‘Job Hacks’ Category

Professional Goals Examples

In order to have a fulfilled life almost anyone can agree that one of the most important elements is a successful carrier. And, of course, to have a g...

 

In order to have a fulfilled life almost anyone can agree that one of the most important elements is a successful carrier. And, of course, to have a great carrier you must know how to build it. This is why I believe that it is very important to know a few professional goals examples. If you know how to establish what are the true professional goals you should focus on, than you should have a much easier time in creating a great carrier. So, let’s get right to it and see what some useful professional goals examples look like.

1.      Always Aim High. People tend to think they can never reach the highest position in the company. They set out to be a more important peace in the giant jigsaw of a company, but very rarely do they aim for a decision-making position, something with rear power that can affect real change. I have seen this problem with many people, and this is why I believe that this one of the most important of the professional goals examples that I will give.

2.      Don’t Get Complacent. Some people are very afraid to make a change in their life. Most of his is because they are under estimating their own self worth. When they find a job they get comfortable in it and even if there are other job opportunities that can be much more benefic for their carriers, they don’t take them because it is not a sure thing. Of course, any job change has a bit of risk involved: that you won’t be good at the new job; that you won’t like it; that they will fire you shortly after and you won’t be able to go back to your previous job. But you must always take some risks, because otherwise you will get stuck in the same dead end job.

3.      Don’t Limit Yourself To The Job You Have. If you want to get ahead in any company, one of the best of the professional goals examples I can think of is to always try to understand what the person directly above you in the company hierarchy does. You must not limit yourself to the job you have, and if you are angling for a promotion, one of the best ways to do it is to make sure you know what the better position involves, and prove that you have what it takes to do it.

4.      Express Your Opinion. This is sometimes a double edged sword. I am not talking about being insolent towards your bosses because that might get you in trouble. What I mean to say is that you should always filter thru your own thought the decisions or the reports you hand to your bosses. If you think that something could be more efficient if it would be done in a certain way, than say so, and if you are right, most bosses would appreciate you for it.

5.      Hire Better Than Yourself. This is one of those professional goals examples that apply mostly to entrepreneurs, but also to anybody that has hiring power. If you want to start a business, than remember that you should always hire better than yourself. Because if you start by hiring people that are worse at a job than you are, than they will do the same, and sooner or later you will be out of business. At the same time you must keep in mind that if you hire better than yourself, you will always have good quality employees, and you should never worry that they will try to get your job because that is for people who never make anything of themselves.

6.      Choose A Mentor. I believe that this is one professional goal that most people overlook. A mentor can be very useful, if you choose him correctly. He or she must be people you admire and are at a point in their carriers you hope to be in ten years time. They will help you out with critical advice that they have learned do to their own experience.

7.      Never Give Up. I think this one speaks for itself, so I am not going to bother you with details except by saying that if I had to choose just one advice of the seven I have mentioned, this would be it.

I have learned during my carrier so far, and from other people’s experiences that the best way to advance in your carrier is to set some professional goals and try to stick to them. It is hard to choose form all the professional goals examples you can find almost everywhere o the internet and in books, but this is the list that I found to be most helpful for me, so why don’t you give it a try and see if it’s your cup of tea.    

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Different Types Of Leadership Styles

 

There are many types of leadership styles. I believe that there actually is a kind of leadership style for each individual person, but of course I will try to focus in this article on the main categories of leadership styles and their characteristics. There can be many ways of sorting between all the types of leadership styles and I hope the list I have compiled in the paragraphs below is comprehensive enough. So, let’s see what most consider being the main types of leadership styles shall we:

I.                   The Classic Leadership Styles:

1.      The autocratic leadership style. Also known as the authoritarian leadership style, this is the kind of boss that most of us are probably used to. This is the type of boss that doesn’t accept other opinions, only his way of doing things is right , and you’d better do what he says or else. This kind of leadership style is productive only in some very rare cases and it usually leads to a hostile working environment.

2.      The democratic leadership style. This is the kind of boss that always asks for the opinions of his employees. He let’s everybody throw in their two cents about most of the decisions in the company, and he weighs everything attentively, after deciding what course of action to undertake. This kind of leader is very well suited for a team that has to be creative and come up with new ideas on a regular basis.

3.      The laissez faire leadership style. This is another pretty common form of leadership styles. It relies on very little involvement on the boss’s part. He usually just lets things run in their normal fashion and only intervenes when he feels things might get out of hand.

II.               The Transactional Leadership Style. This is another way of categorizing leadership styles, based on some studies did in the ’60. This is one of those types of leadership’s styles that apply to multi-national corporations or to big companies in general. This type of boss is adamant about doing thing by the book. He is there to make sure that everything runs smoothly, and to maintain the current order of things. He is more like a cog in a bigger system than the decision maker. His decisions only affect his team, in the sense that he just needs to follow orders sent from above, and maintain his team’s productivity in the set parameters. 

III.            The Transformational Leadership Style. This is another one of the more recently developed types of leadership styles. This type of leadership style involves certain attributes that one must have, such as charisma and vision. This leader is more suited to teams that need to be the creative center of a company. He is well equipped for getting the best from his staff. He has a very hands-on approach and will try to shape the directions that a company will follow in the future.

IV.              The Strategic Leadership Style. This sort of leadership style has become commonplace in big corporations. The inspiration for this type of leadership style can be found in the military. Generals and high ranking officers have to be experts in strategic thinking. They have to always find innovative ways thru which they can outfox their adversaries on the battle ground. This sort of thinking has become very important for big companies. In a very competitive market having somebody with strategic thinking in a position of power can prove to be an important edge over your competitors.

V.                The Coaching Style Of Leadership. This is a very unique type of leadership. While most leadership positions involve just the managing of a team, a coaching style of leadership includes training and teaching. This in some ways is much more complex, because there is a whole array of different skills that one needs to employ in order to be a good teacher. You have to be able to figure out what is the best suited teaching style for each individual employee, and you also have to be able to know how hard you can push somebody before they crack. You need to be able to train new skills fast and efficient.

I believe this should sum up nicely the main types of leadership styles. Of course this list could go on and on by including for example, the emerging leadership style, based on people who can gradually ascertain a leadership status after being part of a team, but I believe that I have covered the main categories. Of course there is another fundamentally different way of looking at things which I did not mention in this article because of the vastness of the subject, and that is the difference in leadership styles when it comes to culture: for example, the American leadership style is very different from he Asian leadership style.

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