7 Tips For Getting Started With Goal-Setting
Last updated: May 3, 2021
Estimated reading time: 5 min
目标是结果背后的驱动力，但是设定目标会让人觉得费力和笨拙。无论你是在组织、团队还是个人层面上实现目标，遵循这些建议来克服这些痛点并简化过程。然后，看看我们的其他目标设定工具和资源开始。
1. Get SMARTIE.
SMARTIE stands for Strategic, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely, Inclusive, and Equitable—all characteristics of a well-crafted goal. Approaching goal-setting with a SMARTIE lens is an important practice for every person regardless of your role, tenure, or identity. Refer to ourSMARTIE Goals Worksheet, our article onembedding inclusion and equity in your goals, andgoals bankto help you write SMARTIE goals.
2. Don’t start with a blank slate.
Unless you’re setting goals for the very first time, you will have some documents to lean on, such as your strategic plan, organizational or team goals, or your job description. Whether you’re setting organizational, team, or individual goals, refer to last year’s goals as your starting point—unless you’ve drastically changed your strategy or priorities, you’ll likely find a few that you can revise and use.
For example, let’s say your goal for talent was “Fill all open positions by December 31, where all new hires come from a pool in which at least one finalist candidate identifies as a person of color.” If you achieved the goal this year, you could update it with “Complete all new staff onboarding by March 31, with no gaps in satisfaction across race/ethnicity or level of hire.” If you had “Get at least 10 media mentions in Tier 1 publications” as a goal and this is an effort you want to continue in the coming year, keep it as-is or update it to “Increase the number of Tier 1 media mentions to X.”
3. Ask for input.
就像在公开水域游泳一样，有些事情你不应该独自去做。特别是对于组织和团队目标来说，从别人那里寻求观点会让你的目标更清晰。
Before finalizing your goals, seek perspective in any (or all) of the following ways:
- Talk to people who will be on the MOCHAs for accomplishing them—especially owners and helpers.
- Get feedback (or use past feedback) from people who will be directly impacted by the outcomes of your goals.
- Check in with your manager or team lead (or someone who may have more of a bird’s-eye view) about whether your goals make sense within the broader context of the work and organization.
例如，假设你是一个团队的领导者，你的目标是在今年年底前通过你的领导力发展项目培训至少2500人(其中40%是BIPOC)。Here are the people you might have checked in with before finalizing this goal:
- The training logistics lead to talk through potential obstacles and their mitigations, especially if 2,500 represents a significant increase in participants.
- The owner of outreach and recruitment to talk through tactics that could help you reach the 40% BIPOC number.
- Trainers, about the potential increase in workload and capacity needs.
Check out tip #6 for questions you can ask to get the most helpful input!
4. Embrace placeholders.
许多管理者在第一次尝试时就陷入了制定精确目标的困境。不要担心具体的数字;首先定性地描述它们，使用占位符来表示数字，直到您对所需的结果有更好的感觉。
For example, one qualitative outcome might be to get more small-dollar donations to complement your big donor fundraising as a way to diversify your funding streams and build community engagement. Your draft goal might be: “Increase the number of small-dollar donations to build more community engagement and manage risk with big donor funding.” You may later fill in the “increase the number of” with specifics, such as “Double the number of small-donor donations” or “Raise $X from small donors.”
5. Make sure they cascade, connect, and add up.
Every organizational goal should “cascade” to the team and individual levels of the organization so that each piece of the work and results is accounted for and owned by someone. Conversely, every individual should be able to trace their goals to at least one organizational priority or goal. As the leader of the team or organization, ask yourself: Do the component parts add up to the sum total we are aiming to achieve?
例如，如果您的组织目标是通过您的领导力发展项目培训至少2500人(其中40%被认定为BIPOC)，那么这个目标可能会相互影响的一种方式是，您的项目团队将拥有开发和交付内容，而您的运营团队将拥有培训后勤。如果您达到个人级别，您可能会让每个培训师每年拥有特定数量的培训，并有目标编号用于注册。
6. Use litmus test questions.
Ask yourself (and others!) questions to test how SMARTIE your goals are:
- Will achieving this goal represent significant progress towards our mission?
- 这一目标或其策略是否减轻了结果和/或过程中潜在的不平等?它是否促进了结果和/或过程中的公平性和包容性?
- Did I get input from people who will be impacted by the process or the outcomes? If not, who do I still need to consult with?
- 这个目标的成功衡量标准是否明确?
- 这个目标有最后期限吗?
- 我们目前(或计划)拥有实现这个目标所需的能力、系统和过程吗?
- (个人目标)我能把我的每个目标和一个组织或团队的目标联系起来吗?
7. Schedule stepbacks.
Goals are useless if you don’t use them as the north star to guide your actions and make course corrections. Do quarterly or mid-year stepbacks to see how you are doing and what, if anything, needs to change.
Check out some other important resources for setting goals: