Professional Goal Setting with Lauren Stefaniak

Summary

Setting goals for yourself is one thing, but making a plan to achieve those goals is another thing entirely. Like many things in life, this is a skill that needs to be developed and Lauren Stefanik of Victoria’s Secret has some excellent advice for you on actionable things you can do to gain momentum toward your goals, and not miss out on the journey itself.

Key Takeaways

• It’s easy to set a goal like “achieve my dream job of the world’s foremost expert in Giraffe husbandry” but how do you break that down into smaller steps?
  1. Define the scope of your goal based on your starting point
     • Short-term: 0-6 months
     • Near-term: 6 months-2 years
     • Long-term: 2-5 years
     • Advise against goals that are realistically >5 years out – too many variables (internal, external) that turn these into chasing unicorns
  2. Determine if & how this new goal fits into the roadmap of your total goals
     • Aim for <4 goals at a time, <2 per scope
       • Warren Buffet’s 5/25 rule
     • “Shuffle the deck” based on what’s most important to you (prioritize)
  3. Break apart your goal into 6-10 bite-sized, achievable milestones
     • Recommend “non-traditional” milestones to promote emphasis on the journey and discourage fixation on the end result
       • Shy away from milestones based on promotions or salaries
       • This could look like “Gain my first direct report” as opposed to “Get promoted to manager”
  4. Build a plan that’s sustainable beyond the completion of your goal
     • Your goal most likely requires maintenance over time
     • To ensure you don’t become complacent or stale, develop a system for yourself that feels doable, repeatable, and can become part of your lifestyle
     • Highly recommend reading Gretchen Rubin’s The Four Tendencies to better understand your motivation style & what works for you (pulled the below from Gretchen’s website)

1. Give yourself the flexibility & grace to pivot as you work toward your goal

• What goal writing systems like STAR do you use? If you prefer a particular one, why?
  1. There are elements of SMART in the above explanation, however I recommend thinking about it this way:
     • BEFORE building a plan: Relevance (sweet spot between fat chance in hell & interesting, attainable diversification)
     • WHILE building a plan: Specific, Time-bound, Measurable
     • FINAL CHECK in building a plan: Achievable
  2. In my own life, I take a more organic approach to professional goal setting (as a recovering perfectionist overachiever… it’s what works for me)
• Is there a strategy for sharing your goals with a supervisor?
  1. Be open, honest & unapologetic about what you’re looking to achieve
     • Double-edged but important sword:
       • A good manager wants to see you grow & succeed, should help you understand whether your goal is achievable within your current team/company
       • The business may not need nor be ready for what you’re looking to achieve, so you must be committed to the goal as it could signal an end of your time with your current company/team
  2. Embed development into your annual objectives & goals (assuming your company has a formal process)
     • Your goals will naturally be a component of any mid-year & year-end review conversations
     • Should aim for a 3-6 month reassessment of your goals anyway
  3. If your company does not have formal goal-setting, take the initiative to create your own
     • ~3 business objectives
     • 1 personal objective for development
• How do you know when your goals need to change? 
  1. Your passion turns to obligation
  2. You lose the intent & purpose of your original goal
  3. A new goal means you deprioritize an existing goal
  4. Jeff Bezos’ Regret Minimization Framework
• How do you know when your approach needs to change?
  1. Assumes you still have a desire & drive to achieve the original goal you set for yourself
  2. If you’re not seeing consistent, measurable progress toward your goal you should reassess your approach
     • Understanding your motivational style is critical here
• How do you handle situations where your current role has goals that are at odds with your personal goals?
  1. The company you work for is a business – treat yourself like a business too
  2. Your role is a transaction between yourself & the company: you perform a service for them and they compensate you for that service
  3. Assess in what way your personal goal is at odds with your business goal
     • Can you blend the goals in a way that ultimately protects your personal goal?
     • Are you comfortable making changes to the plan (ie. extending the timeline of your personal goal) to accommodate your business goal?
     • What is required in order to allow for your personal goal?
  4. Decision point: Can you make it work or should you look for another role?

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com