Home » Blog » Personal Development, it’s time to take ownership of it.

It is important to maximise your personal development in the workplace and you’ll be surprised at the number of aspects that you can improve upon. You can address gaps in your knowledge, enhance existing skills or learn new ones. You may want to concentrate on improving your health and fitness, enriching your quality of life or addressing your work-life balance. Or perhaps you’re looking to tackle your happiness, self-awareness or self-esteem. Whatever you choose to do, the business benefits of personal development will be astounding.

After you have appraised yourself to determine what weaknesses you want to focus on, you can set about putting in place some strategies to meet those personal development needs. Here are some that really work.

Over the next few weeks we will look at these strategies and how you can put them in place.  Firstly we are starting with

1. Setting goals

First and foremost, you need to have very clear objectives. You will need to know precisely what you want to achieve, so that further down the line you’ll be able to measure if you’ve achieved it. Remember that you need to be realistic with your goal otherwise you will be disappointed if you can’t reach it.  So rather than thinking you want to run a mile in four minutes, set a realistic time, if you want to be promoted look at the steps to get you there, if you want to learn a new skill to become an expert in that field you may need to set exams or study but it won’t happen overnight.

Have you heard of SMART

Specific

• Specifically define what you want to deliver.
• Avoid generalities and use action verbs as much as possible.

• The level of detail you need to provide depends on your personality and your experience level. For example, if you are a highly autonomous or experienced person, you will need less detail than a less confident or seasoned one.

Measurable

• Identify how you will measure success— usually stated in terms of quantity, quality, timeliness or cost (e.g. increase by 25%).

Achievable/Actionable

• Make sure that accomplishing the goal is within the your realm of authority and capabilities.
• Can you successfully complete this goal with the skills, resources and time available to you?
• Are there factors beyond your control that need to be considered?

• While considering whether a goal is actionable/achievable, you also need to consider the your total set of goals. While each individual goal may be achievable, overall, you may be taking on too much than could reasonably be expected to successfully complete.

Realistic/Relevant

• Ensure the goal is practical, results-oriented and within the employee’s realm of authority and capabilities.
• Make sure the goal is relevant to your role, skills and qualifications.
• Where appropriate, link the goal to a higher-level departmental or organisational goal, and ensure that you understand how your goal and actions contributes to the attainment of the higher level goal.

Time based

• Specify when the goal needs to be completed (e.g. by the end of Q2, or every month).

Let’s take an example of a goal, based on a company goal.  If you are a Telemarketeer you are there to make calls, but if you plan them then it would be a lot more satisfying.

Specific: Make a certain number calls a week to prospects

Measurable: Write the number of calls you make day, the times people are available.  There is no point saying 500 a week when no one is available or you have to enter into a database for every call.

Achievable/Actionable: Look at your time in the office, client availability and see if this can be achievable.

Realistic: Again do you have time, is your knowledge of the product/service sufficient to be able to speak to any prospect.  Do you need to learn a script, shadow someone to see how they do it, need more training?

Time based: What is the number of quality calls you want to reach and by when?  There is no point just calling and not getting a sale.

When you achieve this then you can set your next goal.  It could be to become a trainer for Telemarketeers, Team Leader, Account Manager.

Remember that feeling when you achieve your goal and bottle it.

If you need help setting these SMART objectives, please just pick up the phone and call us on 07810 563676, we love helping people achieve their goals.

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