Second chapter of my TLP book

TLP brains @ work

We had a good dosage of TLP training last week. It was very interesting and kind of laid back. The content of the training was to help us hone our soft skills, how to ask the right questions, behavior analysis and team building activities. We were assigned into teams and had to come up with an initiative for the retail banking business. We drafted a business case for our project and gave a 10 min presentation to the trainers.

My team's In/Out of scope chart

Training was not all work and no play.. We had lots of fun too :)

We got our location assignments for the 3^rd and 4^th rotation and I was thrilled since I got what I wanted.. So Dallas here I Come!

First week in my ‘new’ rotation has been really good. I am working on two projects for the Consumer Lending Group, Production Assurance team. I have already started contributing in one of the projects. The team I work with really helped me to get up to speed. On the very first day, my manager told me what projects I will be working on and in what role. He had all the reading materials ready for me and helped me reach out to the project managers. This was a totally different experience from the first week of my previous rotation where I was in a discover session meeting with 60 other people!

Reunion

Last week being my final week of my first rotation was very hectic. I was trying to complete all my assigned tasks and the necessary transition work. It kind of felt like I was moving away from something that I have had for a while. I had my end-of-rotation appraisal on Friday evening and I was very glad to hear my manager’s comments. He gave me some valuable career advice which I am going to carry with me for a very long time. I have always thought that it was very difficult to be a friend/mentee with your manager.. But I was wrong. I know that my manager’s doors are always open for me to talk to him.

Picture source: dilbert.com

Today all the TLPs are arriving at Blue Ash for the training. We are going to be staying at the same Marriott hotel. Our training starts on Monday. It is going to be very interesting because we are here only for a week and we are working on something which is more of requirements gathering and design rather than application development. I am very excited to meet all my TLP friends!

Just one week of training and we start our second rotation on the 28^th. I am moving from the fourth floor to the fifth floor since I have moved over to the Consumer Lending Group. I am looking forward to working in this line of business and the role I am taking on is going to be very interesting since the project is one of key initiatives at the NAIT level for 2008.

Interview with Janice

I got to know Janice only during the middle of the Bootcamp, the main reason being we were in different teams and different training rooms majority of the time. She was the Individual Award winner for CLG-IT in December 07, her personal commitment being “I will be accountable, disciplined, and accept personal ownership in everything I do”. From what I know of her, she is very friendly, smart and a finance guru.

Tell us a little bit about your educational/professional background.

I graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in Accounting, but took a number of IT courses out of personal interest. With my major, I spent the past two summers doing internships in fields entirely unrelated to IT; one was spent as a Business Analyst for a non-profit company and the other as a Forensic Accounting intern for a Big 4 Accounting firm. I applied to TLP out of recommendation from another current TLP, Rosie DePaoli, knowing that I had an affinity for technology and wanted a leadership program with plenty of variety after graduation. The opportunity to do something different was exciting - So far, so good!

The rotations are almost coming to an end. So far how would you rate the learning and contribution factors in your current rotation and in the Consumer Lending Group?

My current rotation is as a Strategic Initiatives Project Manager in the Consumer Lending Group. I’m working with a Senior Leader in CLG and cannot say enough about the experience thus far. I have been given the opportunity to do significant project work on highly visible initiatives across CLG’s three lines of business – CitiFinancial Auto, Student Loan Corp (SLC), and Real Estate Lending (REL). It’s nice to know that I’m not just doing research or a “case-study,” but actually contributing to NAIT/CLG-sponsored projects. I’m in the process of closing out my rotation by leading the CLG NAIT Planview (Resource Management, Time-tracking Tool) implementation and it’s my project. I am the person accountable if anything goes wrong, and I enjoy the level of responsibility/ownership. My manager has been great about giving me opportunities to stretch myself and gain exposure across CLG.

What would you say is your biggest take away from being with Citigroup as an organization for the past 7 months?

Stating the obvious here, but Citi is a large, large corporation and as with any corporation this size, bureaucracy exists – often in large amounts. Initially, it was easy to become discouraged in dealing with the “red tape,” but I’ve found that with the right amount of prodding, eventually you’ll get what you need. Rules, processes, and even people will get in the way so if you want anything to get done, find a way to deal with those obstacles immediately. There’s always a workaround or alternate solution. Sucking it up and working a little bit harder helps.

Thanks a lot Janice!

It is time!

First of all I wish all the current and future TLPs a Very Happy New Year.

Today is THE day for the TLPs.. We are going to get our second rotation assignments. I am very excited about it. I have decided to move from Citi Cards to a different Line of Business (LOB). This is one of the best things about the program, you can not only experience different positions/roles but also work for different LOBs.

Speaking of rotation submissions, we had a relatively larger pool of positions this time. The TLPs at Sioux Falls presented to the Managers what sort of position descriptions and details we would like to have. Thanks to Nik, Brandon, Gil, Stacey and Erin for their effort!

Unlike last time, we were able to form a good network to exchange rotation information and share our experiences working for a particular team/LOB. This was very helpful to identify if you actually fit in a particular team work environment.