For many of us, the start of a new year marks the annual performance review and goal setting process. Given all of our tight schedules, it’s all-too-easy to just go through the motions, setting goals without really making sure they’re going to help us make 2007 the best year possible.

In order to help you make the most of your goal-setting time and of 2007, we’ve asked the Leader’s Studio team to give us their tips for setting better goals in the New Year. We’ve compiled all of the responses in a two-part series.

Marilyn Tam’s tips:

• Set goals that are aligned with your life purpose. First determine whether you are on track to achieving what it is you are truly after in life. Is it really a monetary figure or a certain position? Your mission is probably something much greater like the ability to make a significant impact on the world or to provide for your loved ones. Set your goals based on what you truly value instead of some media conditioned concept of what should be important to you.
• Review your 2006 goals before you set the 2007 ones. What happened to your goals for 2006? Learn from what you did in 2006. Were you successful in your plans? If so how can the strategy(ies) you employed serve you again? If you missed your mark in 2006, what can you learn from the experience? If you neglected to set goals in 2006, how has that inspired you in your plans for 2007?
• Enlist others in achieving your goal(s). When you recruit others in supporting your goals, it helps to articulate them in ways that benefits the common good. This will help you in clarifying the reasons and methods to accomplishing your goals. The support of others will also give you more resources and insights in attaining your goals.

Kimberly Bishop’s tip:

• Setting goals is not always about something new or something not done. It is also about preserving and recognizing what is going well and setting a goal to continue that behavior or initiative. Take time to think about what is working so you don’t lose that focus in the coming year.

Fred Harburg’s tips:

• Review your goals with your peers before you commit them to your boss. If you meaningfully involve your peers in goal setting it will allow you to set a collaborative rather than competitive environment for their attainment. You may also find out that you are working on the same thing and can divide and conquer or support each other in important ways. Your peers have ideas about how you can get things done in different ways. Their ideas are valuable.
• Make sure to read your boss’s goals before you set your own. Figure out how to support her/his goals with yours. This process is called goal alignment. When goals are clearly aligned at each level of an organization they have much more power and are much more valuable to your organization. By the way, you don’t have to have a goal for every one of your boss’s and in some cases you may have more than one for one of the boss’s. Do what makes sense.
• Stagger the end dates for your goals. If all of your goals are timed to be complete in the 4th quarter, life will be hectic at the end of the year. It make more sense to think about budgeting your time and your goal completions so there is a steady flow of effort and achievement throughout the year. This will also give you a chance to gain energy from some of the early completions to sustain your later efforts.

Coming tomorrow: Part 2: 8 More tips for setting goals in 2007

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