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Too often organizations set goals for their team members without realizing the developmental potential this practice has. How often are goals set and reviewed, but it feels like a “gotcha” process. Reviewing your goals feels somewhere between the Inquisition and being called to the principal’s office. Written goals are an immensely powerful process which can help you accomplish amazing things, but you may have to help your organization appreciate the value of the process. Here are some tips that may help.

Make sure that your goals are relevant. Your goals should apply not only to your current job, but to your future development. Hopefully the goal setting process is collaborative – you have some input into them. If it isn’t now, then it’s time to have a conversation with your supervisor; let him or her know that you are committed to accomplishing what they consider important to you being successful in your current job. But you hope they are as committed to helping you achieve goals which will assist your professional development. Then think about what goals will help you improve. Certainly training should always be considered. If the budget is limited, there are other goals you can set which can help your development. Maybe it’s to join a team working on a project which isn’t your direct responsibility (now), but will help you cross train. It could be to volunteer to accomplish a small project on your own – almost every department has some things that need to be done when ‘someone can get around to it.’ You could ask a senior person in the organization to mentor you. These will all help and are at minimal cost.

Make sure your goals are timely. Well written goals should include time frames and hopefully your job related goals already do. But the same sense of timing and urgency should be applied to your developmental goals. This will show your supervisor that you’re serious about professional growth. And if your goals rely on other people’s time and resources, this is a good excuse to push them to help – to the extent you can – when you have deadlines to meet. As zealously as your supervisor wants you to complete the goals around your current position, you should be as zealous to stay on track in preparing yourself for the next challenge!

Make sure your goals review meetings are productive. Like much of the process described above, your supervisor probably sets the tone and agenda for the meetings where your goal progress is reviewed. But there’s nothing wrong with you providing leadership to the process. Let your supervisor cover the areas that are normally ‘ticked off’ in these meetings, but then take the lead. Let them know you’d like to ask some questions that will help you understand how you can do better. Here are some probing questions that can help make the process more of a coaching session:

  • If you haven’t completed a goal to their satisfaction, what would it look like to them if you ‘hit a home run’ in completing the goal?
  • What else would they like to see you do or accomplish to be more successful in your current position (even if not now addressed in a goal)?
  • Do they think the developmental goals you’re working on are still relevant to your professional development?
  • What else would they like to see you do or accomplish to prepare you for the next position?

Be open to feedback. This is a classic case of being easier said than done. It’s human nature to want to shine and to prefer positive feedback to criticism. And while, hopefully you’re getting your share of positive feedback, you also need constructive criticism. If you get criticism without the constructive aspects, make sure to ask enough questions about how you can improve, do something different, or learn from a mistake so you can get something constructive out of it. And be as receptive as possible to the feedback as opposed to being defensive (a fine balance sometimes when you have to provide more accurate information about the situation being discussed). Get to the point where you’re perceived as someone who is aggressive about getting better—someone who is always trying to learn how to improve. Goal setting done