Goal setting ideas for a productive year

Goal setting will ensure you stay focused, and the following goal setting steps are a proven formula for goals to be achieved successfully:

1. List goals – List all the work goals you wish to achieve throughout the year, together with a date by which you want to achieve each goal.
2. List action steps – For each goal write down a set of action steps that you need to take in order for the goal to be achieved and assign a completion date to each action step.

Example:

Goal: Finish new company brand guidelines – 29 January

Actions steps:

1. Meet with marketing and design team to finalise branding ideas – 20 January
2. Get pantone colour chart from printers to include in the brand guidelines – 22 January
3. Etc.

Tips for your goal plan:

• Your goal plan should tie in specifically with your particular role and responsibilities in the company.
• Add notes for each action step with such things as: who you need to work with; what time-frame will the work require; etc.
• You may want to break goals down into Weekly/Monthly and Daily goals depending on your role.
• Create a professional looking plan document that is easy to follow and manage. Use colour coding, bullets, sub bullets, numbering, headings, underlining and bolding.

When goal setting it is important to keep in mind the following well know business acronym: S.M.A.R.T Goals.

You should set goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.

For managers it is also important to set and communicate company or department-wide goals. This can help ensure a strong team focus and encourage the entire company to work together towards success.