new role + 360

and so it has been confirmed - contract signed yesterday and announcement made today.
I will be starting my new role end this week. not much changes - still in the same functional team, going back to my old team though majority of the team members are new and reporting to the same boss.
but on the other side, new changes ahead too. for a start, back to month-end closing for me after sitting out of that for the last 7 months!
and going forward, I need to rely on and continue to hone specific skill sets that are more relevant in this new role. hopefully, my natural disposition of being positive and apt ability to build meaningful relationships will help me greatly in this space. one great tip from a manager is that one of the most key thing to constantly remind myself is now, it's no longer just me doing the work but I've to master the art of doing work through others. an art indeed especially I'm someone who is action-oriented and mostly accustomed to doing work at my pace.

we shall see how it goes but im positive as usual. as with all challenges facing us, an open mind and positive mindset will definitely make a difference.
no matter where and how I emerge later from this stint, im sure there will be growth. and I hold the key in ensuring that happens. so at times, if you are the very one closing the door in your mind, then don't get too uptight or surprised when you realize the light at the end of the tunnel is from an approaching train!

received my 360 report 1 week back as well and done a follow-up session with an external consultant. it was really interesting to find out how others perceive me in action at work. essentially, there are 4 groups of respondents chosen by me - 2-up managers, peers, internal stakeholders (1-up managers whom I don't report to and not necessarily from finance), team members of a project im leading - 15 in total.
the great thing that comes out of the report was the gap between how I perceive myself (I need to do the survey on myself too) and how others perceive me is not significant by any stretch for all areas. it shows that my self-awareness is intact and not haywire. *relieved*
generally, the report reveals top strengths of mine to be someone strong in execution & prioritization and definitely a people-person. nothing too surprising here. top areas of development are on conflict resolution and taking risks and be more innovative in learning. this is the interesting bit.

for someone who is non-confrontational and greatest fear lies in not being liked by others, I admit that there is nary a meltdown/blow-up at work with others for me. but I can be assertive and push back stuff that I don't agree with. but again, that only comes out after I deploy all the influencing/negotiation skills I have. so per my discussion with my 2-up managers and the external consultant, either I'm very lucky to never meet anyone that difficult before or I've always manage to resolve the conflict before it  even escalates to a "conflict" definition stage. my scores aint high in this area in the survey partly due to a handful of respondents rating NA or not as high score for me simply because they commented no opportunity to see me in action for this area.

on the bit on innovation, consensus with my boss/consultant is that that can only be drawn upon experience/exposure. but reading related materials can be a good start. for someone who is pretty good at taking risks, I was a tad surprised at how people see me not so good at it in learning. but as I understand better, im good at taking calculated  risks in areas that I know well or where I can trust others but perhaps it's the way finance peeps/I'm wired, taking the plunge in new areas can be really a leap of faith at times. and one that I find it hard to take the first step out. good thing is, innovation though largely hereditary can be trained (or so it is accordingly to my boss who read a great deal of such self-improvement books.

and the other interesting revealing bit from the 360 is that the peers & team members of the project im leading (also my peers from other teams) groups rated me consistently lower than the other 2 respondents groups. so there is this interesting and insightful (?) discussion with some on why is this so. hmm..

all in all, a good exercise. I need time to reflect on the discussion points I had with the consultant and hopefully I can formulate some acion items that are sustainable and measurable for the next 6-12months.

it will be sometime before I have the luxury to do a similar exercise - not exactly cheap and only relevant at certain stages of worklife. having said so, no one is stopping you or me to do informal catch-up with others to receive feedback from time to time!