Meeting our goals: specific targets and actions needed

Even though it can seem like an arbitrary time to begin, we could pick any day of the year to do this. January 1 is historically considered to be the time of new resolutions, beginning of new hobbies and we all have the urge to better ourselves.

In the past 15 years of my client engagement experience, the one goal that I would say is crucial and is pivotal for setting up for project success: gathering feedback/ reviews about your service or support. Make sure that you ask all your managers and project core team members to review your engagement and support experience and be strategic about when you ask for reviews to increase your chances of success. The right timing, typically year end or at the time of project completion/handoff - when they've spent a certain threshold amount of time with your leadership and support will be crucial timing to get your reviews in. Incentivizing your team to gather client testimonials and feedback and making this an integral part of onboarding and training processes will be key measures to help meet this goal.

Another successful thought process that will help us all take cohesive steps to better achieving our goals is by taking control and being our own advocate of our goals mindset. Never be afraid to put yourselves in charge of planning and decision making discussions with your project team each day. Having your concerns, questions and preferences addressed during all phases of the project is a vital step in making informed decisions in your project.

Envisioning and setting up SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely goals for project success is important at the outset of all projects. Use a dashboard or metrics for continuous monitoring and self-accountability of meeting the SMART goals. Make sure to amend these SMART goals to best suit your project needs and timing through proper change management practices and keep your stakeholders and decision makers informed.

In whatever manner we choose to celebrate the dawn of a new year(2023), we must strive to successful in our endeavors this month and in months to come by staying focused and productive as we started energetically during the beginning of year. PERSISTENCE and being SMART is the key to achieving our goals set forth for projects.