Effective Guidance starts with an Effective Goal Setting

April 14, 2023

One of the most critical aspects of guiding your team in the right direction is properly setting goals for them.

Wandering teams with little clue on where to go are trouble. Do you also find your team lacking a clear action plan and typically wondering what to do after every short duration? Confusion among team members hurts productivity big time. However, even hyperactive and seemingly busy teams can sometimes fall into these traps. While they keep working, the tasks do not bring out the manager’s vision. Instead, the picture is blurry and slightly tilted in the wrong direction. 

Goals are set at multiple levels. Depending on the team’s organization, plans can be collaborative, individual, or team-level. The lack of clear objectives at any level can be spotted very easily with the help of a few signs: 

• Lack of direction and purpose
• Lack of motivation
• Low productivity
• Confusion among team members
• Unclear understanding of what they are working towards
• Poor communication
• High turnover rates

Bad goals are about more than team members sitting idle without enough work. Bad goal-setting can overwhelm team members to the extent of burnout too. Setting unrealistic goals is an effective strategy to raise the productivity and morale of team managers. However, this myth often leaves them with overworked team members who can no longer contribute actively to their innovation and ideas. 

Clarity and transparency are of essential importance in any team. Teams with these qualities can ensure their team members can find their place in the team’s journey. They can spot their efforts when the team’s success is finally celebrated. However, if the team’s ideas are chaotic and ad-hoc at best, it is hard for team members to see where they stand and why their contribution matters. 

For instance, let’s see the example of Joe, a marketing specialist who has recently joined a new team. Despite being in the role for several months, the team member has not received any clear guidance or direction from their manager on what goals or objectives they are expected to work towards.

As a result, Joe feels unsure about their role and what they should prioritize in their work. So, they spend time on tasks not aligned with the team’s overall objectives and struggle to complete tasks due to a lack of clarity on their expectations.

They also feel demotivated and disconnected from the team and the organization as a whole, as they do not clearly understand how their work contributes to the larger goals. Without proper goal setting from their manager, their potential is not fully utilized, and they become frustrated and disengaged over time.

The challenge here lies in the ineffective goal-setting of the manager. If the manager had set goals for Joe initially, they would have clearly understood their roles and responsibilities. Additionally, achieving goals would help them build motivation at work too. 

Make sure that your team members do not face the same troubles as Joe; take the free self-assessment on goal-setting skills by Risely now. 

The free goal-setting self-assessment analyzes the goal-setting skills of managers to bring out the strengths and weaknesses which impact the whole process. The assessment also collects feedback from team members to ensure that your development is not limited to your vision but includes everyone. 

Setting effective goals for your team is not just about keeping them busy. Instead, it brings out several advantages that enable productivity and define the manager’s success, such as:

• #Clarity: Clear and specific goals provide a roadmap for the team to follow. This clarity helps everyone understand what is expected of them and how their work contributes to the team’s overall success.
• #Focus: Goals help managers and team members focus on what is most important. It helps them prioritize their work and allocate resources accordingly.
• #Motivation: Goals give team members a sense of purpose and direction. When they see progress toward their goals, it can be a powerful motivator to keep working towards them.
• #Accountability: Clear goals also create a sense of accountability. When everyone knows what is expected of them, tracking progress and holding team members accountable for their work is easier.
• #Performance evaluation: Goals provide a basis for evaluating performance. When goals are set at the beginning of a project, it is easier to measure progress and determine whether the team is on track to meet its objectives.

Not setting #goals is like leaving your team in the desert with no map to get them home. Hence, ensure that you always set smart goals for your team and become the guide that delivers success. 

#goalsetting #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #managerdevelopment