Six Keys to Setting Annual Goals with Your Team

A new year is fast approaching, and it’s likely that most of us have setting annual goals with our teams on our to-do list. As you begin making plans for making plans, keep these six key considerations in mind for a well-rounded approach to achieving your desired results in 2025.

1. Aim High

Goal setting is a time to infuse some energy into your plans. Set stretch goals that might be a bit ambitious but still doable with concerted and motivated effort. List the things you’re excited about accomplishing, even if some of them might be a farther reach. The extra challenge could spur you and your team to even greater success. .

2. Illuminate Limitations

While it’s important to aim high, it’s equally important to be clear sighted about possible limitations. Transparency about limited resources or staff capabilities as well as possible obstacles to success will make annual planning more productive and the goals more attainable. Being honest about the absolute no-go projects for the coming year will keep expectations in check and help your team focus on the most valuable and meaningful goals.

3. Get Organized

It’s great to make a list of all the things you want to accomplish, and it’s even better if you can prioritize them and outline the necessary details and steps to make them happen. Try to include the tools, skills, timelines, materials, approvals, and anything else that you might need to make your plans a reality. Knowing all your necessary resources ahead of time will make the implementation of your plans go much smoother.

4. Allow for Failure

Not all our best laid plans will come to fruition. Forgiving yourself and your team ahead of time for some inevitable shortcomings will make things a lot easier on everyone involved. This doesn’t mean forgoing the motivation to succeed; on the contrary, it allows for viewing any possible failures along the way as learning opportunities rather than a reason to give up. Creating a safe space to occasionally fall short will give room for taking chances and aiming high without a paralyzing fear of failing.

5. Involve Others

It is not productive to plan or work in a silo. Everyone makes plans that affect the work of others, so it just makes sense to include those others in your goal setting. No one can do everything alone, and planning for involvement from your colleagues while aligning your respective goals for the year will help ensure more successful, collaborative projects that everyone can fully support and be excited about from the start.

6. Try the Unconventional

It’s inspiring to put something different out there that you’ve been wanting to try. Adding a new technology or system could inspire new accomplishments for your organization. Experimenting with fresh ideas and methods of achieving your goals inspires innovation. Don’t be afraid to do something unconventional in the year ahead.