It’s the start of a new year and 2008 business plans are off and running. While organizational growth initiatives are critical, it is just as critical to have a personal growth strategy. Most individual performance plans map out areas of opportunity, but those are likely to be more circumscribed and relate to specific job goals. For a true personal growth strategy, assume a broader view and personal responsibility for your development. How will you expand your knowledge, your skill sets, and your competencies this year?

It’s easy to look closely at the requirements of a position and only address improvements that link directly to the elements of a job. That is important, don’t get me wrong. If you are charged with accounting you want to constantly improve your accounting skills. But to continuously challenge yourself, grow, and provide the greatest amount of intellectual agility for your company, back it up. How can you become even more effective, not just at accounting, but also at innovative thinking and problem-solving in general?

This is where it gets really fun. When you take personal responsibility for your growth, you open yourself up to broader areas of learning. One way to approach your personal growth plan is to think about the knowledge you’d like to gain and the skills you’d like to develop, and outline a plan for yourself. You may even want to brainstorm with colleagues and share your findings.

Especially at higher levels, the ability to think tangentially, to bring in benchmarking examples from other industries, and to apply ideas from one area to another is just as important as directly improving job skills. Outline things you’d like to learn about: online networking, particular global practices, even the philosophy and strategies of a wildly successful company not in your industry. Apply actions and timelines or the best intentions may fall to the wayside.

Adding new skills is important as well. Expand that box a bit. Perhaps you might find it interesting to be able to digest the finer points of a financial statement, or engage strangers in conversation. Your plans don’t have to be grandiose, but they do need to be articulated.

These are aspects of personal development that may or may not show up on your official performance plan. The point is to take personal responsibility for your growth - broadly defined - because as professionals, we want to keep it fresh and challenging for ourselves, and continue to provide our organizations with innovative thinking. What are your plans?