Mid-year Goal Review - MAC062

Managing A Career

At the time of this episode, we're a little more than halfway through the current year. Most companies have an annual goal setting process and it's a good time to check in on your progress towards those goals. Waiting until the end of the year to review your progress doesn't give you enough time to react and adjust to ensure success.

In Episode 47 - Annual Goal Setting (https://www.managingacareer.com/47), I go through several frameworks you can use to help define your goals. If you followed the guidelines I provided in that episode, you should have a series of goals that align with the corporate strategies but still provide opportunities for growth and advancement of your career. Each goal should consist of some sort of long-term objective and a list of supporting activities that will help you achieve the objective.

As part of a mid-year evaluation, you should review each of the supporting activities and update the status of them. How many of those activities have you completed? How many have had significant progress? Of the ones that haven't been started, what is preventing your progress?

One aspect of the IDP that I encourage is the section that documents your Successes -- see Episode 39 for more details on this part of the IDP (https://www.managingacareer.com/39). With this review of your progress against your goals, you have an opportunity to boost your motivation by acknowledging the success you have had so far this year and also to spur action knowing that there is still time to achieve everything that you set out to achieve for the year.

Now that you know where you stand with respect to your goals, consider whether they are all still valid. Companies will adjust their goals based on any events going on in the wider market. The priorities of your team may have shifted. Even your personal roadmap may have changed based on things you have learned. If any of these factors apply, use this opportunity to update your goals to align with these new conditions. Even if the overall goal is still valid, it is also an opportunity to redefine the supporting activities to match your current work assignments.

For any goals that you are off track or are blocked by something beyond your control, have a conversation with your leader. How can the two of you work together to get things back on track? Is it a matter of missing resources or aligning your assignments with the activities that support the goal?

Your annual goals should align with both your company and personal objectives, so this midyear review should include progress on your Individual Development Plan (https://www.managingacareer.com/36) as well. Be sure to update your Action Plan (https://www.managingacareer.com/39) but review whether you need to adjust your Roadmap (https://www.managingacareer.com/37) based on how your year has progressed so far.

As I covered in Episode 51 - Success or Failure (https://www.managingacareer.com/51), a large component of success is taking action. There is still plenty of time left in the year to successfully complete your goals, but this review will show you where you need to focus your attention and take action in order to complete your goals.

My goal for this podcast is to continue to grow the audience in order to help as many people as I can advance their careers. To reach this goal, I would appreciate it if you would share this episode with your friends and coworkers. Send them to ManagingACareer.com/follow (https://www.managingacareer.com/follow) which will give them links to everywhere that this podcast can be found.