“I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.” Lily Tomlin
We cannot help smile at the underlying truth behind the humor above. While developing my own goals for 2019 I thought it would be a good start to help others chart their journey too.
Goal setting is crucial for organizational and personal growth. Goals must be written down– writing clarifies our thinking and what the mind sees it believes. Developing SMART goals annually, monthly or weekly is intuitive for many who have reaped the benefits of making things happen in their life and business. The fact that each person can chart his or her own course in life is fundamental to our existence. It is the application of our God-given free will to determine our path while committing it to God’s guidance.
When you set goals it is not just about achieving something, it is more about learning what matters, what is truly important, sharpening your critical thinking skills and also learning about who you are and what you value. In short, goal setting is a learning process.
Leading Others – Setting Organizational Goals
In business, setting goals is about serving your customers better in ways that matter to them. This requires a true understanding of customer needs and expectations. Goals provide a sense of purpose, direction and make the team accountable for results.
Organizational goals will help focus everyone’s efforts on achieving something that brings value to the customer and the organization in return. There must be an alignment between business units goals and the strategic goals of the organization. For example, if your strategic goal is to increase revenue this year then your Sales department goals must align with that goal. HR and Finance departments must also have goals that align in terms of recruiting more sales personnel if required, training the sales team and ensuring that the team is equipped to bring more sales.
So when you set business goals – consider your mission and vision, current realities, market conditions, team strengths, skills, and of course resources.
Leading Self – Setting Personal goals
Setting goals are the essence of Self-Leadership, self-efficacy or drive that is intrinsically empowering.
In preparing goals for 2019, I review my goals and notes of 2018 and earlier. Until we develop foresight to predict our future, we have to learn through hindsight. It is the only super-power we do have. Retrospection helps you to become more self-aware and focus attention on problems in thinking and behavior. It helps evaluate whether your goals sufficiently challenged or stretched you, what strategies worked and what did not. It helps you make the connections between the cause and effect of planned actions and corresponding results. Often you realize that your well-planned strategies were poorly executed and so you must focus on execution – and rekindle your zeal!
Setting direction
I have learned that goal setting must be done with a clear head. Take some time out to rest and rejuvenate. Reading something that is inspiring or creative can prepare your mind for different insights. There is nothing so refreshing as a fresh perspective on things to get started.
The most important question every year is – Are we doing the right things? What goals must we pursue purposely and what must be discarded?
Once we have set goals, it is important to prioritize them as P1 – High Priority, P2 – Medium Priority and P3 – Low Priority. P1 goals have high value and impact on our organizations and personal life. P2 goals are of secondary importance and P3 have low value and impact on growth. We must never pursue P2 and P3 goals at the expense of P1 goals. P1 goals may be short term or long term so rank them in order of importance.
We are always energized by the process of creation. Goal setting energizes us and the benefit of clear thinking and planning is that we internalize our goals. We gain insight into the big picture which facilitates our creativity and ingenuity.
Achieving our goals may be difficult but if we stay focused and do the work daily, we will get there in time. And whenever past mistakes, doubt, sense of failure and fixed mindsets appear, I remind myself – “One cannot be a Christian and a pessimist at the same time!
Wishing you a blessed and fulfilling 2019!