Celebrating Fiscal Year 2017 and Making It a Happy One!

In four short weeks, the beginning of a new fiscal year will be upon us. Have you considered making resolutions, either career or personal goals, to kick-off Fiscal Year (FY) 2017? As for me, I typically do not resolve to do anything except sleep in, if possible on January 1. Over the last few years, this resolution hasn’t been realized due to parental responsibilities but I’ve never been one to make New Year Resolutions because those trite plans to lose weight, exercise more, eat better, save more money never last past a few days or weeks. C’mon, let’s be real!

However, as September 30 is fast approaching, I’d like to change my game up a bit. That is, this upcoming fiscal year, I aim to continue working towards skill development and maximizing opportunities that will get me closer to my personal and professional goals. Take for example, this incredible opportunity to guest blog for GovLoop. It has sparked fire under my seat to brainstorm topics for a series of weeks, while balancing simultaneous tasks within my regular work portfolio, and challenged me to hone in on my writing skills.

Now is the opportune time for me to dust off my performance plan, particularly because my mid-year review was completed at the end of June. I am curious to review my accomplishments over the summer as well as assess the work that remains to be completed. In anticipation of FY 17, I will stay ahead of the curve by doing all I can to minimize unnecessary stress. During the month of September, I will be working on a vision board to help clarify, concentrate and maintain focus on goals to be accomplished in FY 17.

Additionally, in observance of the federal government-wide new fiscal year, I am interested in celebrating with my team members. In New Resolutions: Seven Team Building Actions for Government Leaders, Dan Lohrmann suggests “Celebrat[ing] accomplishments and recogniz[ing] professional achievements on a personal basis…Building better relationships and professional trust with your management, peers and subordinates…There is no better way than over food and drink.”

While informal gatherings are often a priority, this popular team-building activity often gets bumped down the priority list due to conflicting assignments and schedules. One way to ensure that team meetings are engaging for all is to offer light refreshments. For this upcoming fiscal year, raise your water bottle and toast your colleagues. Utilize team meetings to create team meaning. Acknowledge collective contributions and efforts towards operationalizing organizational goals.

Thinking about how to prepare for the new fiscal year and serve my team better, I came across an inspiring video entitled The Meaning of TEAM. Together Everyone Achieves More! 2.0. What I appreciated most about this video was the notion expressed about teamwork being the “fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results” and how “good ideas double in value when shared with others.”

Furthermore, the video offers interesting perspectives about team members and how they:

• Share authority and responsibility for self-management
• Create synergy with strong sense of mutual commitment
• Generate performance greater than the sum of individual members’ performance.

Are you ready to do something different? Commit to yourself? Commit to your team? Set aside time and outline a resolution or two. Make sure you see this resolution come to fruition. Make FY 17 the year that brought you closer to your personal and professional goals. Only you have the power to make your resolutions come true!

Disclaimer: The opinions, references, and views expressed in this post are those of the guest blogger and do not reflect the official policy or position of the agency where she is currently employed.

Yesenia Flores Díaz is part of the GovLoop Featured Blogger program, where we feature blog posts by government voices from all across the country (and world!). To see more Featured Blogger posts, click here.