The first few months of a new job are all about getting your bearings and learning the essential functions of your role. After you’ve got the basics down, it’s important to continue to grow your skill set and continue to develop professionally. Setting goals (whether short-term or long-term) is vital to achieving success both in your current job position and in your overall professional development. Here are a few tips for setting effective goals in the workplace.
Know Your Objectives. You’ll probably be asked to list some of your goals in your formal self-evaluations. Some people tend to fly through these, but it’s important to really reflect on what your workplace goals are. Spend some time thinking about what you want to accomplish, and keep a detailed record for accountability.
Create an Action Plan. Simply having goals doesn’t mean much if you don’t have a plan to achieve them. Whether your goals are work-related, such as increasing traffic to a social media site, or personal, like becoming a more confident public speaker, it’s important to come up with some steps to attain your goals.
Setting goals is an important part of being a productive member of your organization.
Ask for Help. When you’re first starting out in your career, it’s okay to not know exactly what your goals should be or how to achieve them. Sit down with your supervisor or a trusted colleague and ask them to provide some guidance on your action plans. As you move forward on those plans, be sure to ask for feedback on your progress.
Be Reasonable and Flexible. It’s important to have goals, but it’s even more important to keep them reasonable. It can be easy to try to accomplish everything at once, but it’s better to set one or two attainable goals within a specific timeframe and move forward from there. And if you have trouble reaching one of your goals, that’s okay! You may need to reassess your action plan, or put that goal on hold until a later time. Be flexible in your timeframe so as not to become stressed and overwhelmed.
When setting workplace goals, remember to outline reasonable steps toward achieving them, and ask for help and feedback from your supervisor. Setting goals will not only improve your performance at work, but it will also help develop your skill set and advance your career.
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