8 steps to smash through your year-end goals

I’m sure like me you have a number of year-end goals? Are they within reach? If not, or you didn't document any goals, now’s a good time to create some. I used this template to set mine and it’s worth a look as I’ll be referring to components of it below. I created it as it provides the broader context to goal setting - purpose, dreams, priorities, principles, focus; in addition to goals, strategies and actions.

I created one for personal, one for professional. If your goals are in place, and given we’re nearly at June 30 - it’s a great time to take a temperature check and see how you’re doing. It may seem a bit overwhelming if you’re behind on a bunch of things but don’t stress. We’re going to work through how you can change that.

As usual, my articles are based upon things I’m thinking (collective impact), feeling (filling emotional tank), saying (new role), or doing. So this month’s “doing” article documents how I’m working out my priorities so that I can stay on track or get ahead of my year end goals.

Reviewing goals and actions can be an overwhelming process. So, to avoid that nasty feeling of anxiety, I have broken it down into 8 steps. The objective is to refine my goals and priorities so I can focus on what matters:

Here are my 8 steps:

1) Score my progress:

How do you feel about your original goals? On a score of 1 – 10 how are you doing against them. As an example, here were my personal goals from my template:

Overall, I’m in great shape here. It’s been 6 months of transition after a long holding and reflection period last year but I now have clarity and am very comfortable being me, taking care of myself mentally and physically. I’m confident I’m going to meet these goals and on average, I’d give myself at least 8/10 on these. This makes me feel great – high 5 me (perhaps a beer to celebrate)!

On the professional front however, things have changed unexpectedly. On the template, my dream, single biggest objective, purpose, principles and focus- are completely on track and they would all score 8 – 9 / 10. Now, that's great and important as it is consistent with my core drivers! However, on my three original goals, I’m maybe only a 5. Hmm (I'm still going to drink the beer though).

So, step 2 is to explore this a little further:

2) What’s changed & why? So what?

In relation to your lower scores, it may be helpful to understand why.

What’s changed & why- For me, it’s pretty obvious; as you may have seen last week, I have taken on a new role which effectively activates the succession plan for Play Rugby for the remainder of the year, while doubling the number of goals I have to achieve through year end – many of which are new.

So what? As it aligns with my dream, purpose, objective, principles, and focus, it won’t in anyway compromise what drives me to succeed. Conversely, if something had changed that was compromising these, it would need to be very closely looked at / kicked into touch. Ironically however, as I have added something else I care about as much as I do about my original goals, it will put pressure on me achieving all my original goals, purely from a bandwidth perspective. In reality not everything will be achievable, without creating more capacity.

So with this new information at hand, I’m now looking at...

3) How am I spending my time?

I've done this a few times over the last few years and asked my employees to do it too. You may know this off the top of your head but if you really spend a few minutes thinking about it - reviewing your calendar for last week - you may be surprised. One tool I have used is literally a day log. Very simply, just jot down on a piece of paper or on your phone for 3 – 5 days the activities you were working on. Take a look back and put a score next to them as to their relevance for achieving your goals. Note: You can do this in line with point #8 below. For example if one of your major professional year-end priorities is "get a new job" - how much time and energy per week are you actually dedicating to this?

4) Identify bottlenecks

As with any system, it can only operate as fast as the slowest bottleneck. So, what are your major bottlenecks? What’s the biggest thing that’s holding everything else up?

For me, without question, our major bottleneck is simply my capacity / bandwidth. There’s no way I can achieve everything on my plate without support (we’ll get to that in the next 3 points).

After I’ve identified the first bottleneck, what’s the second? For Play Rugby, it’s incremental funding without which our resources are always limited and stretched too thin. You could consider 2 – 3 bottlenecks but the fewer the better and ensure you resolve the biggest one first. Some of these may related to #3 above in terms of how you are spending your time.

Bottlenecks could be more complicated and harder to identify but creating a simple flow of processes can help you see where and why things are getting held up. Before I look for solutions to overcome bottlenecks, I first like to re-assess my goals as perhaps some are less relevant now than they were at the start of the year (a lot can change in 6 months).

5) Prioritize / Redesign Goals:

Three simple questions can help here. If some of the goals are at risk, ask first – "what was the purpose of this goal?" Please note, this is not an excuse to delete goals that you're not going to make but are still important. Rather, understanding the reasoning / driver behind each of the goals first.

Bearing in mind the changes that may have occurred, and bottlenecks that exist, then ask "can these goals be achieved?" If so, great. However, if not; thirdly:

"What might be other goals that could be met that would achieve the same purpose?"

There's often more than one way to achieve an objective. A goal is a way of measuring it and assessing whether it has been achieved. So, same objective, different tactics, different goal, might make sense. I have done this with a couple of goals for Play Rugby, so that we can achieve the purpose (succession & sustainability) but in a different and more realistic way. The power in planning isn't all about following every step along the way, rather in the thought process we use to problem solve and identify a path to success.

