This week, some business friends and new coachees asked me to help them make an action plan to achieve their goals for 2018. This demand motivated me to share some of my experience here.
The first question I usually ask in situations like this is whether the GOAL is CLEAR. A good tip if you have difficulty setting a goal is to start by thinking about a problem that is impacting on the quality of your life.
It could be in your personal or professional life, or in your company’s results.
What’s the problem that, if you didn’t have it today, would make your life so much easier?
The first step is this: RECOGNIZE THE PROBLEM
For example: Lack of money to invest in your company – This is a problem that many entrepreneurs have.
How do you set a GOAL based on this problem?
A clear goal could be: I want to increase my sales by 15% in the next 3 months.
Do you realize that a GOAL is something very clear, something that can be defined with time, a deadline, and that can be measured?
Once you have a goal, it’s no longer an impossible dream that your company will have money left over, or that you’ll achieve that result you want so much for your personal life. Because we’re no longer talking about DREAMS. We’re talking about GOALS!
For example, a person who dreams of being thin acts very differently from someone who has the goal of losing 10 kg in 10 months. A goal set in this way can be divided into subgoals and measured on a weekly basis.
This weekly check on your progress, indicating 250 grams less in your weight each week, is essential to know that you are on the right track towards your goal.
Similarly, when we talk about professional goals, where we live in an environment of rapid evolution and change, it is very important to have indicators that make it possible to change course if the chosen path is not bringing the expected results.
So the second step is to KNOW WHAT THE MARKS WILL BE that indicate you’re on the right track.
If we’re talking about a 1-year goal, what needs to happen in 9 months for you to be sure of achieving it? And in 6 months? And in 90 days’ time, what evidence will show you that you are capable of getting where you want to be? And what can you celebrate in 30 days’ time that will show you that it really is possible to get there? Celebrate each of these victories that show you that your goal is feasible. And if at some point along the way you don’t have anything to celebrate, evaluate the process so that you can take action in good time.
If the goal involves a team that you lead, you need to be the person who asks the tough questions in order to get the answers you need to adjust course.
After defining the goal and the indicators that will give you the evidence that your objective will be achieved, it’s time to take the third step: IMPLEMENT THE STRATEGY that will lead you to the desired result.
And when it comes to drawing up a strategy, it is essential that you are clear about all the variables involved.
And the most important variable of all is to know WHO besides you will be involved in carrying out the tasks necessary for this goal to actually be achieved.
Make a list of all the people directly or indirectly involved in the process and try to recognize the talents they possess so that their skills are amplified in such a way that they feel internally motivated to help you achieve your goal.
You need to develop your ability to lead, taking into account the opinions of everyone involved, with the aim of winning the commitment of your team. Know that debating processes encourages commitment and responsibility for results.
A leader must act like a soccer coach, i.e. he needs to be on the pitch, observing everything and knowing his team in order to put each player in the right position and intervene in time to ensure victory. A soccer manager doesn’t sit in the office analyzing contracts. He’s out on the pitch playing his role, contributing his experience and knowledge, giving feedback in good time so that he can even win a comeback. Which is a delicious victory! Or is it?
And in order to be a good leader, it is essential to invest in self-knowledge, so that you are clear about the moments when you can be your own obstacle towards your goal. Assuming an attitude of internal leadership is what will enable you to lead other people.
A good way not to sabotage yourself when you’re mapping out the strategy that will take you to your desired goal is to know WHY you’re striving for it. What is the purpose behind your goal?
There’s a very simple way to achieve a goal: do it like a child, go back to the “Why phase?” It always works, you know?
Let’s think about that goal we talked about at the beginning of this article:
I want to increase my company’s sales by 15% in the next 3 months.
Why do you need to increase your sales by 15% in 3 months? – To have money to invest in my company!
Why does your company need money? -I need to buy a new machine that will increase production capacity.
Why do you need to increase production? -To serve more customers who come to me today and I’m unable to serve them in the time they need.
Why do you need to serve these customers? -To increase my profit margin.
Why do you need to increase your profit? -To be able to renovate that abandoned room within the company that will be a space for integration and relaxation for the team.
Is it good motivation or not? Think of the team socializing in a fun and welcoming space within your company, a space that makes it possible to strengthen bonds of friendship, that allows for a nap after lunch, a place where your team can feel good about working in a company that thinks about the well-being of the people who contribute to its success.
A purpose like this, which brings a benefit to the company as a whole, provides the necessary motivation for everyone involved in the process to commit to something more meaningful. And if you look at the literature on motivation, you’ll see that we live in a time when human beings aren’t motivated by financial returns alone. Increasingly, we need something greater than ourselves, a purpose that gives greater meaning to everything we do. This is one of the most important factors if you want to promote team engagement.
Knowing who is involved and the purpose behind your goal, we need to design the formula to get where we want to go: HOW will this goal be achieved? It’s time to think about all the details, and it’s essential that when leading a team, you’re really involved, questioning, pointing out situations that need to be developed. And don’t forget to recognize the people who perform in the most assertive way, value the people who contribute in the most impactful way to achieving the expected results.
But it’s very important at this point not to over-reward short-term results that lead team members to take disproportionate risks that could jeopardize the end goal. Remember that the goal is to win the game, not to cause an injury to your top scorer in the first 15 minutes. A true leader is not concerned with controlling his team, but with connecting with each member because he trusts the people who are with him.
In short, if you really want to achieve your goal, you have to:
1- That your goal solves a problem that is impacting on the quality of your life or the life of your company.
2- That the goal is clear, specific and has a deadline.
3- Establish the indicators that will show you that you are on the right track, indicators that, if not achieved, will enable you to adjust course.
4- Monitor and evaluate the short-term results, the subgoals, which will enable the final Success.
5- Being clear about the purpose behind the goal will give extra energy to those involved in the process.
6- Know who will be involved directly or indirectly, have the right people in the right places and lead them wisely so that they really commit to the established Goal. Once you have the right people, trust them to add value during the process.
7- Have a plan, a strategy to get there and be with them as they take each step, monitoring, directing and giving autonomy so that your team is so engaged that they enjoy each stage of the journey and really feel capable of overcoming the challenge set in the form of a Goal.
I hope I’ve helped you and your team! And I give you a challenge: how about setting a personal goal today that will make 2018 your year of turning dreams into reality?
