As we move into the 4th Quarter of the year, it is a great time to look at what you have accomplished so far this year and determine what action you want to take over the next 3 months to help you end 2022 strong. A lot of talent management decisions are made in the 4th quarter, so you want to finish the year strong to position yourself for opportunities in 2023. There is no time like the present to build some wins that can help your career advance. Locke & Latham (1991) state that three variables can impact an individual’s success achieving a goal, direction intensity and duration.
Direction-the actions that are necessary to accomplish the goal
Intensity-the amount of energy and resources required
Duration-the time required
As you set your goals, it is important to be clear on what you are looking to accomplish, your current set of skills, the energy you must give, and the time you are willing to allocate. During my career the biggest variable that separated those that were successful from those that were not
Was their clarity of goal
Having realistic expectations
Awareness of their strengths
Willingness to solicit help
Before you define a goal to pursue, it is important to take inventory on your current skills, competencies, resources, time, and energy. By defining these, you are better able to set realistic goals. Research shows that establishing realistic goals is critical for maintaining motivation. For example, if you are a leader within an organization, and you are looking to improve employee retention in the 4th quarter, you want to start off with being clear about your goal. You can start with reviewing employee retention rates ytd. Next you can set a realistic target. It is helpful to bench market your performance compared to peers and competitors in the industry. Once you have this information, you can consider what skills, talent, time, and resources you can put towards improving employee retention.
As you determine your goal, it is important to identify what task you are currently doing that you can reduce or eliminate to make room for the future actions you will take. This is a critical step for preventing burnout, and ensuring you have the energy to accomplish your goal. Leaders often add new task, without eliminating previous task which is the first step to losing work-life balance. To move towards a new goal, we must move away from a previous one. Making this decision upfront will increase your odds of obtaining your goal.
Finally, think about who can help you in accomplishing your goal. Defining who will be involved in the pursuit of the goal, will help you to be realistic in what you can accomplish. Soliciting help, can aid you in accomplishing more, but will likely result in you moving slower at first. Consider whether you can accomplish the goal quickly on your own, or if you need assistance based on the complexity and scope of the goal. There is an old African saying that if you want to go fast, go by yourself, but if you want to go far, go with a group. In establishing your goal, know how far you want to go, how fast you want to get there, and who you want to bring along on the journey.
Once you have set your priority, benchmarked, established a goal, identified what resources you will shift towards your goal, and identified who you will partner with to accomplish the goal you are in a great position to start action planning. You have 3 months left in 2022 to make this a year to remember. Take a moment to reflect on what you have accomplished this year. Celebrate your wins, learn from losses, and establish a goal for ending 2022 strong.
Dorian Cunion is an Executive Business Coach with your Path Coaching and Consulting. He specializes in coaching service for managers, executives and small business owner.
For tips on leadership and professional development follow me:
If you are interested in working with me as a coach, contact me at
Phone: 804-220-5771
References
Locke, Edwin & Latham, Gary. (1991). A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance. The Academy of Management Review. 16. 10.2307/258875
Comentarios