June FAQ – I Need to Change My Goals, How Can I Do That?
One Friday each month, I dedicate the post to looking at some questions I have heard recently from developing leaders. Sharing those questions and my thoughts for them is a way for me to spread the information to as many leaders and future leaders as possible. If you have a question about leadership, or just a situation you would like some additional insight on, please email me at Effective Retail Leader. Let’s take a look at this week’s question.
My goals are not set correctly, and I need to change them. How can I do that?
This can be either a simple question, or one that is very complex. On the simple side, if your goals are wrong, then just change them. Write down new goals and get started working towards ones that make sense for where you are at and what you need to accomplish. If only it were always that easy. You are likely facing one of two challenges: first, you have professional goals that are set through your Company’s goal tracking system. Or, second, you have your own goals, but they are connected to things within your business that require approval for changing them. Subtle difference there, but I understand the perspective for both.
Before we dive in to those two likely scenarios, in all seriousness, if you have either professional or personal goals that are fully within your control, you can change those any time you want. If you are tracking the goals and progress through your own means, then, one, good for you, and two, you have every right and ability to make the changes you need. They are your goals. Things change, that is understandable. You don’t have to view this as a failure or anything, apart from the need to make adjustments based on circumstances you may not have been aware of months ago. If you want to change your goals because they were too aggressive, or you simply feel like you cannot achieve them, then I would encourage spending time doing a full review of your goals and goal setting process. I recently covered how you can complete a mid-year review of your goals, and this would be a good place to do that.
Moving to goals that are tied to your company or business objectives, where you may not have full control over which goals you have or how they are set up. First, I would spend some time defining why you believe they may no longer be relevant. What has changed to make you believe that you should be spending your time on other activities or actions? As mentioned above, you can do this as part of completing a mid-year review process for yourself.
Once you have articulated what you believe would be the more appropriate goals for you, schedule time with your supervisor to discuss. Hopefully, you are having regular conversations about your performance and goal achievements. In case you are not or want to ensure you have some specific time with your manager to discuss what is on your mind, then scheduling time is the best approach. Share your thoughts on why you believe your goals should be updated or changed. Be honest, address what could be viewed as your ownership items, as well any pieces that may feel outside your control. I expect this will lead to a productive conversation about the actions you can take in the current environment that will help you with your success for the remainder of the year. Depending on how your company sets up their goals, even a discussion with your District or Regional Manager may not allow for a systemic change, but it can lead to agreements on how you will be evaluated. It can also provide specific feedback for those leaders to share with theirs to potentially impact and affect change across the organization. Don’t underestimate the power of these types of conversations to influence upwards.
Your objective here is to establish new or updated actions that will help you be and feel more successful in your current role. It may matter less about what is captured within a system and more for how you and your leader agree to measure your success and contributions. Having these open and honest dialogues can lead to far more productive outcomes beyond making a change to a few words or sentences in a goal tracking system. Use facts, be specific, and concise to make your point to your manager on how you want to be successful, the actions you know you can take, and how that may differ from what was in place when the goals were established.
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