Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the HR blog written for and by members of Human Resources UK.
Before I leap into the introduction for today’s post, I just wanted to give you a quick reminder about our forthcoming networking events. They are free to attend and we have events in London, Reading, Manchester, Royal Wootton Bassett and Bristol. You can find more information by following this link http://www.fergo.co/p/networking-events.html
So to business! Today we welcome back Una Doyle who unfortunately does not mention her thoughts on the eviction of her favoured X-Factor contestant! However, she does show that she is both committed and intelligent, or rather a smarty pants – which is my incredibly tenuous link to her thoughts on smart goals! (Ed Scrivener)
Smart Goals 2012: A Different Perspective...
I know, I know, another article about the New Year and smart goals, well hey, it’s January! This one however has something a bit different for you…
As you are well aware, many people set goals and New Year’s resolutions every year and few achieve them.
“Hell isn’t merely paved with good intentions; it’s walled and roofed with them. Yes, and furnished too.”
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
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| Smart goals is NOT eating as many smarties as possible! |
There are books galore on setting smart goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. Frankly, I’d be amazed if most people reading this blog hadn’t heard of them. That’s not what I mean by truly smart goals though.
I’d like you to put all that to one side for a while and instead focus on the following steps. Once you’ve decided what you want (the topic of at least one other article I’m sure!) you simply need to do two things:
Decide where you add the most value to achieving your smart goals
Look at the different ways that you (and your team) can add the most value. Consider strengths and weaknesses, skills, experience, what you actually want to spend your time doing. Ask yourself the question, how can I help others be most effective that will result in me achieving my smart goal?
Where can we add value by being innovative? Where can we add value through timing, through the where and the when? What are the products and services that will make the most difference to those you serve?
What structures are already in place that will make this easier to achieve? What structures could you put in place if they’re not there? A structure could be a rhythm and routine of meetings, tapping into people’s talents, using the resources that you already have or simply believing that the smart goals are achievable.
This is all about you discovering your path of least resistance.
Leverage this value effectively
How can you then leverage this value through systems and processes? Get those more data and detail oriented people on the case. This could be mapping out effective processes to get repetitive tasks done or it could be using websites for distribution. How could you leverage this value through people? Think about your team, communication within the team and just as importantly with others. Who can sell the idea? Who can be your advocates or affiliates? Who else could you deliver this value to so that you’re not constantly reinventing the wheel?
An example for you is how one HR Manager for a large retail company plans to make a massive difference in her company in the next year. In taking this perspective, she realised that the most value she could add to the company would be to train the retail staff in a new product being launched at a much faster pace then had been originally planned. This sounds quite simple but she calculated that this different approach could add $5 million in revenues in only six months!
A final word on smart goals
In some instances you may wish to do the two steps above and let the smart goals fall out of that! This is because this approach allows you to look at truly creating what you want and what you will be great at creating. You may well find that suddenly what you’re looking to create is much bigger than you have ever done before…
This knowledge is incredibly vital for people’s sustainable wellbeing. According to Robert Fritz in "The Path of Least Resistance”, being empowered to create often is where humanity rises to the challenge. The fulfillment enjoyed by those who create what they want knows no bounds. When you understand how to add value and leverage that value effectively then you’re pretty much giving yourself a get out of jail card for the majority of situations in your life.
Where evil and bad things flourish it is always where people don’t feel able to create. Increase your levels of creation and help those around you to do the same – you may be amazed at the incredible difference this could make.
Now that’s what I call Smart Goals!
About the author
Una Doyle is an accredited Talent Dynamics Performance Consultant and an award-winning speaker, coach and consultant. Una has worked with organisations such as Argos, Asda, Yorkshire Forward, Kodak and local authorities from a one-to-one basis, to groups as large as 2,000. She is passionate about helping to create intrapreneur teams; getting the right people, in the right place, doing the right things with ownership and commercial acumen. Una has learned how to apply many of the world’s top-thinkers’ ideas in a way that is simple, profound, gets massive bottom-line results and a more empowered, motivated and engaged workforce.
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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK. Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 19th January and will be written by HR recruitment specialist Ed Scrivener.
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