keep a small notebook in your pocket to note down ideas as these may occur to you anytime and anywhere. Do weekly/monthly sorting of recorded ideas to find doable and something out of the ordinary.
· Idea Experimenting. To find something new, you must develop a habit of lateral thinking and questioning why not another way around, Once you have an #actionable idea, you must do an #experiment on it to validate its suitability. The successful experiment will establish that your idea is workable and its product will be usable, safe, #durable and #cost-effective.
· Innovation for cutting edge. #Innovation is not an invention and it could be some modification, improvement in look-and-feel, different material, ease of operation. Innovation provides you #lead in the market and #sustainability of a business. Your employer/senior is always looking for new ideas /innovations to progress their business and that is the #pathway to your success. Your market demand will grow and your career will get a quantum jump
· Integration brings efficiency. As a manager, one of your prime roles is to #integrate effort and subsystems to evolve a cost-efficient solution. It requires proper interfacing and readjusting for any #incompatibility. A fully integrated team makes use of everybody’s talent/contribution and exceeds customer expectations
· Joining Hands. Always join hands to have collective wisdom and synergy. The good old saying is ever true ---- “United we stand divided we fall.”
That is why many competitors go for technical alliances to gain strength from each other.
· Knowledge is a force multiplier. Knowledge is a force multiplier and it impacts your performance and even your reaction. Lack of knowledge will make you hesitant to speak in public and even during any meeting/discussion. You are to have a good aptitude for a subject/skill and be quick on the uptake to understand and absorb instruction/process. Some are born with good aptitude/memory while others may have to put extra effort to grasp the subject/instruction. A famous quote is important
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest “----. Benjamin Franklin
· Leadership. A good leader has many #followers who are already inspired by the professional excellence of their leader. As a leader/ manager, you must lead the team from the front with #demonstrated performance by showing evidence of your competence. This will always inspire your team to put in their extra bit to meet the #dead-lines as well as quality standards.
· Motivation. The desire to excel and outshine among equals results in self-motivation, where you work for your inner-self and need no #supervision.
· Networking. #Networking among teams, organisations and knowledge sharing bring synergy. It helps to develop faster and more cost-efficient solutions for any given task.
· Ownership. If you #own something you will protect it and will not let any harm come to it. It is very important for you to own the organization and your team. You will enjoy doing your job, even if it tough going. Own your team, your immediate boss, the organisation and the customers. Be a role model for your team and enable them to succeed as that will be your success.
· Performance. Action and result speak louder than a verbal announcement. A successful leader or manager; leads the team by personal example and demonstrated performance. This is most inspiring the best #evidence of your #commitment to the job/project. Your conduct in the workplace and home should be #exemplary.
· Quality Assurance. As a team member/ Team Leader you must ensure that you always deliver a # quality product/service which delights the customer. This comes through a Quality #Assurance #Process ( QAP) being practised in the organisation.
· Reliability. It is well established that responsible, result-oriented and reliable people succeed, even if going is very tough, You are to be a reliable person to deal with seniors, customers, vendors and business partners. All things being equal, you win a contract/deal because of your #reliability.
· Sustainability. #Sustainability and #endurance are the Keys to career growth. You are to develop a capacity to work/travel for long hours which demands good health and determination. You could be attending late conferences or travelling long distances to customers/vendors. Therefore, you should have mental and physical #robustness to sustain work pressure.
· Search for Excellence. In today’s highly competitive market, you need to be outstanding in your field of work. It applies at the time of entry into a career and during the entire service to climb the corporate ladder. Most of the employers have performance-based reviews and #promotions. Therefore your search for excellence should continue, as you move from one level to the next.
· SWOT. In days of uncertainty and high #global competition, it is useful to carry out periodic #SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat) analysis. It will help in deciding future alliances and marketing strategies.
