The end of this year feels a little different for me. During previous festive seasons, I took the opportunity to write my companies annual Business Plan which included a set of commitments (objectives) for the forthcoming year. This was an opportunity to shape the strategic & operational direction for our company.
I recently retired from being a Managing Director for Dosh Ltd where I had the honour of being their MD for 15 years. Dosh supports people with a learning disability to have better control over their money.
So, while I will not be writing a Business Plan, I will be setting my personal objectives for the forthcoming year. As the CEO of my life, it is important I continue to have a strategic direction and a good framework for my operational plan.
I hope this article (and my experiences) will:
- Inspire you.
- Provide a framework.
- Keep those objectives alive.
- Help you to be more organised.
Related: The Fifth Leadership Lesson I learned – Be more organised – Leadership in the Raw
1. Goals.
A goal is: A goal is an achievable outcome that is, broad and longer term.
‘If you have a goal, write it down, if you do not write it down, you do not have a goal – you have a wish.’ Steve Maraboli
Writing down your goals forces you to be clear about what you want. Use a pen and paper (you can transfer it to your laptop later). That simple physical act helps cement the desire in your brain.
Are your goals, S.M.A.R.T?
Specific – be specific in your definition: ‘who’ ‘what’ ‘where’ and ‘why.’
Measurable – how are you going to track your progress.
Achievable – Do you have the current resources and skills to achieve your goal? Don’t set yourself up for failure by including objectives you cannot realistically achieve.
Relevant – are they relevant to your values and long-term objectives? For my company objectives and commitments, I checked if they were relevant to my parent organisation’s three-year planning assumptions.
Timebound – set a realistic deadline for completion. Manage expectations. If you think or know you will achieve your goal (or objective) by a certain month, then add an additional month on to the deadline as a contingency for unexpected obstacles and or events. If it is ‘met’ before, you will look good.
Backward Goal Setting.
Start with the end in mind. (I do something similar for my objectives and or commitments):
- Visualise your ‘North Star.’ What will your end goal look like?
- Describe your ‘North Star’ in detail within your plan.
- Work backwards from your end goal by identifying the project goal phases so that you meet your success criteria.
- Identify the resources and assign times to each phase and milestone.
- Now start from the beginning and work through each stage until you reach your North Star.’
(this process is referred to, as a ‘Path’ which I followed, when supporting people with a learning disability on their person-centred plan (PCP).
We adapted the Path, to set our company three-year business strategy)
2. Objectives
An objective is shorter term and defines measurable actions to achieve an overall goal.
My Top 10 Tips – Building your objectives.
- Make your objectives SMART.
- Group your objectives under the following headings: Short-Term (1-3 months) Medium-Term (4-8 months) and Long-Term (9-12).
- I often find friends and colleagues can struggle to produce objectives. If you arrange them under categories, it becomes so much easier. My categories include: Work, Continued Professional Development (CPD), ‘Added Value’: The 8th Leadership Lesson I learned – Add Value – Leadership in the Raw Personal’ (often connected to my running). I usually assign 3 or 5 objectives to each heading.
- Involve others. Identify who needs to support you with your objective – one person rarely meets an objective. Share your objectives with those who are supporting you to achieve your desired outcome, they will feel part of the plan.
- Use a traffic light system to track your progress with each objective e.g. Green (you have ‘met’ the objective) Amber (‘part-met’) Red (you have ‘not met,’ or you have not started on this objective yet).
- Buddy Up. Even if you do not share the same goal, having a “success buddy” can keep you accountable. Meet weekly (in person or by phone/video) to check in on and encourage each other (they will also keep your feet to the fire).
- Take baby steps every day. Even small steps taken toward your goal consistently will move you in the right direction. Once you experience small wins, taking bigger steps becomes easier.
- Take BIG steps. Do not take all year to do what you can accomplish in a day. Once you have written down your list of objectives for the year, figure out which goals could be accomplished this month-or even today.
- Celebrate your successes. Every time you reach a milestone, acknowledge your accomplishments in a positive way. For example, if you drop a dress size, buy a new outfit. If you pick up a new customer, have dinner with a mentor. Celebrating your success will keep you focused on the larger goal.
- Do everything with intent, so why not change your ‘objectives’ to ‘commitments.’
3. Commitments
“We make ‘commitments’ because we are committed to doing what we say we will do. (we are not in the business of ‘wishing’ or ‘hoping’).
We ‘Endeavour to show real intent, to see things through to the end because ‘trying’ doesn’t cut it.”
Source: 2024/25 Dosh’s 10 Commitments – Dosh – Financial Advocacy
By calling them ‘Commitments’ the very word means that you are going to commit to a course of action (there is no going back!)
A framework for a ‘commitment’:
- A description of the commitment
- ‘We will’ (the action you will take to achieve your goal and what you have committed to do)
- Goal
- Detail of goal
- What will success look like?
We worked on our commitments daily and reported on our progress weekly.
Related: MAKE 2025 THE BEST YEAR YET – Leadership in the Raw
Considering your aims and objectives can be a chore, but it does not have to be that way!
Source: Steve Raw www.leadershipintheraw.org
Leadership in the Raw 