The best leaders measure their success - do you?
The best leaders measure their success – do you?
Sam was the Head of Marketing and had spent time doing her strategic planning with her function for the year. After a collaborative exercise within the business, the team had narrowed their focus down to the top three initiatives that would have the most impact on the business. They had drawn up key goals that would enable the initiatives to be completed and these were put through the SMART goal process (Specific; Measurable; Achievable; Relevant: Time-bound). Everyone was incredibly clear on where they were headed and what the priority was for any given time. They also had clarity around how their functions goals impacted the wider organization and there was alignment across the business.
Sam was now considering her own career as she loved the company she was with but always wanted to make sure she was extending herself and continuing to become the leader she always wanted to be. Sam had some key areas she wanted to strengthen and so she had also identified three key initiatives to help her build the skill and gain more competence and confidence. Sam could see a direct line of sight between her personal initiatives and those of the company so she had the satisfaction of knowing that she could, over the next 12 months, continue to grow as a leader. What Sam hadn’t done was measure how she would know if she was successful in achieving these goals and the outcomes she expected from them. Sam still had a bit of work to do.
Photo by Smit Patel on Unsplash
Have you noticed how we are so much better at defining the goals, milestones and measures for work or project tasks yet sometimes fall short on doing this for ourselves? I know I have suffered from this in the past and then found that weeks would go by and I’d have a moment of thinking, what am I actually trying to achieve for myself.
We definitely need the clarity of goals not only in business but also for our own careers and it’s great when those goals have some overlap as it keeps our momentum and drive. But we also need to make sure we have clarity on the measures of success. We need clarity on the things that will tell us we have been successful in achieving the goals. We don’t always do this for ourselves, but we all know that if we don’t know where we are going and if we don’t have measured milestones along the way, how will we know when we have arrived! Think about the last long car drive you went on. I’m guessing you knew where you were going so you had the end goal in mind. I would also guess that you identified some key milestones along the way that let you know you were on the right track and were traveling in line with the time allowance you had estimated from point A to point B. Tracking goals with measures for our careers should be the same. Otherwise, who knows where we will end up and we could end out on someone else’s journey!
Photo by Tabea Damm on Unsplash
So far in this series of articles, we have talked about:
Establishing your Big Picture
Why that Big Picture is important to you
What your personal values are
What your Awesome Sauce is
What your key projects or initiatives are to grow in your career
So, it’s appropriate that we ensure we have measures in place to achieve our career goals. Otherwise, we can find ourselves aimlessly moving through the days achieving work goals, but not doing any work on ourselves. Our work is not our identity, it’s not who we are. There is huge value in spending time deciding who we want our future selves to be. What do we want for ourselves and how will we know when we have achieved that?
Photo by Alex Iby on Unsplash
I have seen many leaders define who they are by the job they are in. We are so much more than that! So, set some life and career goals with measures, and make sure you are ticking those boxes once you have achieved success. Just as much as you are ticking the boxes for getting your job goals achieved.
It’s not always easy to define goals for ourselves and we often look for many reasons to talk ourselves out of doing something. I love this quote by Michael Phelps “There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits.” We all have the opportunity to create and measure goals for our lives and careers that make us be better – not just for the job we happen to be in at the moment but to make us better and more fulfilled as a person. If we do this for ourselves, our places of work will totally benefit from us bringing the best version of ourselves to the workplace every day.
So, ask yourself this question:
“What do I want to achieve in my life and career and how will I know when I have achieved those things. What are my measures of success?”
As Peter Drucker has famously said, “what’s measured improves.” We just have to decide what that will be for ourselves.
Working with leaders to gain clarity on where they are ultimately heading with their business or team plan, and their career plan is a component of my Leading with Impact 1:1 Coaching Programme. If you are ready to make some meaningful progress and gain more clarity around what you want your future impact to look like, we should chat.