We’re headed into the home stretch before Christmas, and I’m not ready for it to be the weekend before Santa comes. Are you ready? This has been been an extra busy month with Christmas preparations, Taylor’s birthday to plan and my niece’s wedding to attend, all while contractors still hammer away in our new home. Some days it’s overwhelming, but at the same time, I am so grateful for everything too. The busyness of life can make it very easy to forget our blessings, and as we prepare to celebrate birthdays, weddings and a new home, it is absolutely worth it.
The Holidays understandably consume much of our time and energy this month, but 2016 is just two weeks away. And while I firmly believe you don’t have to your goals ready by January 1st, you should start thinking about what you want to accomplish next year. To help, I shared some tips to help you achieve your personal goals in 2016 on Monday, and I also found this great infographic from Workboard on setting team goals. Whether you are an employee or a business owner, you likely have a team goals that you need to achieve.
To keep some perspective: your personal goals help create the life you want for yourself and your family. Your team or work goals (whether you are a team of 100+ or 1) create your livelihood and the means to fund those personal goals. The goals may be very different from each other but both matter.
I was surprised to learn that 70% of strategic goals were not achieved, although the reasons behind their failure did not surprise me. I would encourage team leaders, in particular, to keep team goals front and center, and most importantly, constantly remind your team why the goals matter. My team plays an integral role in helping me define our yearly goals and their individual goals. We review our progress regularly, so there are no surprises, for them or me. My team always knows how we’re performing against our goals and how goal achievement will benefit them personally.
What surprised you the most? What has been your experiences with team goals? What has worked and what has not?
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Shannon
SHANNON RYAN, CFP®
Too many goals can be distracting and throw your priorities out of whack. Wasting time and energy.
Plus, with one big goal, the 'why' is easier to share, too.