How can you achieve the goals of your organization?
Goals are what gives direction to you and your organization. Setting business goals keeps you focused on where you want to be and helps to create a plan for getting there. How to achieve a goal successfully? How to set goals and how to achieve goals in business specifically? Check out the list of the top strategies summarized by the Goals team at KeepSolid.
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"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." - Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric 1981-2001. One of the most powerful conversations you can have as a manager with a team member is about their goals. Not company KPIs, not the next core project and their responsibilities, their goals. When you tap into someone's core drivers, you maximize their motivation on the job. They'll even do much of the work on their own time. They'll also do much of the work on their own. According to a 2012 study by The Alliance (P. 44), "75% of employees say that they're willing to use their own time to further their careers and take on additional learning that would benefit them at work." Regardless of age, your people have goals. And if you tap into those goals, they'll be motivated to do more than the task at hand, but all of their work. And connecting with their goals will improve your relationship with them as well. But how do you do that?Since starting Lighthouse, I've spoken to hundreds of managers. And an all too common theme I've found has been an aversion to discussions about their team's goals. The problem? The fear of not knowing how to talk about those goals with them. Let's end that excuse today. Table of Contents:
How to talk about personal development and career goals with your teamThe first step in helping your team members achieve their goals is to understand what their goals are. For many, they've never been asked this question so they may not have a great answer ready. Also, they may be afraid to share their goals if they think it doesn't align with their current job with you. To help get a good, honest conversation going, try these tactics:
If someone still isn't ready to talk about their goals, don't force it. Help those on your team ready to discuss it and revisit this discussion from time to time. Circumstances change for people, and seeing you grow other people may be just what they need to see to be ready to talk about their goals.
Ask good questions to spark the conversationNow that you've built some trust, you need to start asking about their goals. Depending on the culture of your company and how formal your relationship with your team is, different questions may work best. So, here are a few ideas so you can choose what works best for you. From our post on one on one meeting questions great managers ask their teams:There's a variety of things you can talk about in one on ones. Here's a selection of some of the ones we collected for talking about long term goals:
Want to keep track of all of these questions in one place? Download our free 1:1 meeting template below. From The Alliance by Linkedin cofounder Reid Hoffman, with Ben Casnocha, & Chris Yeh:The Alliance is all about the new way to manage teams recognizing the current state of the world, where companies are more prone to layoffs and people change jobs frequently. Their focus is on setting up Tours of Duty to create defined jobs aligned with people's interests and goals, so they have some great questions to spark that conversation:
From the team at Next Big Sound:In a coffee meeting with CEO David Hoffman, I learned they had a simple line of questions that was more fun, and less corporate-y that they used to uncover goals:
Don't just talk. Make progress on their goals.Talking about their goals is great. But if all you're doing is talking, it won't have the lasting, motivating impact on your team. Too often, I've heard from managers and employees alike that goals are often a checkbox on an annual review that gets filled out and then never discussed until the next review. Not surprisingly, the second time this question is asked in a review, the goal is not exactly something they're excited to discuss. Often, this story plays out that the employee gives up on the company helping them reach their goals and eventually leaves to go somewhere else that provides the opportunities that align with their goals and growth. Instead, you should take advantage of the Progress Principle, discovered by psychologists Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer:
Want help laying out a growth plan and sticking to it with your team? Then sign up for a free trial of Lighthouse here. Get helpful questions to spark discussion and a place to structure their goals by signing up here.
Make progress with small wins.It's easy to get intimidated when a goal is large and feels distant. The best way to overcome this is to break the goal into small steps you can both do to help. So what are some ways to break things down into small steps? Discuss together:
You can also help them by making sure each step follow the classic SMART model:
Managers should have steps to help their teams, too!While your team member whose goal it is should be putting in the biggest effort to reach their goal, you can do a lot to help them succeed:
Help them find a mentor to boost their career growthFinding a mentor for your team member has been proven to hypercharge an employee’s growth - a 5-year study by Sun Microsystems found that:
Unfortunately, great mentors can be difficult to find for all of your team members. That’s because they have to be a good match for your team members in terms of their skill set, personality, and availability. Here are some tips on where they can find a mentor and how to approach them. Where can you find a mentor?If you work at a large company with 10,000+ employees, a great place to start looking for a mentor for your team members is within your own company. Unfortunately, sometimes you won’t be lucky enough to find the perfect mentor for them within your own company or network. Luckily, there are a few other places you can include as part of your search:
By trying a mix of the above sources, and empowering your team to do the same, it’s likely all of your team members can find a mentor or two that can help in specific situations. For more tips on how to help your team member find a mentor check out this post:
Here's an example of what an in-progress goal might look like:
Reflect on and celebrate progress along the way.As important as all the ways you can contribute to their goal are, you can also help a ton by holding them accountable. When you help them set a big goal or a new area for growth, it's easy to get discouraged. Reminding them how far they've come and celebrating the small wins along the way can keep them motivated to charge ahead on the goal and keep their morale high. A good manager is a coach. The best time to check in on progress, as well as have the initial goals discussion, is in their one on ones. Since it's a consistent, private meeting for both of you, it's easy to make these part of the topics you rotate through. The best managers I've spoken to suggest once a month is a good frequency to check in on their goals. Do's and don'ts for discussing personal goals with your teamHere are a few closing tips that can help you make the most of these discussions:
Show your team that you care about their goalsShowing your team that you care about their goals is a powerful way to build rapport and increase their motivation. By showing them that their success matters to you, even if those goals don't perfectly align with their current position, you're also building trust. That trust then helps keep communication lines clear and feedback flowing both ways. But there's more you can do to develop your employees. And working with your team to achieve their goals isn't the only way to motivate them. Here are some additional resources on motivation, goals, and one-on-ones: Goals and employee development:Employees are more interested in their own development and training than ever before. However, not everyone is in the same situation for what growth may look like for them. It can vary based on what they know they want, their career or life stage, and what options you have available to them. That's why we have a number of other posts to help you with whatever curve balls your team throws at you. Here's further reading on how to help your people grow regardless of the situation and circumstances:
Ready to get started? Want some help? We have you covered.Looking for help staying organized and mapping out the growth plans for everyone on your team? Want to keep them together with your one on one notes? Then sign up for a free trial of Lighthouse. Built with best practices and the latest workplace research, it helps you make the most of the time you invest in your people. Want to continue learning about 1 on 1s? This post is one of dozens we have to help you be your best in any situation. Find our comprehensive guide to one on one meetings here. |