By Dale Carnegie Staff

Successful leaders have a common trait – they set goals and help others achieve outcomes. The classic definition of a goal is a desire with a plan and a deadline.

These leaders take an active role in goal setting and hold their people accountable. Doing so in a supportive way is critical for the members of the team to feel that what they do makes a difference, keep engagement levels high, and ultimately achieve optimal results.

Victor Hugo said, “Where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incident, chaos will soon reign.” 

Here are some basic reasons why we don’t achieve our goals:

• Not written down.
• No plan to achieve.
• No commitment or action.
• No accountability partner or other supportive person in tune with the goal.

This time of year we typically evaluate our lives and make resolutions. Most of these resolutions are forgotten before long, because no intentional plan of action is created. 

Creating and implementing a plan is the only way we guarantee moving forward successfully! Plan to jump into action on your professional objectives so that you have the time to cater to other areas of your life to achieve balance. 

Instilling in your people the importance of individual, team, and development goals will also help in creating a culture of high performance. Here are some timely tips to build employee engagement that drives positive outcomes, and some best practices for holding individuals and teams accountable to the agreed upon goals.

An effective accountability process has seven steps:

1. Align goals and objectives.
2. Plan implementation.
3. Communicate the objectives and the plan.
4. Gain agreement and commitment (Shake on it.)
5. Announce – Broadcast the objectives and the plan to meet the goals.
6. Implement the plan.
7. Reward positive results.

Start the new year with your goals and intentions in place. By setting “SMART” objectives with a clear plan of action and holding yourself accountable by tracking them, you will be more likely to get things accomplished. 

• Specific – Narrow down the goal.
• Measurable – Place a metric against the outcome.
• Attainable – Something you can hit the nail on the head.
• Realistic – No pie in the sky.
• Timely – Make it achievable in Q1.

Let’s expand the goal setting process for further analysis:

1. Identify it – Write your goal(s) down clearly. Write exactly what you want to achieve…in the most specific terms possible.
2. Date it – Put a date (and time limit) to start the goal and finish it. Unless you commit to a start and target an end, your ability to achieve any goal is questionable. 
3. List the obstacles you will have to overcome to achieve your goal. Identification of obstacles will help prevent them from occurring. 
4. List the groups and people to contact who will work with you and help you achieve your goal. People will help you if you ask. This is a good place to identify a supportive person or two to give you an accountability partner.
5. What skills and knowledge do you need to have to achieve your goal? Do you have them or do you need to acquire them? Make a plan to acquire or hire the knowledge or skills you need. 
6. Make (and write down) an action plan for each goal. The more specific and detailed your plan is, the more likely you are to enact it. 
7. List the benefits of goal achievement – What’s in it for me after I achieve this goal? What’s my incentive? Is my incentive strong enough to ensure achievement? 
8. Take action every day – It only takes ten or fifteen minutes a day to chip away at goal achievement. Make a personal commitment to act on your goals… and live up to that commitment every day.

We will use a principle found in Dale Carnegie’s Golden Book that will guide us in setting successful goals. (Email Robert.Graves@DaleCarnegie.com for a pdf copy of the Golden Book.)

One of Dale Carnegie’s principles to gain cooperation from others is to “throw down a challenge.” Challenge yourself right now to set a goal for the new year. The challenge should include having development goals as well as production goals – development goals for you and your teams that tie into monetary and performance goals.

We all feel the weight of our endless to-do list, and so little time to do it all. If we want to put an end to the stress and worry of feeling behind or idle, this method of goal setting is for us! 

With time wasters out of the way, let’s open the path for quicker decision-making, increased productivity and stronger results which will allow us to reach our goals.

We will feel more confident, less pressured, and more productive by stretching to overcome obstacles as we see results.

Come away from this article ready to hit the ground running and get inspired!  Now sign up your leadership team to take the 30-minute session on Goal Setting for 2023. Here is the link >>> https://www.dalecarnegie.com/en/locations/tampa-bay/asa .

NOTE: If you would like further information or help registering your team, reach out to Robert.Graves@DaleCarnegie.com for details. © 2022 Dale Carnegie and Associates. All rights reserved. Portions by Dale Carnegie staff.

About the Editor:

Robert Graves, MBA, is a Dale Carnegie Certified Trainer for Dale Carnegie Tampa Bay. His focus is Relationship Selling. He is the author of “Making More Money with Technology.” He often speaks on the evolution of Marketing, Sales, and Service. Robert can be reached at robert.graves@dalecarnegie.com or call/text 813-966-3058.

About Dale Carnegie:

Dale Carnegie is a global training and development organization specializing in leadership, communication, human relations, and sales training solutions. More than 9 million people around the world have graduated from Dale Carnegie training since it was founded in 1912. Dale Carnegie Training can help your organization build effective interpersonal skills that generate the positive emotions essential to a productive work environment that lead to increased profits.