Making Team Goals More Resilient Than Resolutions
Emma Pownall
Commercial Marketer | Purposeful Creative | Customer Champion | Driver of Strategic Change
Three full weeks into January, and the shine of New Year's Resolutions is already dimming for many. That initial resolve is being tested, discipline is wavering, and motivation is dipping. (I'll definitely eat less chocolate next week!)
As marketing leaders, this annual cycle of resolution and retreat offers an interesting parallel to how we approach personal development in our teams. While our marketing plans for the year are likely locked in, the start of the year presents a unique opportunity to focus on the individuals who'll bring those plans to life.
Why focus on personal goals now? Because without individuals with motivation and clear direction, we won't have a team pulling together towards our impactful marketing objectives. When team members lack clarity on their own goals and how they achieve them, it impacts everything from day-to-day execution to long-term marketing success.
The challenge lies in approaching this delicately. How do we encourage meaningful goal-setting conversations that don't feel like another HR process or mirror the fate of abandoned New Year's Resolutions?
The Common Pitfalls of Goal Setting with the Team
Personal goal setting is a learnt skill that is so valuable in life, careers, teams and businesses but often isn't coached until someone reaches executive levels. If we don't have a good process for conducting goal setting conversations, how can we help team members in a way that'll ultimately helps our marketing function??
The biggest barrier to effective goal setting often isn't the goals themselves - it's how we approach the conversation. Fear might stop team members sharing aspirations that suggest they're looking beyond their current role. And, lack of psychological safety can lead to a disscusion around surface-level goals rather than meaningful ambitions. Sometimes, team members simply don't know what they want to achieve, are worried about admitting it or are overwhelmed that they don’t have the answers.
Without addressing these challenges, we risk falling into two traps: either avoiding meaningful conversations altogether, or worse, going through the motions without creating any real value. Like that new gym membership or abandoned Dry January resolution, we end up with good intentions that quickly fade when they feel too uncomfortable or unclear to pursue.
A Coaching Approach to Supporting Individual Goals
So how do we tackle this in a way that helps the individual to be clear on what they'd like to achieve and helps you to guide them towards it?
Here is my approach, which is currently in motion for 2025. I'd love to hear if you think I can make any tweaks or improvements.
1. Timing: The January Advantage
January is a great month to introduce individual goal setting because there is a window of openness to what the future holds that we don't lean into as freely the rest of the year. It's also often outside of business year beginnings and therefore any conversations you have with the team aren't tied to budgets, pay reviews or performance. (If you have a January start, consider September an alternative window - we still have ingrained new school year habits you can lean into.)
2. Make a Start: The Reflection Survey
I actually do this in December but it isn't too late - for the last few years I've sent my team a short survey asking them for feedback on me, reflections on what they were proud of in the year that's gone and what they'd like to achieve in the new year (personally, professionally and in role).
Each question has a comment box so they can write as much or as little as they want (which tells you a little about how safe they feel) and they can be as personal or role based as they'd like (giving you insight into where their thinking is at). When the deadline has past for completing the survey, thank everyone for sharing their thoughts and let them know you'll follow up.
The survey includes questions like:
Keep it simple and open-ended - you're looking for reflection, not a detailed plan at this stage.
3. The Setup: Creating the Right Environment
Ideally a face to face meeting, but online also works for this, give individuals a heads up that you're setting aside time to talk to them about them. It's not a role based chat, it's not to talk through projects, it's not a HR meeting - it's time carved out so you can get to know them better and what they'd like to achieve in the year ahead. Reassure them at the start of the conversation that anything they tell you is confidential, that you're there to help them build some strong and resilient personal goals and to better understand how you can help them to achieve them through their current role.?
Do:
Don't:
4. The Chat Itself: A Coaching Conversation
Your role in this conversation is to facilitate their thinking, prompt, challenge, and above all, listen. The first conversation may be about sharing some tools and leaving them to work through them before a follow up, or it may be that the reflections survey shows they have a clear direction and you're looking to find out more. Either way, use open questions, leave judgment at the door and actively listen to what the individual is sharing with you.?
Ask questions like:
5. Keeping the Momentum
The final point to consider when supporting individuals with personal goal setting is that it's not a one time exercise that gets filed away until next January. You have a responsibility to the individual to check-in, support, guide and coach your team members on these goals throughout the year. You also can help individuals align their goals to your marketing objectives and get them involved in projects that will help them to gain valuable experience.??
Find ways to bring this into conversations through the year. I aim to catch up with individuals quarterly in a longer conversation and remind myself of their goals, alongside making time in more regular check-ins. Keeping these check-ins informal means they’ll feel less like a performance review. And remember, the emphasis is on listening and coaching, not feedback.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it, my approach to helping individuals in setting goals that don't get ditched as quickly as New Year's Resolutions.? An approach that helps me to have more coaching conversations with my team, allows me to learn more about the individuals I work with, and to better help me support them in achieving collective and individual goals through the year.?
It’s also an approach I take for my own goal setting to remove the overwhelm or to drag me out of the day-to-day.??
And, when it feels tempting to ditch the goals and start again in 2026, I have the tools in place to ensure everyone's don't get set aside as quickly as my new gym membership.
Get Involved
I'd love to hear your suggestions on how I can improve this for myself and my team members, particularly from the many coaches I know, and also from other marketing leaders - what works for you?