Setting goals in general is important. However, goal setting isn’t universal. There’s different outlooks we need to take when setting goals for different reasons. For example, setting goals in the workplace is different from goal setting for personal life.
In this blog post, we’re going to go over some strategies for setting effective goals in the workplace, to make things easier for you on a day to day basis.
We were lucky enough to talk to Sean K. August. the CEO of The August Wealth Management Group, who has a lot of experience when it comes to setting goals in the workplace. He was able to give us some insight as to how to make goal setting a lot easier, and more effective for you in the long run.
1. Define specific and measurable goals
“As you’re setting goals, it’s important to remember the acronym SMART. This stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Specific and measurable goals are important because they allow you to track your progress and determine if you’re on the right path.”
As we stated in our blog post, “How To Set Realistic Goals and Achieve Them“, setting SMART goals is extremely important, even in the workplace. Let’s go over how each step in the SMART goal process is important for work.
Specific
Setting specific goals in the workplace is one of the most important aspects of goal setting. When you’re specific, it not only helps you, but it also helps your co-workers understand the main goal.
Measurable
Measurable goals allow you to see where improvements could be made, and how effective the team or individual is performing. It gives you a better understanding of how well your goals are being achieved.
Achievable
You want to make sure every goal you set at work is achievable. If you aim too high, and fail, this could effect your self esteem in the workplace. This is something we also spoke about in our article explaining the importance of setting realistic goals. You want to make sure your goals are achievable, this way you get a confidence boost when you meet them.
Relevant
Relevant is specifically important in the workplace. You want to be setting goals based on the company’s mission and values. Whether you own the company, or work for the company, you want to make sure your goals are relevant to the mission statement.
Time-bound
At work, you could wear many different hats, meaning you may have plenty of different responsibilities. Setting time-bound goals is important to avoid procrastination so you could achieve everything you need to with each aspect of your job.
2. Prioritize goals based on importance
“It’s important to identify which goals will have the greatest impact on your productivity. By prioritizing these goals, you can focus your time and energy on the most important tasks, which will help you to achieve more in less time.”
Certain things are more important than others in the workplace. Let’s say you’re a writer for a big company and you have three different goals.
- Goal One: Increase The Amount Of Articles You Write
- Goal Two: Fix Your Computer Glitch
- Goal Three: Take a Writing Course To Increase Your Writing Skills
While all of these goals are great goals, the prioritisation of fixing your computer should be number one. This is because the amount of articles you write could be effected by the computer glitch. You also may not be able to take your course efficiently if your computer isn’t working correctly.
There are so many different examples we could use for this step. However, only you could take a look at the specific list of things you need to do and decide which one is the most important.
3. Break down large goals into smaller tasks
“Breaking large goals down into smaller, more manageable tasks can help you to stay focused and make steady progress. This can be especially helpful if you’re feeling overwhelmed or unsure of where to start.”
Breaking down large goals into smaller tasks gives reduces the chances that you will feel overwhelmed by what you have to do. Reducing stress in the workplace is extremely important and this is one thing that could really help.
Let’s say your goal is to increase your sales by 30%. Thinking about this could be very stressful, however, when you break it down, it’s more manageable. Here are some steps you could take in order to break down this goal.
- Refine your sales pitch to be better. Ask people you know how you should improve your current sales pitch.
- Increase your social media presence. If you’re only posting on social media to get exposure once or twice per month, maybe increase it to once or twice per week and see if it gets you any results.
- Increase your call amounts. Nothing gets you more leads than increasing the output of the calls you make. If you usually make 10 calls a day, try and see if you can increase that number to 15.
4. Use visual aids to track progress
“Visual aids, such as charts or graphs, can be a powerful tool for tracking progress and staying motivated. Seeing your progress displayed visually can help you to stay on track and remind you of how far you’ve come.”
Using something visual like an excel sheet, google sheet, or whatever is convenient for you could be a great way to track your progress and see the big picture. You could easily see what you’ve done and what needs to be done without digging deep into your memory.
Here are some ways you could use a visual aid:
Journaling: Sometimes writing things down on paper help us analyze our progress and feelings more clearly.
Excel Sheets Or Google Sheet: These are both good tools in order to create a custom spreadsheet of everything you need to get done.
Wall Charts: Being able to look up and see everything is beneficial to some people. It might be a good idea to make yourself a visual chart that you can look at every day and remind yourself of the big picture and hang it up on the wall.
5. Reassess and adjust goals regularly
“Regularly reassessing and adjusting your goals is important to ensure that they remain relevant and achievable. By reviewing your progress regularly, you can identify areas where you may need to make changes to improve your productivity and achieve your goals.”
Reassessing and adjusting goals regularly is also very important. You could take a look at everything you’re doing and adjust accordingly. For example, let’s say that you realized posting Instagram reels twice a week is increasing your leads more than posting once a week. It would be beneficial to adjust your goal and maybe post twice per day.
In the workplace, reassessment is important, and doing that along with your boss or co-worker could help you plan out things more efficiently. If you work for someone, there could be some things you’re doing that you think are beneficial, but really aren’t moving the needle in the eyes of your boss. Communication is key when it comes to reassessing your goals in the workplace.