Stop using SMART and use your smarts instead (Part I)…

HR is chasing you. Worse still they sent an email to your manager and now h/she has forwarded it to you with a one-liner of FYI. Based on past experience this is a subtle hint by your boss that it is expected you complete it by the end of the day. You sigh. You dig out that link emailed to you. You hate writing your personal development goals. You’re never sure what to write. There are plenty of things that you want to do that excite and motivate you but the whole process feels so restrictive.

You know they don’t subscribe a way of writing them but there is a best practice to which most people seem to default. You don’t have a clue what your boss is expecting to see and you don’t really see how they really relate to you, the team, the organization in terms of mission, vision, values, strategy and career goals.

The inner dialogue in your head and emotional roller-coaster during the next; what feels like an hour; but is actually only minutes goes as follows.

Relax, breathe…here’s how to avoid using SMART and use your smarts to help you create goals which hold real meaning or give real added value to/for you, boss, team, company and/or planet.

  Tips for creating your personal development goals:

• If you don’t view it as a competition with yourself (a challenge) to see if you can achieve it then you won’t take ownership of it
• If you haven't been frustrated as to 'why haven't I got this?' about this challenge at least 3 times then it's not enough of a challenge or it's not actually that much of an issue.
• If it doesn't make you feel a strong emotion (anger, frustration, stressed) when you think about it then it's not important enough to you
• If the thought of the challenge being overcome doesn't give you emotions of pride, joy, inspiration, relaxation and/or higher esteem, then it's not important enough to you
• If the emotions of success are only related to the desired outcomes for you then the challenge is too personal
• If the emotions of success are only related to the desired outcomes for the team then the challenge is not personal enough
• If you don’t see any or few obstacles in your way then it’s either too easy or you’re being unrealistically optimistic
• If all you see are obstacles then it’s either too complicated or you’re being overly pessimistic
• If you find it difficult to articulate what success would look like then either it's too ambitious or too ambiguous
• If you find it too easy to articulate what success would look like then either it's not ambitious enough or it's too defined
• If it doesn’t scare you, just a little, then you’re not pushing yourself enough
• If you feel bored by it, even a little, then you won’t feel excited enough to stick with it
• If it doesn’t address a strength you enjoy and can help you bring value to your role, boss, team and/or organization then why?
• If it doesn’t help you develop a new or under-used/under-developed skill / capability / competence / behavior that you value and that you are interested in knowing about then why?
• If the thought of tackling it scares you stiff, then it’s probably a combination of being too ambitious, too complex, and too complicated and you’re pushing yourself too far, too soon
• If you feel a little overwhelmed, but not swamped and drowning, and after a few deep breaths you can start seeing a few steps ahead then you’ve probably struck the right balance and will find yourself into your eustress zone
• If you can't express the vision of your personal development goal in a tweet (144 characters) or a haiku (Japanese poetry form of 17 syllables in phrases of 5, 7 & 5) that others can understand immediately and commit to it's either too complex or too vague

Once you’ve answered the above you’ll have the motivation, desire and clarity to understand:

• What you have to do to achieve the vision of your challenge
• Why you need to do it
• Who can help you do it
• What value and meaning success will bring you, your boss, team, and/or organization
• Which expected outcomes will benefit who and how
• When you’ll know you have achieved it and to what degree of success

NOTE: in the questions above ‘you’ refers to you, your boss, your team and/or organization/your planet

Next time - how to ensure you have a balanced set of personal development goals and how you can best plan to achieve your goals.