If you want to achieve something, you will have to work for it, but this is easier said than done. Setting goals is not about becoming the person you need to be to achieve those goals or the performance itself. It’s about combining your strengths and achieving goals with clear thinking, while you understand your goal and define the ability to deliver value to others. With the new year in sight, it is time to set your personal goals in the workplace and get started with this. Goals provide clarity. When you have a clear vision taking the right action becomes easier. Writing down goals helps you define who you really are in order to navigate through certain situations.
Set priorities
Goals offer benefits for the working professional. Taking the time to set goals can significantly improve your work performance. By having goals, you set your priorities and first work on achieving the most important tasks. After you have described your goals, it is useful to go through them and rank them in order of priority. This allows tasks to be completed in a logical order. Thinking ahead in your work provides a focus that leads to less stress. You are better prepared and know exactly which work needs to be completed and when.
Teamspirit
Goals help people to define a vision of where they want to be, they encourage people to think about the meaning of their work and how it fits with the bigger picture. If you do this well, setting goals can also help guide conversations within the organization. Start by encouraging continuous feedback on the progress of employees in achieving their goals and you have a recipe for a productive, motivated and well-performing team.
Opportunities to learn
Positive experiences in targeted environments allow you to learn more about yourself and the limits of your skills. If you manage to achieve all your personal goals, you can be sure that your work has contributed to larger organizational goals. On the other hand, if you fail to achieve your goals, this should be used as an opportunity to learn. Goals help you to achieve your own personal success. Real success is knowing that no matter what happens tomorrow, you are still doing your best today.
TruQu as helpful tool
The performance management software from TruQu gives you the opportunity to set goals for yourself and to request feedback on them. One way to choose the right goals for yourself is to look at the goals of the organization. What are they looking for in their employees? For example, if your organization has teamwork as an important goal, you can also include this goal in your personal development.
In addition, before you set goals in the software, it is useful to make SMART learning goals. In other words: specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic and time-bound. Why is this useful? Because most people naturally formulate vague goals. A SMART goal is a concrete goal which makes it more likely that something will turn out. Everyone will now understand your purpose.
Use SMART Goals
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Therefore, a SMART goal incorporates all of these criteria to help focus your efforts and increase the chances of achieving that goal. Describe your goal clearly and concretely and use percentages and numbers when necessary. Is it feasible for yourself? Is there sufficient support to reach the goal? The goal must be challenging, but it must be realistic and must be achieved within a certain time period. When do we start the activities? When will we be ready? When has the goal been achieved?
What do you want to achieve?
But now the question is: what exactly do you want to achieve in your career? What do you want to achieve in a month? What do you want to achieve in ten years? Many people think they have an idea of what they want, but if you are asked to put your short and long term goals on paper, it turns out to be more difficult than expected. That’s why it’s so important to think carefully about what your career goals are. Both in the short and the long term you need goals to steer your career.
To give you some inspiration for setting goals, we have a number of examples. Good luck!