6) Overcome bottlenecks:

With more focused or redesigned goals, you can now look at the overcoming bottlenecks. There are two ways to do this: 1) add more resource to the bottleneck; 2) reduce inputs through the bottleneck. For me, the solution is all about adding resource, so that means building teams to establish the capacity required to identify and secure the talent we need for Play Rugby to succeed long term. Luckily, I like building teams! So, if there’s one thing I have to do over the next two months, it’s to build some teams! We’ll be looking for one team to recruit our new Executive Director, another to help recruit some new board members, and a final one to steward our Major Gifts efforts. Could I do these things myself? No way and my staff don't have the capacity either. So, instead of looking to achieve the goal myself, I’m recruiting others to help me.

7) Prioritize Tactics:

Now you have assessed how you’re doing, changes, bottlenecks, goal priorities and efficiency solutions, it’s worth looking at the specific tactics required to achieve your goals.

[Quick time-out: Firstly, my take on terminology & tactics, as I didn't refer to tactics in my template. Objectives = what we're trying to achieve; Goals measures of success to know we're achieved an objective (which might have SMART kpis associated with them); Strategies = assessing where we are now, and how we're going to get there; Tactics = mini projects / themes along the way (build team x, run event y) to progress the strategy; Actions = specific tasks to effectively execute a tactic. Got it?]

In theory, you may have less, re-purposed, or more refined goals now. Looking forward, what are the top three tactics to accomplish, to move forward on these goals? What are other tactics you have already documented? I bet there's a lot. So, here's the fun part - get rid of some! For me, as my issue is bandwidth, I like using the 4Ds: Do it, Defer it, Delegate it, Dump it. Take the following stance:

First: "can someone else do it well?" If so, step 1 is to delegate it. Establish your delegation list and make this the first thing you action – get others working before you get buried in your own tasks. Right, off you go....do that now.

Second: if only you can do it, "is it critical to achieving a goal?" Does it need to happen now, or can it be deferred until something else has been achieved? I like to score my tasks 1 – 10 on their importance to achieving the goal, and 1 - 10 on their timeliness within the period of time I’m looking at (in this case 6 months but you may have multiple timelines). It’s not a perfect science but it does help you prioritize.

Third: (and this isn't a question) if it doesn’t fit with one of your three core goals, just DUMP IT! That may seem harsh, especially if it seems like a fun, nice-to-do (perhaps to help someone else, serve a community, solve a problem), but if it doesn’t fit, it will only divert your attention, energy and efficiency elsewhere - away from your core goals. It’s so easy to justify adding things to your plate (believe me, I know) but it’s vital to be disciplined (some might say brutal) about whether they contribute to your end-goals. If it’s been dumped, it’s on the NOT TO DO list (and yes, it’s helpful to keep this list so you can stay away from it).

8) Simplify Tactics & Align with Actions:

Because there are likely a number of critical tactics under each major objective, it’s worth simplifying them. There are plenty of helpful applications for this but you can go old school with pens, paper and postic notes, too! I like Trello as a super-simple visual and free project management tool but I’m keen to hear what others use, too? Using my definitions above, in Trello - a "board" could be a strategy, a "list" an objective, "cards" on a list tactics, and then actions sit within the card, once you click on it as a check list, comments, etc. They can all be color coded, etc.

First, I like to distill tactics down into a few easy to remember themes, which just help as anchors for my daily focus. I actually keep my tasks under these headings and prioritize them under each, knowing they each contribute to one of the goals. I find grouping them in this way helps me identify synergies that may enable me to tackle actions more efficiently.

Second, I order my tactics by priority using the scores above but under each theme.

Third, see if there’s some flow to them. Ensure any that could become bottlenecks have the appropriate resources. If they don't you need to create a priority action for that, so it doesn't hold up progress later on.

Lastly, by listing out the first 3 actions for each of your most important tactics, you can identify synergies. As the themes are grouped together, it can enable you to look at more than one at a time. For example, I have to build 3 teams. So, it's worth looking at all my potential team prospects and grouping them by skills, interest, capacity, etc. If I did this one team at a time, it would be far less efficient.

For example, one of my simple themes with a couple of tactics are here:

1) Developing People:

• Build 2 core teams for leadership recruitment (action 1 - list out prospects)
• Build Major Gifts Committee (action 1 - same as above - do together)

So those are my 8 steps. I'm going through them professionally right now and will then take a look at my personal template (albeit, I'm confident that's more on track). It is a lot to get done but it's not something you have to do every week. Depending upon the length of time required to attain your goals, you can re-assess periodically. Once you have done this, it really helps clear out your head, free up some bandwidth and energize you to focus on what matters. You'll be far more productive!

From here, we should be in good shape, with simplified goals, focused tactics and intentional actions to smash the remainder of 2018. It’s going to go quickly for me but I’m looking forward to the journey. I hope you enjoy yours too.

For 2018 I’m writing about things I’m thinking, feeling, saying and doing - and why - whether in the present or from the past. This makes my writing real and relevant (to me at least) as a way to refine and process my thoughts. I hope also it’s an easy, engaging & meaningful resource for you that could even save you some time & energy if you’re in a similar situation.

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@MarkGriffRugby @VitaSportUSA @PlayRugbyUSA

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