Posts Tagged ‘goals’

Much is written about the benefits of setting goals and how they can transform individual and organisational performance.  While it is true that goals can make a real difference, they need to be meaningful.  What do I mean when I say that they need to be meaningful?

They need to focus on something that matters

Too often, organisations set goals that they think should rather than setting goals that they really care about.  When this happens, it might be due to the organisation losing sight of its core purpose or reason for being in business.

They need to be realistic

There are many differing points of view on what is realistic and what is not realistic.  Part of this realism test is about taking stock of where you are right now and whether the timescale that you have set for achieving the goal is believable to you and your team.

They need to measurable

If you are to set a meaningful goal you need to be able to measure whether you are on track or off track when it comes to delivering the anticipated results.  If you find that you are struggling to determine a way of measuring, it might be that you need to revisit your goal to make more specific and reduce vagueness.

Bottom Line – Goals that are meaningful can help you and your team achieve organisational success. So what do you need to do to make your goals more meaningful?

The new year is a time when most of us make plans for the year ahead.  The vast majority of these plans or goals fizzle out by February or March of each year.

If you want to use goal setting to get results you need to be clear firstly on what a goal is and what a goal is not.   You then need to understand and be ready to address some of the barriers to your success in order to achieve results.

To help you to use goal setting to get results, I am providing a recording from a recent teleseminar that I delivered.  I hope you enjoy it and as always please add your comments or ideas on what you have found most effective when it comes to goal setting.

A new year is often a time when people take stock and set some resolutions for the year ahead.  Most of these resolutions never materialise so it might seem that there is little point in setting out what you want to achieve in 2009.  Yet in truth, if you are someone who:

• Knows what they want
• Knows why they want it
• Knows what they are willing to do and not do to achieve what they want
• Takes consistent action towards achieving their goal

you will be setting yourself up for success.  Research by ThinkTQ identified that

• Only 25% set a specific target for what they want
• Less than 3% have a specific goal for each major area of their life
• Less than 55% aim high when it comes to goals
• Less than 11% write down goals with declared target dates
• Less than 2% set start and end dates for goals
• Less than 8% take consistent action towards attaining a goal

So what is it you want to achieve in 2009 as a manager or leader?

 

There is a great phrase that I came across which really captures the benefit of having goals.  Goals are merely dreams or desires with legs.  If you are a leader, I am sure that you want to be a success and setting goals is one of the key tools that you can use to achieve success.  So what are 5 main reasons to set goals?

 

Reason 1: Increased Focus

 

If you have a goal it gives you focus something to aim for, a target or vision to work to.  The desire to achieve that target keeps you focussed on the things that matter to achieving the outcome that you want rather than getting distracted.

 

Reason 2: Higher Motivation

 

Achieving or making progress towards a goal can be hugely motivating.  Imagine for example you want to improve your time management.  When you start you probably struggle to keep to the discipline of planning your day, keeping track of your time and managing interruptions.  Pretty quickly you start to see that the actions you are taking are having a real impact which drives and motivates you to do more.

 

Reason 3: More Success

 

If you set yourself a goal you are more likely to succeed.  Once you set an idea in your mind that you are going to do something, there is likely to be a much greater chance of success.  Why? The reason is that you will go the extra mile to achieve it.

 

Reason 4: Confidence Building

 

If you start setting and achieving goals your confidence will rise.  I use myself as an example.  I left school at 16 with basic qualifications.  I started an Accountancy Diploma at night school.  Each time I passed a set of exams it gave me the confidence to tackle the next level.  Eventually I qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant.  It gave may the confidence to apply for more and more senior jobs.

 

Reason 5:  Personal Growth

 

Every time we set a goal we grow as a person.  The reason for this is that we are probably going to have to develop or learn about something to achieve it.  Chances are we might even have to step out of our comfort zone to do it.  Maybe there was a time when you had to work really hard to achieve a goal around a presentation or proposal.  I am sure that in the process of achieving the goal you learned a lot of new skills and about what you could achieve if you put your mind to it.

 

Bottom Line – Goals lead to action and action leads to results.  So what goals will you set to achieve even more success as a leader?