Message from the ASQ Dallas Chair

Greetings to our members!

Greetings and hello to our ASQ Section 1402 members!  The 2011 calendar year is moving quickly into April as we are now in Q2 of 2011, which is also the final quarter of the fiscal year for FY 2010 – 2011.   The theme I wish to promote this month is the term “networking” that benefits your personal life, career and organization.   For simplicity purposes, I am not speaking of the social networking sites that Facebook or other social media sites provide but your organizational and career network.  The term social capital provides you, as a business professional, great benefit to you in your career not only when times are going well but also when your career takes that unexpected turn due to forces and factors not in your control.

My view of professional success in today’s economic climate is where individual preparation meets opportunity.   Success versus luck today are where ASQ professionals who make their own luck in which they constantly assess themselves in their skill-sets and competencies along with their professional network in stepping back a bit to view the big picture.  If you remember anything in this month’s newsletter please remember the number “5.”    We tend to get so myopic in our current jobs and situation that we are metaphorically at the bottom of that “5” which we will call the dance floor.  We are so consumed and tactically utilized in our jobs and professions with being reactive and putting out fires that we forget to extricate ourselves and move ourselves to the top of the “5” which we will call the balcony.   It is that ability of deciding when, as professionals, we need to migrate from the bottom to the top and then back again to the bottom that we gain with experience of what works for us.  

This career self-assessment should be a constant in what we do today as ASQ professionals - especially when we have jobs.  The idea of “benevolence” in giving back and promoting our profession should be an item that we should think about at one point in our careers.  For the more experienced quality professional, we all have had mentors or coaches one way or the other that believed in us and helped us struggle along to provide us with break-through knowledge and experience one gets to enable us to that next plateau.  The idea is so foreign to us of finding our own replacements, whether it is in our current job, Leadership Team position or whatever career path we are involved.  We just feel we do not have the time to dedicate to doing this that we feel there is minimally nothing in it for us, so we “turf-protect” and settle for complacency and henceforth no personal or career growth. 

Only realizing those who take the time to reengineer our careers over a life span leads to personal satisfaction and growth.  It takes some humility along with passion and that never-ending quest to improve continuously.  I know this.  I am one of those converts myself.  I spent the 90’s in and out of ASQ in it for myself just taking exams, the WIIFM syndrome.  I can tell you that from a career perspective and a personal perspective (as well as Toastmasters) that the ability to further grow ones professional network especially in the areas that you are weak in does wonders for your career. 

I hope each and every one of you take heed of my advice and map out today your own professional network (there are software programs today that do this for you within a context of an organization) and see where your weaknesses are.  Then develop a strategy to strengthen the area you are weak in.   A picture says so much of the nodules that you show minimal network lines to.  So go ahead and ask for coaching/mentoring or join the many SIG (Special Interest Groups) groups and surround yourself with various levels of experience that can set you on the right track.  Participate at an LT level in working on a committee.  Partner yourself outside of your domain to learn how they approach quality.  See what works for you and adopt it but not only copy it, you should improve it as well. 

Once you get the taste of it, you too will be hooked and be passionate about promoting the quality profession and helping others reach their own personal goals of success defined in the individual’s terms.  There is no greater feeling one can get when you know you have made a tremendous difference in someone’s life.  Won’t you take my personal challenge to every one of our ASQ members to do so today in promoting your own network!  You cannot afford not to because the quality profession is relying on you as the current caretakers of our profession so that we can hand it off to our next generation of quality professionals in a better position then when we found it.   Again, Hi-5’s to everyone, it is now up to you! 

Sincerely,

Joseph Sepulveda

Please mark your calendar to attend the April Professional Development Meeting:

    April Professional Development Meeting
    April 28, 2011

Please see the Dallas ASQ Website for registration details.