A SMART Goal is one that is, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Based.  A not so smart goal is one that is general, fantastical, pulled out of thin air, and going to happen sometime soon. 

Being an effective leader depends on what kind of team you lead, what your personality is, and what your company’s goals and trajectory are.  A good leader for a startup is not necessarily a good leader for an established bank or other slow and steady business. But all leaders need to set goals, SMART goals, and make sure they follow up on the results. 

And don’t forget to include yourself in the SMART goals.  Being accountable to goals your team can see increases team motivation to succeed. 

Leadership requires an array of skills from communication to being an inspiration to good decision-making strategies and critical thinking to working well with others. Getting from a so-so leader to a good or even great leader requires some goal setting for oneself. 

First, know where you want to end up.

If you just want to be a better leader you’ll likely just become more of whatever you are now.  SEt a goal that your team will ask for extensions 20% fewer times in month 2.  OR that your team lead will voluntarily smile once a week (that you see).  Then work backward from those goals thinking about how you can get from point A to point B. 

For example, if your goal is to inspire, could you share out inspirational videos on Slack? Could you take on a charity and bring people on your team along on the 5K to support that charity?  What inspires you?  Think about your experience and then find ways to be the one who inspires others. 

When you’ve been working at your own leadership, bring in a coach to assess how you are doing and how your efforts are affecting your team. 

Assessments, 360s, and other tools that take the temperature of a company from the CEO to the mailroom are valuable to track the progress of soft-skills like leadership that don’t have hard metrics attached to them. 

Check out our ebooks resource page for leadership book suggestions, or reach out to our team for our culture assessments. Our team are specialists in culture operations and can help guide you to the company culture, intentional leadership and employee engagement you desire.