Three MUST DO leadership goal setting steps to take now!
Have you set work-related goals yet?
Are you starting the new year with new goals and renewed energy and optimism?
How long will that last? Not very long, according to most statistics. Let’s see if we can change that for you and keep the momentum going through the entire year!
Have you set work-related goals yet?
What are you planning differently at work for 2020?
Leadership goals usually fit into getting better in one or more of these areas:
● Managing your workload
● Managing your priorities
● Managing your career
● Managing your time
● Managing stress
● Managing conflicts
● Managing your team
● Managing your mood
● Managing your energy
● Managing your emotions
Sooooooooo, how do you plan to get better at managing it?
“Plan” being the keyword.
The road is paved with good intentions!
Saying it is not enough. Remember, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It is a plan and then courageous action that will make the change.
Intention and action make the difference
By Jan 2021, you want to see significant changes. But meaningful changes don’t happen all at once, and they don’t happen overnight.
Change that you can vividly see and feel, happens in tiny, almost unnoticeable, moments. Bit by bit. Step by step. Decision by daily, momentary decision.
It is the choices you make today, at this moment,
that will impact what you will be experiencing
in January 2021.
Conscious choices and decisions are instrumental for your success
Today’s microscopic, and what may seem inconsequential decisions, sets in motion a series of events. Those events lead to more choices, all of which change how you manage yourself, your role, your people and your impact.
Here are three choices you probably make:
✧ CHOICE POINT: Knowing whether it’s better to say yes, you will take on a task or choosing to delegate it,
● The choice you make today impacts your future.
✧ CHOICE POINT: Choosing when to keep working on your project and when to get up and go touch base with your employee.
● The choice you make today impacts your future.
✧ CHOICE POINT: Deciding to stay late today or going home on time.
● The choice you make today impacts your future.
If you have goals around managing your time better, managing your team better, and managing your energy better, having a clear plan will help you make your choices.
Aligned decisions happen when you plan first
You will make decisions more effectively, efficiently, and with increased alignment with your values, more in tune with the person you really are, and what goals you are trying to achieve when you plan first!
See how planning changes how you choose:
Let’s look at those three areas again, with a clear plan in place:
✧ PLANNED CHOICE: Scheduling time to identify your team’s strengths and their goals for growth this year will help you to be more precise about what you delegate, to whom, and when. Planning how you manage your team’s assets will have you make decisive, effective decisions.
Instead of reactionary overwhelm or guilt that you should be doing something, you will be making an informed decision with conscious clarity about what is best for the team and the program.
● The intentional choice you make today positively impacts your future!
✧ PLANNED CHOICE: Planning how often you will touch base 1–1 with your staff and then setting up the habit of scheduling the next session with them before this one ends, will ensure that you are managing your team member’s development and growth, ensuring they feel valued, respected and cared about!
● The intentional choice you make today positively impacts your future!
✧ PLANNED CHOICE: Consciously planning how many evenings each week you are willing to stay late and then setting up a system to track that now, will ensure that each choice you make from now till December 2020 is helping you manage your energy, your workload and the desire to achieve increased work-life balance.
● The intentional choice you make today positively impacts your future!
Are you doing these 3 planning steps?
Here’s the problem. Without conscious planning with all three of the following components, you will fail.
1. You need to know what GOALS you want to achieve
2. You need to instill new HABITS to achieve the goals
3. You need to adopt the right MINDSET to be consistent with the habits that will help you achieve your goals.
Did you bring your 2019 bad habits with you?
Without planning, you’ll have the same habits of saying yes when you wanted to say no. You’ll habitually leave your door open all the time because you want to have an open-door policy. But that will never let you find the time to focus on more significant projects until everyone goes home and therefore you will have the habit of staying late too often!
Did you bring your 2019 unhelpful mindset with you?
Without planning, you will continue to believe that a board member is out to get you. You will always think you will never get ahead. Without a plan, you’ll never ditch the attitude of overwhelm, the perspective of doom and gloom or the belief that “this is just the way it is.”
Books to help you be successful with your goals this year!
If you grabbed the recommended book list for how to be successful this year, you would have noticed that many of the books relate to habits. In them, you learn about both action habits as well as habits of thinking.
You need to work on both for successful change this year.
Do this: Take time to plan
★ Review what worked and what didn’t work last year.
This review will give you clarity for setting goals this year.
● Did you know that January was named after the Roman God, Janus? He is the God with two faces. He looks back on the past year and forward to the new year at the same time. It’s vital to do both!
★ Set goals for this year
Set clear goals around what you want to achieve, what kind of person you want to be and the impact you want to have.
★ Identify the action habits you need to install to achieve those goals
★ Identify the mindset shift you need to make to become consistent with those habits, be that kind of person and make that impact
For example
Character GOAL: I am growing my leadership capacity this year.
Action GOAL: I will read 5 books on leadership this year.
Action HABIT: I will read 10 minutes each morning before leaving for work.
Mindset HABIT: When I think I don’t have enough time, I will remind myself that it is only 10 minutes, and I could do that instead of checking social media or my email.
● I am a reader.
● I have time to read
● I am a leader who invests in her growth and development.
Do 90-day planning cycles
One more thing, don’t do this now as a plan for the entire year.
Try it out for a couple or three months. Create mini-plans throughout the year. We work much better in 60 or 90-day cycles.
That gives us time to plan, practice, review and revise. Shorter periods are more effective, allowing for celebrating successes and course correction where needed.
If you need help to plan your goals, and develop your habits of action and habits of thought join me for this month’s webinar: Quarterly Goal Setting & Planning. In this session you will create your 90-day plan to develop your leadership capacity.
It is really not too late to review 2019! I have started, but have not completed mine. I often don’t get my completed review done until mid January.
Reviewing last year shouldn’t be a rush job. Intentionally reviewing last year will set you firmly on your path for this year!
