Nothing says happy New Year like taking time to set your goals.
In fact, every new year is an opportunity to shape and define what you want to achieve as an organization, and what the world will look like when you accomplish your goals.
It may be tempting to just grab your 2020 goals and lightly update them (changing a date here or a number there), but given the upheaval we experienced in 2020 that is not likely the best way to start.
That's because one of the great benefits of 2020 is that it gave us the opportunity — maybe even forced us — to reexamine our goals, offerings and priorities.
So a better starting point for goal setting this year is to look back at 2020 and list all of the things you accomplished and, most importantly, where those accomplishments are leading you for 2021.
For example, are there patterns or themes in those accomplishments that show you a path for the new year?
Of course, the coming year will still be one of uncertainty, so it might be wise to prioritize your goals to just a few that are most critical. In other words, this isn’t the year to take on lots and lots of far flung initiatives.
Instead, invest where you have momentum and double down on those goals that will have the most measurable and significant impact.
Some of the goals my clients have set include:
This year might also be the time to invest (or continue to invest) in building capacity in service of making your team more efficient and effective.
I’m encouraging my clients to continue growing the capabilities and resources that will best position them for success in 2022. For some of them this includes adjusting organizational structure to align with the work at hand, as well as using technology to create better connections, communication and collaboration.
Once you've determine your goals, and ensured that they are SMART goals, it’s time to think about the underlying supports you will need to put in place to ensure follow through and execution are possible. After all, the best of intentions can be sidelined by the day-to-day pressures and pace of running your organization.
You can enhance your ability to accomplish your goals by making sure your team is clear on the objectives and their role in achieving them; processes are in place to facilitate progress toward goals; and that you have a schedule for measuring, reviewing and making adjustments throughout the year.
Effective processes are especially helpful in the current environment of remote work and uncertainty. So spend time making sure your IT, systems and communication processes are robust and driving efficiencies in your organization.
Goals, of course, are meant to be shared because sharing them helps unite teams around a common purpose. Most importantly, your team needs to understand how their work contributes to the goals and delivers organizational impact and success. This means taking the time to involve your team in determining how to achieve the goals you've set and how to measure success.
Finally, setting a schedule for measuring and reviewing your organization's goals throughout the year will allow you to evaluate where you are in achieving your goals and to make adjustments as needed. You can tailor different schedules and metrics for your senior leaders, teams and board to facilitate the right discussions and actions. If 2020 taught us anything, it's that we need to better understand how we’re measuring success so that we're also able to pivot when we receive new information or the environment changes.
