The new year is almost upon us, and if you’re like most people who are passionate about self-development, you’re most likely scrambling to find some aspiration-worthy career goals to set for the year ahead. As a current or aspiring manager and leader, it’s essential to not only lead your teams and projects to success, but to lead yourself so that you can effectively set the example for others to follow. Focusing on your own self-development is integral to your career success as a leader.
But how many times have you set career goals but fallen short of them because you became distracted, lost patience with the process and with yourself, or weren’t clear on what exactly you wanted to achieve? The timeless saying goes, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Therefore approaching this process requires strategy and intentionality, so that you can succeed as a manager and leader.
With the plethora of advice available online on how to set and develop career goals, where does one start?
Conduct A SWOT Analysis
Develop self-awareness and start by reflecting on your strengths and weaknesses. Grace White, head of Design and Development at Lilo advises you ask yourself, “What am I good at? What areas do I need to improve in? Once you have a good understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, you can start to identify areas where you want to develop and grow,” she explains.
Set SMART Goals
Goals are not beneficial without being supported by a framework. The SMART goal-setting framework is a fantastic way to ensure you stay motivated and committed to your goals, and that you are able to articulate your career goals to your senior manager so they can help you progress as well. SMART is an acronym that means your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
White suggests, “Your goals should be specific enough that you know what you need to do to achieve them, but not so specific that they are unrealistic. They should also be measurable so that you can track your progress over time. And they should be relevant to your overall career goals. Once you have set your goals, break them down into smaller, more manageable tasks. Then, create a timeline for completing each task. This will help you to stay on track and make progress towards your goals.”
Some examples of career goals for leaders and managers include:
- Develop and implement a new leadership development program for the company by the end of the second quarter.
- Increase employee engagement by 10% by the new financial year.
- Launch a new product that generates $1 million in revenue in its first year.
- Reduce customer churn by 5% within three months.
- Improve the company’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) by 10 points by mid-2024.
Align With Organizational Goals
Your accomplishments as a leader are inextricably related to the overall achievement of your organization, so it’s important that your professional goals are in line with corporate goals. This partnership will help you drive collective success while furthering your career, and is especially useful if you are seeking your management team for support with achieving your career goals.
Carl Jensen, founder of CompareBanks, recommends, “Determine the skills and competencies required for your leadership job and integrate them into your professional development objectives. This may entail improving your communication, decision-making, and planning skills.”
Prioritize Adaptability
Your industry will evolve so it’s important to maintain some flexibility with your goals. “I regularly reassess my goals and the strategies I employ to achieve them, staying open to new methods and ideas,” shares Aaron Kennedy, marketing agency entrepreneur. “This flexibility has been crucial in navigating the fast-paced digital marketing environment and has often opened doors to unexpected opportunities for growth.”
Invest In Continuous Learning
Part of adapting to change and the evolution of your industry entails investing in your professional learning and development. There are many ways to achieve this, such as going to workshops, training events, or using mobile learning tools.
Get A Coach
In addition to investing in training and learning tools, you may find that getting the support of an industry mentor, business coach, or leadership coach will prove invaluable as they hold you accountable for your goals and provide tailored advice and support.
Focus On Your People’s Performance
“Throughout my journey as a manager, there is one thing I attribute my career progression to the most,” shares business development manager Pete Evering of Utopia Management. “I’ve learned that to set yourself up for success as a leader, you need to show it through the performance of your team. So much of leadership hinges on the ability to harness the skills of people to produce exemplary results. The higher-ups are not looking for your personal record. They’re looking for top performance from your team. Plus, if you’re setting your team for success, you’re effectively training them to eventually replace you in your role, which can help show your supervisors that you’re ready for a new role.”
Embrace The Challenge
Try to stretch yourself a little. If you’re not challenged outside of your comfort zone when setting career goals, you ultimately won’t grow.
Dan Barnard, founder of Abom, noted, “Instead of focusing solely on familiar milestones, look for opportunities that necessitate creative thinking and strategic risk-taking. This will not only boost personal development but also develop a mindset ready for dealing with the uncertain landscape of business leadership. Accepting discomfort as an encouragement for progress positions you to overcome obstacles, seize unforeseen opportunities, and continuously evolve as a leader, ensuring long-term success in a volatile business environment.”
Lead By Your Faith
While many leaders credit their faith for bringing them through tough times, CEO Rachel Chanel Clarke of Trigo Networks has found that having her faith underpin and drive her goals as a practical proactive behavior has been key to her success. She relates, “I set career goals for myself as a leader by being led by the principles of my faith in Christ, such as structuring all business projects to have a positive benefit to local communities, or ensuring that the team working on a project has great representation of the diversity of our world. Business leaders should explore how this can positively affect their companies as it helps to establish an altruistic core that makes our communities better,” Clarke advises.
Embrace feedback
As you work on your leadership goals, remember to embrace ongoing feedback from your peers, your boss, and even your reports. This approach helps you with adapting your leadership style and facilitates the cultivation of a forward-thinking, agile, and highly effective team. Derrick Hathaway, a sales director at VEM Medical, says, “These goals reflect a dedication to sustaining a culture that values collaboration, innovation, and a commitment to excellence.”
A final word of wisdom from Pete Evering: “Strike a balance between the long-term goal and the short-term, ‘mini-goals’ that lead up to it. If you focus on the long-term goal alone, it might be easy for you to get discouraged, especially when you’re still starting or when times get tough. Breaking down your goals into bite-sized pieces allows you to have a small win to celebrate every now and then, which helps you cultivate a positive outlook that will ultimately help you in the long run.”
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