We all set goals, right? The new year also seems to be the time we sit down and look to the future - what can I accomplish this week, this month or this year. Some goals we set could be getting a promotion, paying down our mortgage, exercising on a consistent basis or going to Costa Rica for vacation. I absolutely think these goals are important to have and should be part of your goal-planning, but ramp up your goals with what Keith Ferrazzi (@KeithFerrazzi) calls learning goals.In Keith's book "Who's Got Your Back," he describes learning goals as "acquiring new skills and knowledge to push and expand your skills forward." So what does that mean? Learning goals help you focus on actions you need to take to reach those performance goals.
If I want a promotion (performance goal), I need to learn new marketing techniques to help me recruit employers to campus (learning goals). I take my end-result and add learning goals to help me reach that performance goal I set.
Keith shares these examples in his book:
Performance Goal Learning Goal
Lose 10 pounds Learn to cook healthier meals
Increase web traffic by 50 percent Find five new marketing tactics
Boost sales 10 percent Learn to hone your best pitch
In my experience, adding incremental (learning) goals and attaching them to my performance goals increases my success rate for reaching my results. Learning goals will make your performance goals seem less daunting and more manageable along the way.
What performance goals have you made? And, what learning goals can you add?
What does Ken say about making learning goals measurable? I notice that the performance goals are all measurable, while two of the learning ones aren't.
ReplyDeleteKeith, not Ken. :)
ReplyDelete@Amy - Great question!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what Keith would say. But, I believe he was aiming at taking end-result goals and chopping them up into their smaller, more manageable pieces (learning goals). You want to accomplish 'Z' but you need to take 'X' plus 'Y' to get there.
And, maybe you can't really measure something like honing your best pitch? You can assume you did if sales increased?
What do you think?
Hi Amy and Drew, this is such an awesome conversation! I hope you don't mind me weighing in: I think that you can measure something like honing your best pitch. For example, you could record yourself giving the pitch a few times, and then listen for ways to improve. Identify measurable performance goals, i.e. better pacing, fewer "umms," more relaxed tone of voice. After practicing those improvements, you could re-record the pitch and listen for measurable improvement. (Slower tempo, two "ums" instead of seven.) I use this technique all the time for preparing presentations and pitches and it is invaluable! The key to reaching learning goals is to support them with specific, measurable behaviors that work as the building blocks towards success.
ReplyDelete@AustinGastronomist.com - Really glad you weighed in! Thanks for sharing your preparation tip for honing your best pitch. Awesome take-away!
ReplyDelete