Building a Winning Year: Completing an Annual Review and Planning Session With Your Team
Looking at how you can include your team in the goal planning process is the final article in a series from the last couple of weeks. Together, these provide a strong foundation for setting up your goals for the year ahead.
Time for Fresh Perspective: On You. Conducting an Annual Review
Set Yourself Up For Success: Planning Your Goals for the Upcoming Year
Building a Winning Year: Completing an Annual Review and Planning Session With Your Team
Having your team be a part of the goal development and planning process will inevitably slow the process a bit, but it will also make it markedly better. Involving people in the expected outcomes and processes to achieve those outcomes almost always results in a better work experience and the ability to deliver consistently positive results. You can apply a similar preparation and goal development process for your team as you do yourself. Let’s take a look at how that might work.
What do they think will make the most significant difference for the team next year?
Begin with the biggest open-ended question you can think of related to goals and results. ‘Where can we make the biggest difference’ leaves the door wide open for early conversation on what can be done. It is a great brainstorming opportunity. Plus, it will not only help to lead you to your goals and priorities for the year ahead, but may also provide a longer-term road map of ideas on what to address next, and then what comes even further down the road.
The follow-up question to help flush out the ideas further is to then ask, ‘why are these Ideas important?’ Asking why is an excellent way to get to the root of what drives an idea's importance (or not). It can also help in the prioritization process as well. Looking where we can make the biggest difference and why that is important addresses a lot of reasoning behind how resources should be spent.
How would they recommend accomplishing those goals?
Often, the people included in this exercise will be the ones getting the work done to bring the goals to life and see them through to completion. Asking and then discussing ‘how will we get this done’ shifts the conversation from ideation to reality. There is a level of practicality that comes into play at this stage. If we want to accomplish ‘x’ what steps will we need to take to achieve that? This also starts the accountability process. With the realization that the goal is now an expectation and delivering on it will be necessary, the how behind getting it done takes on new meaning. This is a really great problem-solving activity to work through with your team. Help to guide through potential obstacles that will be experienced along the way. Quickly identify the barriers that already exist. There may be a reason that solution has not already been implemented.
This should be an energizing portion of the goal planning session. As the leader, you’ll need to keep the discussion focused on what ‘can’ be done and not get too bogged down in the obstacles or barriers that can prevent the desired outcomes. Being realistic can force new ideas to surface. It can also ensure that you recognize the true challenge this goal may face and what resources or time considerations will need to be in place.
Define realistic time frames
Speaking of time — timelines need to be established for the goal planning process. It is part of the SMARTER framework. It is an element of accountability. Time is often taken for granted or worse, unrealistic timelines are given due to a lack of understanding the project, unaccounted for resource needs, or just a feeling of that’s when it needs to be done. More than anything, as a leader, you need to find that right balance between urgency and realistic timing. Neither over-committing nor under-committing is a good thing. This puts the spotlight back to the first two questions: ‘how will this make a different’ and ‘how will we get it done.’? Those should identify what the level of urgency should be and define the resources needed to complete it in a realistic time.
What will they need to do differently on an individual level to support the team and find personal success?
It is important to translate the team goals into actions, activity, and ownership at the individual level. You can begin to discuss the individual components together as a team to determine what will they need to change or do differently in order to achieve the goals for the next year. There is some peer accountability that comes from this discussion as well. You can even discuss how often you come back together to discuss goal achievement progress, what that should look like, and how you make updates or course correct throughout the year. Agree on both the group dates and the timeline for individual follow-up discussions that you will have with each member of the team. This ensures everyone is part of the same process and that they are all in it together as a team, but have a role to play as an individual.
Team goal setting can be a powerful way to build a productive operating plan. It establishes clear expectations for what you want to accomplish. Your plan will identify potential obstacles and ways to avoid them. It incorporates elements of how you will know when you are successful, and conversely, when you’ll need to course correct. All of these are core foundations for team accountability as well. This exercise becomes as much about planning for the year ahead as it does being accountable for the success you can generate together.
How will you build your team goal planning session?
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