Setting meaningful goals: Monday Matters #4

Goal-setting has been proven many times over to increase performance and motivation. But all too often we see teams and individuals get too bogged down in how “SMART” a goal is or what format of goal-setting adopt across a whole company, such as OKRs. All too often we see teams getting bogged down by defining a process for coming up with goals which holds people back from actually cracking on and gaining clarity on what their goals are. 

Here’s some basic things you should do to practice goal-setting within your work and start seeing the results:

Know your strengths and values

We very much believe that people are most effective and motivated when they build upon their strengths and do work that aligns to their values. There are a whole load of ways you can explore your strengths - online tests such as High5 and Characterscope will provide you with your broad strengths and offer you ways of getting feedback about what other people perceive as your strengths. If you are looking at setting shared goals we also recommend you do exercises which map the unique strengths of each individual within your team to ensure you are using each of your team members to the best of their abilities. 

Values are equally important. Taking time to reflect on what you value most in life and work will enable you to set goals that you really believe in. Facilitating a workshop with your team to define shared values and delve into each of your individual values is not only about coming to an agreement about the most important values for you as a team but it’s also important to unearth the differences between each of your individual values. This isn’t about saying what’s right or wrong, it’s about gaining a deep knowledge of yourselves and the people you work with so you can write goals that you are all going to be excited to achieve. 

Reflect on what’s been happening to date

Before jumping into setting goals for the future take some time to reflect on what’s been happening for you up until that point. Think about specific scenarios where you’ve achieved what you set out to achieve - what made that so? Think about situations which you feel could have gone better or where you failed to do what you set out to do - how might you reframe these situations to help you going forward? You might also want to get feedback from your peers to help you think about what you might want to focus on next. 

Ask someone to coach you on your goals

Coaching is a hugely powerful way of exploring your goals, deeply understanding the context around those goals and setting achievable steps towards long-term aims. Talking with someone else about your goals also helps you to verbalise aspects of your goal which you may not have thought about previously and will help you refine the language you use to describe what you are hoping to achieve. If you’ve not experienced coaching before we run an introductory program for teams on how to adopt a coaching approach as a manager. If you’d like to be coached by someone outside of your team or organisation many coaching institutions offer directories of qualified coaches (ICF directory / Co-active directory) or we can also recommend you a range of professional coaches that we work with regularly. 

Share your goals openly with others

Once you think you know what your goals are, share them with as many people as you feel comfortable. You might use software to track your goals which you could open up to your teammates or wider company, or perhaps it’s just about sharing your goals in writing with those who are most interested. Not only does sharing your goals mean you will feel more accountable but you’ll also find people are interested in how they might be able to help you achieve your goals. I’ve often found that once I start sharing my goals there are usually more people than I realised who have similar or complementary goals. These conversations might open up opportunities for you to collaborate with others and support one another to achieve your ambitions. 

Adapt and iterate on your goals

As you start working towards your goals it is often the case that you will learn more about the goal. Whether that’s realising that there are more barriers to achieving that goal than you first thought, or perhaps you discover a slightly different goal that you feel is more urgent or more aligned to your values. Don’t be afraid to revisit your goals at any time and adapt your focus based on what you’ve learnt. Our world changes rapidly - and whilst it can often be great to maintain focus on the same goal in spite of turbulent and uncertain times it is also important to be flexible, regroup and reset when you need to. 

We’d love to hear more about your experiences of goal-setting. What do you find useful when setting goals? What stops you from setting meaningful goals? Share your reflections in the comments below!

If you’d like to work with us to help your team set meaningful goals we offer facilitation, training and ongoing team coaching & consulting. Get in touch to find out more.