The Career Suite

The Career Suite
S1E2
Career conversations begin with you!

Host: Helen G. Sneed
Ready to drive your future forward?
Then you’re in the right place!
Let's step inside the Career Suite, where Career conversations begin with you!

Wherever you are in your professional journey, internship, business venture, or reorg; it's essential to create a roadmap. A roadmap designed to achieve a goal - personal, professional, educational, or a unique blend of all the above.

Today we're focused on goals that are: specific, measurable and broken down into bite-sized pieces. Goals that you can self-manage because, ultimately, you are responsible for your destiny.
If you are the primary decision maker for an organization, then you are uniquely positioned to build goals into your business plan. Everyone within your organization, regardless of title, compensation, or tenure and yes, this is includes volunteers… they are all expected to contribute to the organization's success, often including problem-solving, profitability, and growth.

Today's question inside the suite: What is your roadmap for goal setting?

Let's start with an acronym. SMART. An abbreviation of several words: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. In addition to setting SMART goals, you want formal and informal leaders to connect the dots between their performance and the company's business plan, you want them to be aligned and congruent. SMART goals are just as important in relationships as they are businesses.
Ok, take a moment to think about your onboarding process. If you're laughing, it's probably because you haven’t designed or participated in a successful onboarding process. The onboarding process is your first opportunity to discuss and agree on three SMART goals; 1 that aligns with the organization, 1 that aligns with the department such as finance, IT, marketing, or HR, and 1 that fuels the new hire's professional development.

If there isn't a roadmap that defines, measures, and recognizes success, then it's time to reconnect with leadership and ask a very straightforward question. What goals do we want our team to achieve within the next 6 months, and how will we measure success?

If you are the CEO or decision maker, and your organization doesn't have a performance management system that includes setting SMART goals. It's time to reconnect with your HR Business Partner. An HR Business Partner, whether full-time, fractional or on contract, is necessary to help co-create a successful roadmap. We all need to inspect what we expect. This includes parents and partners.

Regardless of title or compensation, it starts with creating a roadmap of SMART goals congruent with your business plan. Those of you in the suite today who are CEOs of your own Career, your SMART goals are just as crucial for your personal, professional, and educational dreams. The best way to drive your future forward, to transition dreams from believing to achieving, is with goal setting. If this is all new to you, begin with bite-sized pieces. While driving a Red Corvette from zero to 60 in under 3 seconds is amazing, slow and steady typically works better when we create a new human-centered activity.

Okay, it’s time for a brief story.
My father died when I was 14; the next day, I went to school and set out to learn everything I could so I would own a home. I didn't know the first thing about how to do it, but I knew I had to do it. I've owned 4 homes and sold 1 without a real estate agent. I didn't have the perfect roadmap, but I had a goal. I broke it down into bite-sized pieces knowing that every decision I made needed to drive me one step closer to homeownership.

Measuring a goal during its development can change as you gain real insight on how to achieve it. It’s a process that takes longer than 3 seconds. You want to document your progress, the outcomes, and any new information you’ve garnered. That's growth, …the purpose behind the goal, whether in the C-Suite, early on in your career or in a partnership.

Here's my challenge for everyone in the suite today: Set one specific goal for yourself, break it down into bite-sized pieces, and create the framework to measure your progress. Then document it and email it to CEO@the careersuite.com.

I'm Helen G. Sneed; join me again in "The Career Suite" and I promise to save you a seat!

Date stamp: July 25, 2023