Goals 2007 And Accommodating Rapid Change
January 15, 2007 by Des Walsh
Filed under Social Media
I have to say upfront that I find the whole business of goal-setting a challenge. Always have. As I’m a coach as well as a blogger, that challenge has some special professional resonance. At least I have real empathy for clients who don’t find goal-setting easy.
Maybe a goal for me in 2007 would be to master goal-setting so that it becomes fun?
In the meantime, I had been hoping to sneak past Jan 1 and even the whole month without having to post anything here or on other blogs of mine about goal-setting. Then my colleagues on the b5media network’s Business Channel (you can see their links in the right sidebar if you click on the Business link under b5media) decided it would be good to have a Business Channel theme day on Goals 2007. So I don’t have a choice.
I could actually write a lot about goals. Especially the ones I’ve set and not reached. But I will content myself here with making one point and it’s this: change is now so rapid that a goal set in January 2007 with a December 2007 fulfilment date might prove inappropriate by the middle of the year, or even the end of the first quarter.
So I would recommend that anyone who has set goals this month for the year ahead, or is about to, also build in an accountability checkpoint at the end of each quarter. Even better, get an accountability buddy.
The idea is that I identify and get agreement from someone to whom I will report on my progress towards the goal. And I would ask them specifically to get me to report also to them on how appropriate I see the goal as being for me at that point in time. A particular twist I would use is to say I would rather they did not give me any lectures – I am asking them to do me the courtesy of being a person I am promising myself to report to, not to be my coach or judge. Chances are they will be happier to fulfil the role if I let them off the judgement hook in that way.
And if when I report I see that circumstances have changed, or that my reasons for setting that goal in the first place have changed, I will need to make adjustments. That way there is less chance of getting to December without a sense of achievement or progress in whatever field I set the goal for.
I share your love/hate relationship with goals. I find it especially challenging since getting into blogging, where you can look up four hours later and wonder what just happened.
I think you’re right that fun is the key. I’m working on setting goals that I am eager to achieve… hopefully it will work better than it has the past three decades or so!
Hey Des,
Just wanted to challenge one little bitty thing you said in your post concerning the accountability buddy. I of course share your thoughts concerning a need for the buddy and I also agree with your comment about removing the “judgement factor”.
I believe that the accountability buddy should however challenge your arguements when you want to quit. If the accountability buddy doesn’t have enough moxey (for lack of a better word) to challenge me to stay with it. It becomes VERY easy to surrender to the pressures of life and abandon my goals. Just a thought! :)
Sean – I know what you mean about blogging and goals. Interestingly, for me anyway, when I knew I had to do the above post yesterday and also knew I had about 30 minutes left to do it before being out of the loop for most of the next 24 hours, I really focused and got it done. I know I could have spent much more time and done an essay type post, but that was not an option. I’m one of those people who can be de-motivated by too many goals or deadlines but sometimes a deadline is really good for getting me to action.
Darlene
I hear what you say. The non-judging, non-challenging buddy is one model, yours is another. My prefered description of the sort of relationship you propose is of a buddy coaching/mentoring one, which is commonly used among coaching colleagues. I feel there is a place also for the non-challenging one, which is what I would normally call a listening buddy. My problem as a coach is that the sort of challenging relationship you are proposing can be handled badly if people do not have some at least basic coaching and mentoring skills.
Ok, you caught me, the coach in me leaks out a lot. I do agree with you that if you get the wrong person it can be very detrimental to both people, especially if they have any kind of relationship.
Darlene wrote:
>Ok, you caught me, the coach in me >leaks out a lot.
Not trying to catch you :). Your comment made me think and provided some useful distinctions.