Setting goals is known to be a fundamental aspect of both professional and personal growth. As goals provide motivation and direction to our lives, it brings a sense of purpose as well. But for the goals to be achieved, you need to be careful about quite a few things. One, it must be attainable, and secondly, your mindset should be strong and singular. This becomes extremely important, especially for managers at their office grounds. So, let’s figure out what goal setting is and how you, as a manager can stay focused on the route of achieving those.
What is Goal Setting?
Goal setting is a process that defines the outcomes you want to achieve at a given period. For example, if you want to read 12 books within a year, let’s say, a book per month. Then you have set a goal for yourself. With an image of you finishing one book every month, you can motivate yourself and induce action. This works excellently even for the things that you do not like to do that often. Goals setting works wonders for personal growth and development. But that is not all, you can use it for your professional life as well, working to achieve strategic objectives with the teams.
1. Aligning the Goal with the Company Framework
As a manager, it is your job to set goals for your team and achieve those within time. Moreover, you are responsible for the work of not just yours, but for your team as well. So before jumping and setting goals that suit your interest, look well at the scope and context of your team’s work. Most of the time, people inmanagerial positions will be provided with a broad framework. This can include the frameworks of goal setting for the entire organization. OKRs or “objectives and key results” or MBOs or “Management by objectives” can be there. Whatever you choose, you need to keep it the same for the entire company, because it is easy-going and compatible. At the same time, it works for cross-collaborations as well.
2. Make the Goals Challenging
If you were asked to run a hundred meters right now, you would be up for it. But if you were asked to run a half marathon three months from now, you would think twice before saying yes and plan your routine to be able to do so. The second goal requires you to plan, practice, and strategize, and this is the exact environment that you need in your workplace. A small yet challenging goal has the power to keep things moving. Every workplace needs its goals to be clear yet challenging, as it positively impacts the team’s performance.
3. Regular Updates
While working hard towards achieving the goals, it is equally important to think back to the goals you and your team have met and track the goals. When you track them regularly, you will notice the progress that you have made so far, and point out the points that the team is stuck at. Achieving goals is faster and more effective when the manager is supportive and helps the team move on from the places they are stuck.
4. Aligning the Goals with Individual Development
While you are setting goals for your workplace, make sure you are keeping your members and their individual interests in mind. Because workplace goals can be significantly out of sync for many workers if the assigned tasks do not meet their personal development and growth at the company. As a result, this could lead to disappointing and demotivating work from them. So to put it simply., set the goals with your team members, not for them.
At the same time, excitement is a great motivator. However, to become successful at achieving goals that you have set starts with the goals being achievable in real life!
