Ok...let's talk about career focus.

Some of you may know that I am up for promotion to manager next year. That means that I have this year to really shine. However, while getting promoted is my immediate goal...growing and developing long term are my overriding goals. As you can imagine, I have been thinking quite a bit about just how to do this.

Well, last week was a wonderful catalyst for me, as I was able to attend the National Association of Black Accountants annual convention. I learned a ton about myself, and really was able to get a handle on what I want for my career. There are a couple of areas that I am hoping to focus on...

1st - I am planning to really double my efforts and give 110%. This means to minimize my daily procrastination (not helped by the fact that I am blogging at work right now), and really focus on getting a set number of executables out the door by the end of the day. Also, I am going to be more proactive (increasing my D, for my DiSC profile folks ;-) by making more suggestions and initiating more projects/tasks on my team. This will definitely force me to step outside of my comfort zone and stretch beyond my current limits. However, this is how you grow, right? Lastly, and probably most importantly, I will need to really focus on delivering quality work on time. Of course, quality and budget are the backbone of all of our industries. Delivering in this arena are the minimum requirements for continued success.

2nd - I am planning to become more active within my profession. Previously I have not been very active within my local NABA chapter, which is really a shame. Now that I think about it, I doubt that my firm even has a strong presence at the city level. I am going to commit myself to attending as many chapter meetings and events as possible. My goal is to attend a chapter meeting and 1 external event/month. Additionally, I am a member of ISACA, an association for IT folks. I am setting a goal to get to 1 meeting/quarter. I just can't do it on a monthly basis, but I will set out to show up bi-monthly or quarterly.

3rd - This is probably the easiest/yet still challenging as it is merely a matter of stepping up in my current role. I am really going to re-commit myself to developing my relationships and having an impact within my company. I have been an active member of our affinity group since I was hired, however, I lessened my efforts over the last year in order to assist on another initiative. This year, I would like to re-focus on the affinity group, and seek out new ways to meet and develop our black professionals. The good thing is that I am already familiar with the group and the individuals. The tough thing (which we will simply think of as an opportunity for growth), is that I will really need to stay organized and on target. Putting together several quality programs/events throughout the year (in addition to my normal job responsibilities) will not be easy. Also, leadership in the affinity group often results in participation in other diversity and inclusiveness initiatives (hence me receiving a request this morning to help organize a diversity golf outing). However, as this is one of my personal passions, then I am quite up to the challenge.

Whew, that was a mouthful, but I will try to give you all updates throughout the year regarding my progress. I accepted the offer to help plan the Diversity Golf Outing (though I certainly know nothing about golfing), and I have scheduled a meeting with the head of the affinity group to discuss our 2009 plan. I think that I am off to a good start.