Goals!

A true leader with one goal in mind!

GOALS!! What are they? Who creates them for you? Are they achievable? These are all questions we ask ourselves year in and year out but then find ourselves at the end of the year below the goal we had set 12 months ago.

We are in the final stretch of Q1 and as a leader I have been really giving thought to how I am going to help people achieve their goals. Great leaders set goals with you not for you, they make a plan with you, and work side by side to help achieve those goals. Read more to find out about how I strategize accomplishing goals with my team in Lincoln.

The first step is hugely important. You have to set your goal. In your organization think of how common it is that you hear “ we want to grow by x%- now let’s go do it” ! It is great to have a goal but simply putting that out there without a “why” or without a tangible number generates a goal that has no “buy in”. Breaking down that larger goal into what individual contributions need to look like to hit the team goal, the outcome of hitting that number for the team, all of those generate buy in and also get everyone on the same page ready to execute. If your employees aren’t bought in or are skeptical that hitting the goal is possible you haven’t communicated the goal effectively. 

The second part is plan, plan, plan. You and your team have your goal now. What is your plan to hit that goal? If you are going to breakdown that goal by month or quarter make sure all the numbers line up with the end of the year goals. I personally like breaking it down by month that way you know where you are at month after month, compared to quarterly when you only check 4 times a year. I have found in our industry quarterly checks don’t provide enough time to make adjustments or celebrate accomplishments. 

The third part and maybe the most commonly missed part is work these goals side by side with your team. This part is critical- you have to make knowing your team’s overall and individual goals and where they are in respect to accomplishing their goals at all times a top priority. This lets the team know you are invested and paying attention. This shows them that you are taking their goals seriously and that you are honoring the time they’ve taken to make the goals for themselves. This will look different over time. You may need to give them ideas on new thought avenues to try so that they can hit their goals. You may need to help with providing visuals to keep their eyes literally on the prize. You may need to coach salespeople on stopping self sabotage. The point is that as the leader of a team the success of your team will look different day over day.

With these three steps I have watched my team say goodbye to not hitting their goals. It can be hard if your team is not exceeding goals to take a look in the mirror and really say what can I do to get things back on track.I am fortunate to work for a fantastic group of individuals as their leader. I know my team’s motivators, play to those motivators, and have been amazed at their progress and accomplishments. 

Remember- set the goals, plan how to hit the goals, and execute to achieve.