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Fostering Growth
By Anne
Dignan
Million Dollar Round Table
Means of Achieving Goals
Do you have a professional or personal goal in
mind? What is the next step to achieve it? Ray
Stuchly, CEO of the Leadership Management
Institute (Riverside, Illinois), works with people
every day to help them set and reach their goals.
The first item he recommends is to set S.M.A.R.T.
goals. A goal has to be Specific, Measurable,
Attainable, Realistic and Tangible. How can
you measure your goal and track its progress?
Tracking helps you celebrate progress or make
necessary corrections in a timely fashion.
Stuchly advises, “Studies have shown that for
every one minute of planning you do, you can
get back four minutes or more when you go to
implement it. A four-to-one return on your time
investment is great. With a plan, you know what
to do next. Schedule an appointment for yourself
to do planning and take action; treat it the same
way you would an appointment with a $50 million
customer.”
He advises spending 15 minutes writing out every
conceivable benefit you and/or your organization
will obtain when you reach the goal. When you
run out of advantages, think about what you or
your organization will lose if you don’t reach it.
The next step is to ask, “What obstacles could
or have stopped me from achieving the goal?”
List anything that may prevent you and possible
solutions to these barriers. It is easier to plan
ahead what you will do rather than being
reactive. Then develop the steps necessary
to achieve your goal, determining the highest
payoff activities for each one. You may need to break it into
smaller steps. Continually review your progress on specific
dates (i.e. using a timeline).
Stuchly suggests creating specific questions for goal
achievement:
• Who needs to know about this goal?
• How will you track it?
• What will keep you focused on the actions over a long
period of time?
• Does this goal support your values?
• What will you say to continually reaffirm it?
• How do you visualize your goal?
• What will it look like when it is completed?
• Finally, is it worth the time, effort and money to
reach this goal?
Once you have completely laid out the goal and gone through
the right steps and questions, you will have a stronger
commitment to it. Now, make that resolution and take the
time this year to grow!
www.mpicac.org news & views | winter 2011 13