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Whether you love or loathe your nine-to-five, one thing’s for sure — professional goals will allow you to make more money and get more enjoyment out of your job. Busy schedules may get in the way of setting personal goals at work, but taking the time to prioritise goal setting may be the key to more productive output.
It’s time to take professional goals off the backburner and turn them up to high heat. Here are some tips for setting professional goals and examples to help you reach your full potential at work.
What is a professional goal and how does it differ from a personal goal? Well, unless you’re a budding developer or wedding celebrant, buying a house and having a wedding will probably fall under personal goals, not professional. Put simply, professional goals are objectives you set at work to grow and advance your career.
They can be short-term, focusing on tactical solutions for right now, or long-term, to help you achieve ambitious career goals.
We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again — the best goals are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. But what does that mean in the context of professional development?
Professional development is highly subjective — growth looks different in each field, role and rung on the ladder. Rather than getting into the specifics, we’ve compiled top-level examples you can tailor to your job. Bring your self-improvement stew to a rolling boil with these 10 examples of professional growth goals to advance your career.
Whether learning a new program or mastering teamwork, new skills will push you forward in your career. As the old saying goes, you’re never too old to learn!
For those at the start of their careers, professional communication may seem like a foreign concept. It’s vital to practice written communication, interpersonal skills and conflict resolution to succeed at work.
Feedback is the key to progress, so it’s essential to get it right as a manager. Give examples, stay positive and paint a clear picture of what went right and what went wrong.
The benefits of inclusive teams speak for themselves. Create an atmosphere of inclusivity and belonging and encourage leaders to think more critically about the importance of diverse teams.
Healthy leaders and employees know the importance of problem-solving and being honest about mistakes. Adding these core skills to your toolkit will allow you to find faster, better solutions and learn valuable lessons.
Burnout is real. Work-life balance isn’t just about knocking off at 5 pm — it’s about maintaining a good attitude that you can bring in to work.
If you weren’t a confident public speaker in school, work presentations probably won’t be easy for you. The good news is that you can work on perfecting your presentation skills through practice.
Cast a wide net and build a strong professional network to support your career growth. It will give you access to more opportunities for new work and mentorship.
In almost every field, there’s an opportunity to expand your knowledge and broaden your skill set. Pursuing a new certification, degree, masters or PhD will allow you to differentiate yourself in your current workplace and when applying for new opportunities.
With effective time management and organisation, focus and productivity are in the spotlight. These skills will help you better manage your workload and effectively prioritise tasks.
Writing goals is a step in the right direction, but it’s the follow-through that really counts. So, how do you actually achieve your professional development goals? With OKRs, that’s how!
OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is a goal-setting framework that puts business objectives at the forefront, with measurable outcomes that evaluate progress and success. Good OKRs keep the focus on team priorities while acknowledging how individual learning plays into business goals.
Read more about how this methodology works in our guide to creating your first OKRs. Prefer learning by doing? Give Tability — our simple yet effective OKRs software — a free trial today.