How To Set Leadership Goals

My time in the military taught me the value of always embarking on projects, tasks, and practically anything worth accomplishing with a clear mind, laser focus, and the confidence brought about by careful planning. Today, in my entrepreneurship journey, I still carry out these learnings because, truth be told, proper goal-setting helps make leadership challenges much easier to take on.

Set leadership goals by keeping in mind the SMARTER rule — goals have to be specific, measurable, actionable, risky, time-keyed, exciting, and relevant. They should inspire your team to step out of their comfort zone and continuously work toward self-improvement and excellence. 

Let’s dive deeper into what leadership goals are all about and why they must be tailor-fitted to your and your team’s unique circumstances and needs. We will also discuss the biggest misconceptions in goal-setting and the repercussions if you fall into these traps. Then, I’ll share a simple guide on how to set SMARTER leadership goals for yourself and your team. 

What Are Leadership Goals?

Leadership goals are objectives set by leaders that express their desire to enhance and develop their skills, competencies, and leadership styles. These may also address issues pertaining to improving team dynamics. Typically, leadership goals aim to boost engagement, efficiency, and productivity. 

The desire to grow and succeed shouldn’t end when you bag that promotion. As a leader, you must continuously assess your skills and set new goals for yourself and your team. 

The Biggest Mistakes in Goal-Setting

Setting leadership goals may seem easy, but it isn’t as simple as it may sound. Some leaders fall into traps and commit big mistakes during this crucial process. 

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest blunders you must avoid when setting leadership goals:

1. Setting Unrealistic Goals

A friend shared with me how a pharmaceutical company she previously worked with suddenly started setting absurd quotas for their sales teams. My friend was handling a life-saving drug, and she was once assigned an annual target that was 80% more than her previous yearly quota (which, take note, she wasn’t able to achieve). 

She was taken aback and asked her team leader for the rationale behind such an increase, and this was his explanation — the company now sets “penalties” for people unable to reach their quota for the year. My friend was shocked — it seemed like such an irrational, indiscriminate, and underhanded move from the company. 

Needless to say, practically everyone on the sales team shared my friend’s sentiments. The company experienced a rise in employee turnovers that year, and from those who chose to stay, there was a significant decrease in engagement, productivity, and commitment. 

Remember, goals should be challenging and must encourage you to step out of your comfort zone. However, they should remain reasonable and achievable because unrealistic goals may quickly lead to frustration, self-doubt, and burnout.

2. Setting Goals Not Aligned With the Organization

Leadership goals not aligned with organizational goals may confuse your team, prompting them to disengage or resist your efforts. Goals must be relevant so there won’t be a lack of buy-in from your team.

It’s similar to setting a play in volleyball. You shouldn’t make an outside hitter distribute the ball to the rest of the team to strategize attacks — this is not their role or what they’re trained for. The strategies and goals must make sense to the players in the same way that these must make sense to your team in the workplace. 

3. Not Monitoring Your Progress 

Not tracking your leadership goals is like aiming to buy a house by year-end but not doing anything to actually make that happen. Are you setting aside enough money to make that investment? Are you exploring available options to narrow your search for the best property that fits your needs and budget?

If you don’t monitor your progress in realizing your set goals, it would be like you’re just making a wish. You wouldn’t know where you stand, how far along you’ve come, and how far you still have to travel to get to your destination. Moreover, you won’t be able to review your strategies and make the necessary revisions along the way. 

The Benefits of Proper Goal-Setting

Goal-setting isn’t as simple as plotting targets for your team and expecting them to achieve these within the given period. These objectives won’t mean much and won’t amount to anything substantial if they aren’t SMARTER goals:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Actionable
• Risky
• Time-keyed
• Exciting
• Relevant

Setting SMARTER goals will:

• Provide your team a clearer focus and unified direction
• Motivate employees
• Provide metrics through which you can measure business growth and success
• Help sustain momentum
• Help encourage a more positive mindset and improved behavior 
• Help promote self-awareness and self-confidence

Types of Leadership Goals

There are multiple aspects attached to leadership, and these must be suitably considered during the goal-setting process. Here are 2 main types of leadership goals you must always keep in mind:

1. Enhancing leadership skills. Leaders must constantly improve themselves, specifically their soft and hard skills. Soft skills include adaptability, time management, and communication, while hard skills include people management, decision-making, and project management.  
2. Developing the team. Leaders must always aim to build their team and ensure work is accomplished seamlessly and efficiently. Team development typically includes improving motivation levels, productivity, and sustainability, as well as fostering values like teamwork, trust, and integrity. 

Examples of Leadership Goals

Take a look at some examples of leadership SMARTER goals:

• Increase team sales by 20% by the end of the third quarter. 
• Open 2 new branches by November 15.
• Improve leadership training by mentoring at least 1 aspiring leader every quarter. 

How To Successfully Set Leadership Goals

Leadership goals must always be tailor-fitted to your unique needs. That’s why it’s essential that you set time aside for this crucial responsibility. 

Here’s a quick guide on proficiently setting leadership goals:

1. Identify Your Priorities

The first thing you should do when setting leadership goals is to identify your priorities. Determine your short-term and long-term goals, and make a list beginning with the most urgent tasks down to the most non-vital ones. 

When it comes to identifying team priorities, invite your team members to share their insights since this can give you a broader perspective and a more accurate recognition of what truly impacts the team. 

2. Identify Strengths and Weaknesses

Take time to identify your team’s strengths and weaknesses, especially your own. As a leader, it’s not only essential to continuously strive for self-improvement — you must also commit to expanding your horizons and encouraging your team to adopt the same mindset. 

Consistently enhance your strengths and never be complacent with them. Remember, the business environment is constantly evolving, and you must always be ready to adapt to changing scenarios and ensure your leadership remains top-tier.

Strive to limit your weaknesses by working toward eventually converting them into your strengths. Are you familiar with the saying, “A team is only as strong as its weakest link?” No matter how many impressive team members you have, the weakest member will significantly pull the entire group down. 

3. Set Metrics To Track Your Progress

Metrics are essential in tracking and assessing your progress regarding goal completion. This is a great way to evaluate your performance versus the set goals so you can determine how effective (or deficient) your plans of action are. 

Monitoring your progress is also an excellent way to make adjustments when necessary. As a leader, you must be flexible and quick to react to changing scenarios. Remember, goals aren’t set in stone, and you’re free to revise and even abandon them if they’re no longer as relevant as they initially were. 

4. Celebrate Success

Make it a point to always acknowledge and celebrate with your team when goals are met. It may be through a gesture as simple as going around the room and exuberantly shaking each person’s hand, or it can be as grand as throwing a victory party for the whole team. You can even hand out tokens of recognition for people whose performances stood out from the rest.

Celebrating wins together will foster camaraderie and teamwork and boost your employees’ morale and motivation levels. You will inspire them to continuously commit to doing their share in achieving even bigger goals in the future.  

Final Thoughts

Goal-setting is crucial to effective leadership because it allows leaders to inspire and challenge themselves and their team members to always aim for excellence. 
Sancus Leadership has helped countless leaders from various industries work toward achieving their full potential. When you’re ready to accept that challenge, reach out to us, and we’ll give you a jump start by helping you come up with the most exciting leadership goals!