· Time management. In today’s global and competitive market, #time is the most important #resource. Manage your time well and at times, do #multitasking. You may have to spare time for children, elders and also for friends. You need to give first #priority to the #organization/job, second to the #family and last towards your friends.
· Technology Alignment. Various #technologies are developing so fast and getting integrated into business solutions, that you need to adopt relevant technologies quickly and be proficient. You need to add on a popular skill set and earn those #certifications in your own time.
· Unity. #Unity during uncertainty ensures certainty. The real strength comes from unity in thinking, decision-making and action. Unity brings synergy and optimal use of resources. The good old saying is ever true -
“Unity is strength. When there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” – Mattie Stepanek
· Vision. Plan your long term vision with a 5–7 years horizon and work in that direction. A person without vision could be walking in any direction without being sure of his/her destination.
· Win-Win Strategy. Everyone wants to gain out of any association/deal. Therefore one has to adopt # the win-win strategy with due consideration to accommodate others. Sometimes, we give up small points to make an #alliance and offer concessions to another partner to feel happy with the deal. Win-Win #collaboration ensures #sustainability. Winning and losing are two sides of the same coin. You should be determined in your approach to go through all odds and make it succeed. Every win boosts your morale to try another and go on. Infect, a failure should only remind you to recoup and try next time harder and win. Most of us are not trained to take losing games in the spirit of sportsmanship. It requires maturity to play gracefully and accept the outcome win or lose.
· Wow factor. If you and your team can bring out innovations, it will give a pleasant surprise or wow factor. You will be admired by the team, seniors and customers.
· Yearning to Excel. #Yearning is the inner fire that makes one yearn for new targets and challenges. You should be seen as a seeker of new responsibility. You need to be exploring/ yearning for evolving new solutions/products. The good old saying is very true, “Yearning for the seemingly impossible is the path to human progress” – Bryant H. McGill
· Zeal. Commitment to customers and meeting deadlines requires consistency in performance. You should always inspire your team with a personal example of working with missionary zeal. The good old saying is true - “Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal.” – Charles Buxton
Summary. Fast-changing #technologies and business #practices necessitate remaining up-to-date. You need to #search and identify market demand for popular professional qualifications and skillsets and plan to fill the gaps in your CV. You should have a good eye for details and identify the essentials and leave the rest. #Time is a premium and what are essential needs #priority and your personal #attention/participation. While walking through the hall or a project site, where your team is working, you should be able to capture a lot of #information at a glance, as to how are they focused on their job. Similarly, while referring to a document/file you should be very quick to go through it without missing essential details. This saves a lot of time and you take the right and fast #decision related to that document. It is not one skill but continuous skills building. In the emerging global education scenario, there are many online training courses offered by many universities, IITs and organizations like PMI, Agile/Scrum, MOOC, Future-learn, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle and Google.
There are many books/e-books and articles on success, career planning, personnel management, motivation, morale, spiritual inspiration, integrity, leadership, organizational behaviour, team management and more. These are very inspiring and valuable since they contain rich experience and research work of world-famous management experts/gurus. However, these mostly relate to a few areas of career like business, management, marketing, services, manufacturing, and project works but do not adequately cover other fields like education, transport, finance, health services, aviation or security forces. In this book, due emphasis has been given to embracing emerging technologies and being part of the Digital World. This book can act as a handy guide to young professionals in any field. To create a greater impact on you, the book has been written in simple language in conversational mode as if “you” and “I” are having face to face conversation.
For more details refer to my books/e-books available on: www. amazon.in www.flipkart.com - to shop online go to any website and type my name- sarbjit singh, you will see the listing
1) “ A2Z - 26 steps for assured success”
2) "Career challenges during Global Uncertainty"
Dr Sarbjit Singh, Former Exec Director Apeejay College of Engineering & Hony Advisor, School of Engineering and Technology, Apeejay Stya University; Sohna, Gurgaon. Haryana, India 122103.
For Contact: drsarbjit@gmail.com
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