Goal Setting – The Process & The Context

So apparently yesterday was Blue Monday.? Unfortunately it was nothing to do with the 1983 New Order classic.? This Blue Monday (typically the 3rd Monday in January) is generally assumed to be the low point of the year.? The date by which we have given up on many of our ‘New Year, New Me’ resolutions, and we’re sliding back into old habits.? So, it seems an opportune time to look at Goal Setting.

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I love new year and the optimism it can bring.? But for me the critical mistake many of us make is seeing this as a one-off opportunity, rather than an ongoing process.? So this is how we’re going to approach the topic, and I’m going to cover this in two parts.? In next week’s article I’ll look at my preferred goal setting model, but this week I want to look at the process.? Because context is everything.

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There’s a distinct process to goal setting, and it’s useful to establish this context before diving into the goal setting process itself, so let’s look at the critical stages.

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Diagnostic

There’s a joke about an old boy up in the Yorkshire dales.? He’s outside leaning on his gate when a car pulls up.? The driver says, ‘excuse me but we’re a bit lost, can you tell me how to get to Huddersfield?’? The old boy takes a sharp intake of breath and replies, ‘now then lad, if you want to get to Huddersfield I wouldn’t start from here’…

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The point is we are where we are.? Its no-good wishing we could start from somewhere else, so we need to start the process with a diagnostic phase to understand exactly where we are.? That way we can effectively plan our route.

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Destination Setting

“If you don’t know where you’re going, ay road will get you there”

I disagree.? If we don’t know where we’re going any road will get us nowhere.? We need to start with the end in mind and set our destination.? That way we at least know if we’re facing in the right direction!

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Route Mapping

Once we have our start and end points identified, then we can plan our route.? This lets us identify the obstacles and challenges we’re likely to face, and develop measures to counter these issues.

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Course Tracking

We could get ahead of ourselves and start talking about KPIs and OKRs, but let’s not.? Let’s just focus on what will tell us if we’re on track.? We need to identify the milestones along the way that will evidence our progress.

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Celebration

This is one of my favourite elements as it maintains our motivation.? We need to celebrate our progress along the way.? And if we don’t make progress then we need to celebrate the learning.? We also need to enjoy the achievement when we reach our destination and then put it in context.? Whenever we achieve a goal, it morphs into a step towards the next goal.? The wheel keeps turning and we are never finished – so we must enjoy the process.

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That covers the process and the key elements surrounding goal setting.? I’ll pick this up next week and look at a goal setting system in detail.