To paraphrase something the Cheshire Cat said to Alice, “If you don’t have a goal, any path will lead you there.”
I would add to this, if you don’t have metrics, it will take a much longer time to get there.
Think about how this applies to achieving your goals and being seen as an outstanding leader in your organization.
I’m not talking about company goals, annual business goals, or your 3-month to 5-year plan for your operation. What I’m referring to is your personal goals for where you want to be and how you want to be perceived in the next 1 to 2 years.
I’m specifically focusing in on medium-term goals, because I want you to be looking at something meaningful and achievable in the relatively near future, but far enough away that there is room to see real progress along the way.
Now, I am making the assumption that you have a good idea of where you want to be, say, 5 years down the road, and for the meaningful progress you want to achieve in this 1-2 year time frame. (If not, maybe we should talk…)
Pick a 1-2 year goal related to leadership that is meaningful to you.
To dramatically increase your likelihood of achieving that goal, I now want you to brainstorm on what metrics (Key Performance Indicators) you could establish and track that would demonstrate meaningful progress towards that goal.
For example, if my goal was to increase my presence and recognition at the senior executive level, some metrics I could track would be:
- Number of presentations I make to senior executives.
- Number of senior executive meetings I am invited to attend.
- Number of 1-on-1 meetings I have with senior executives.
The KPI Challenge
So here’s my challenge to you:
Develop your 1-2 year goals and a list of KPIs to achieve them. Check in once per week on how you are doing relative to your KPIs. Make adjustments as necessary. If you do this for one year, you will see massive results in your career.
Are you up for this challenge? Want to add some accountability into the process to help make sure you follow through?
Send me an email with your goals and KPIs and let me know how you are doing throughout the year. I will check in monthly to provide support and help you stay on track.
Oooh, this is great! I very rarely plan more than one month ahead! This will be a new challenge for me, for sure!
Go for it, Alice!
John, interesting discussion. The only KPIs I can think of, in my holistic coaching and energy healing business, would be: dollars earned, and number of clients. My books are minor to my income. When I get my next book done, or get back to speaking, there might be a PI there. I have been so wildly busy with life changes that I have only set goals in terms of earnings. I will now envision where I want to be in 2-5 years. Fun! Thanks for the points to ponder.
Kebba:
Those are good ones. Until you get to the 2-5 year vision, you might want to think about some interim KPI’s that facilitate getting the earnings and clients, to help you assess what you can do to impact that.
Examples:
-Number of complimentary sessions given per week. (I’m assuming you have something like this to explore working with someone.)
– Percentage of such sessions that result in clients.
– Earnings per client
Without a goal, how will you know when you get there.
Fortunately I have arrived, unscathed and enjoy sharing the rewards through this blog challenge.
Blog on!
It’s great that you have arrived, Doug. Now, what’s next?