Most managers intuitively understand that goals need to be clearly established if there is any hope of them ever being achieved. And yet, many team leaders do not have the programs and policies in place, which make it possible for their employees to map out clear and actionable pathways to success. In this post, we’ll explore five effective and easy tactics which managers can implement to increase the chances of their team members achieving their day-to-day and long-term goals.
Write Down Your Goals, and Then Have Your Employees Do the Same:
Research indicates that someone who writes down their goals is 42 percent more likely to achieve them than someone who only has a vague and unarticulated notion of what their goals are. Take the time to sit down with a pen and paper, and ask yourself: What are my long-term career goals? What are the more immediate goals that I need to achieve to make those long-term goals a reality? Once you’ve clarified your goals to yourself, have your team do the same. At the end of this exercise, you’ll be able to engage with a clearer, goal-oriented dialogue with your employees.
Make Time for Progress Updates:
Once your employees have taken the time to write down their long-term goals and break those down into actionable goals for the weeks, months, and year ahead, you’ll want to set up a schedule for meeting with them and making sure progress is being made. In this way, everyone will be held accountable for making steady progress towards their goals, and the process to plan for and achieve goals will be an ongoing, creative process.
Show Interest:
As managers, the immediate demands of our day-to-day workload can often take priority over talking with our employees about their career goals. In the long run, however, making the time for facetime to discuss career goals with our team can have a big payoff; by showing interest in the career goals of our employees, we’re increasing the chance that they’ll feel acknowledged, and that they’ll stick around to make those goals a reality here, with our company.
Be a Mentor:
It’s common for employees to have a rough idea of the direction which they’d like to see their careers travel towards, but do not know how to make those goals a reality. Managers, on the other hand, have experienced the highs and lows leading towards success, and can, therefore, provide valuable advice about how to plan for and achieve career goals.
Have Your Team Conduct Self-Performance Reviews:
Performance reviews coming from a manager can be very insightful, but it can often be even more illuminating for employees to reflect honestly on their performance at work. Be sure that they know that this is purely for their sake – the point of this exercise is to have them check in with themselves to make sure that they are living up to their expectations and those of the company, as well as that they are making forward progress that they’re satisfied with.
What Goals Have You Set For Your Team?
If you are looking for assistance with taking your staff to the next level work with Salem Solutions! To learn more, contact us here or call us at (866) 80-SALEM.
