Ahh, the start of a new year. I always enjoy the beginning of the year as it is a great time to reflect on the past year as well as start thinking (& dreaming) about what you want to do over the next 12 months. I have a little ritual at this time of year. I go back through my photos and my calendar and take a look at what I have been up to. I also update my personal financial snapshot to look at our financials and assets/liabilities. After this I start looking at the next 12 months.
So what are your goals for the year? Will you just go through the motions as in the past, or are you going to take the time to identify what you want to achieve at work and at home? Have you taken the time to write them out and commit them to paper? I find that a few random thoughts and ideas in the mind is not the same as writing them down and publishing them as a way to ensure that you take action towards them.
This is even more important if you are a Manager or leader of a team. This is the time to get your people together and work with them to clearly identify the goals and the activities that collectively will achieve these. One recommendation is to use a visual process that allows everyone to participate and get involved. I use a process called Compression Planning, which allows a group of people to equally share and identify the strategies moving forward in a shorter amount of time—walking a way with a written business plan for the next 12 months (with 90 day milestones). So what are you doing with your team to empower and engage them in the goals for the year?
Map Your Goals for 2020:
- Your Work Goals. Start by identifying what activity you need to focus on this year to help you achieve the outcomes you want. Capture the 3-5 work goals you want to accomplish and then identify the Critical Path that you need to take to reach these goals. Make sure that you identify goals that will stretch you to the next level.
- Team Goals. If you are in a position of leadership with other people identify what it is that you are going to do to empower, stretch and develop them. Share this with them and commit time and energy to making sure it happens. Ideally you would have a planning session with your people that allows them to get actively involved in identifying the goals or the activities that need to be taken to achieve these goals. Given how quickly the world is changing, this is an important process to use on a regular basis to keep them focused and motivated.
- At Home. Be careful not to get sucked into the world of work and forget the things that are important to you at home. Schedule time to attend your children’s school activities, even during the day (everyone can get 1-2 hours off of work—just plan ahead). Identify the touchpoints and time that you are going to spend with your partner or significant others to make sure that work does not consume all of your time.
When you look at people you know that have achieved great things throughout the year, the majority of them did not just ‘get lucky’, they had a number of goals and worked on a plan to achieve these goals. I have found a direct correlation between writing goals and achieving them. There seems to be something that occurs when we commit our goals onto paper—and use this as a reminder of the things we want to do.
Also make sure that you share these goals with others, it often will create a sense of purpose with them also thinking and identifying their goals for the year which is a great way to strengthen a team. If you would like to find out more about Compression Planning and how to involve your team in planning the next year’s goals, send me an email and I can share a few ideas.
