This is the time of year that many clients are focused on goals in preparation for the new year. It can feel a bit overwhelming for leaders to get started so I will ask my clients to share what their big outcomes are for the next year. They bring rough ideas to the conversation based on the gaps that need to be addressed, opportunity areas or upcoming business plans that they know are coming. The questions that I ask them are intended to help them gain clarity about these ideas for themselves. They will need to share these ideas across the organization so we talk about how to make them easy to talk about and yet be aspirational.
When you share what your team will be working on for the next year, you want everyone to be excited about it.
The big ideas or outcomes are a great way for people to see the strategic vision that you have for your organization.
You can make them boring or you can make them fun, motivational and inspirational. A few examples from my previous roles were “Cash is King” which was a big outcome we had to reduce costs and “Best Team in the Best Place to Work” which was to create higher levels of employee engagement for our team and the company.
You can be strategic with the outcomes that you want to accomplish and still have fun with it.
Here are three things to consider as you go through this process:
- The big outcomes should be simple to say and remember so that they can be easily repeated and shared
- Leverage images to make it simple to see what your big focus areas are for the year
- Ensure you have communication to align your outcomes with the key in
The specific goals, action plans, and measurements will roll up under the big ideas or outcomes. There may be multiple goals and action plans that tie to each outcome. The bottom line is that goal-setting and strategy doesn’t have to be a chore. Think of it as a fun way to inspire people and motivate them instead. You can make a game out of it and create rewards along the way for specific milestones. Everyone will be motivated to achieve the goal and your employee engagement will increase at the same time!