By Holly Jones, JD, Senior Legal Editor
Yesterday we heard from BLR® Senior Legal Editor Holly Jones, JD, who had some excellent tips on getting your goals strategically oriented for 2016. Today, more from Jones on setting and accomplishing strategic goals, posters in the workplace, and other HR housekeeping.
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Refinable Goals
Refinable goals are those that recognize that, well, things happen. These goals allow some room (within reason) to be modified and adapted as new information and needs arise.
Perhaps your goal is to run 1 mile every day for 1 month but, halfway through the month, you sprain your ankle.
Do you:
- Just abandon the goal altogether—after all, you have a good excuse, right?
- Press on in spite of the change in circumstances—you set a goal and you’re sticking with it, even if that means exacerbating your injury, or
- Modify your goal—perhaps substituting a low-impact, upper body exercise—for the remainder of the month?
If goals are abandoned too often, trust and morale can drop among stakeholders and supporters of the current—and future—goal. Consider the attitude that, “Well, every time we set a goal, something comes up, and nothing is ever completed—so why bother setting the goal in the first place?”
Similarly, pushing forth with a goal without regard to changed circumstances and needs transforms the goal from a practical means of improvement to an emotional prison. You may lose interest and dedication from those who see the efforts as impractical or misguided. You may also waste significant personal and financial resources.
But, modifying a goal is simply thinking strategically; the goal is still there, it has just been intelligently and reasonably adapted to meet the changing needs of the organization. Some long-term goals may even build in reassessments along the way as those appreciable sub-goals are completed and new findings come to light.
Having trouble connecting with the c-suite? Start on Friday, January 22, 2016, with a new interactive webinar—HR’s Place at the Executive Table: Boost Your Stock When You Contribute to the Strategic Mission. Learn More
A Few Examples of Strategic Goals to Consider
Whether you choose SMART goals, CLEAR goals (see yesterday’s Advisor for more information on these types of goals), or a combination of the two (SMEAR goals?), the New Year doesn’t just have to be about paperwork, posters, and policies. Strategic goals can provide exciting new challenges and learning opportunities to embrace and look forward to.
Consider, for example:
- Choosing one new HR metric to implement and track over the course of the year.
- Improving an existing metric by a certain amount or percentage.
- Researching and proposing a new employee retention initiative; this may include anything from offering a new minor perk to undertaking an intricate and extensive compensation and benefits analysis.
- Creating or updating the company mission and values statements.
- Researching and/or updating performance evaluation methods to better serve the needs of your workplace.
- Improving communication with or seeking new learning opportunities from executive leadership.
- Taking some time each day/week/month to work on personal strategic and leadership development, whether it be reading articles, attending webinars, getting involved with professional organizations, etc.
Your goals can be as large—or as small—as your strategic resources. Just don’t let the lack of a dedicated strategic team or years of strategic expertise keep you from trying something new in 2016.
What good is developing a strategic goal if your executives aren’t hearing you?
Getting meaningful recognition and adding strategic value to your organization requires much more than executing administrative and compliance duties. If you want career growth, you need to connect in a meaningful way with the CEO and other top executives. But how? Fortunately there’s timely help in the form of BLR’s new webinar—HR’s Place at the Executive Table: Boost Your Stock When You Contribute to the Strategic Mission. In just 90 minutes, on Friday, January 22, you’ll learn everything you need to know about gaining the recognition with c-suite that you deserve.
Register today for this interactive webinar.
Having trouble getting your message across to c-suite? Join us Friday, January 22, 2016, for a new interactive webinar, HR’s Place at the Executive Table: Boost Your Stock When You Contribute to the Strategic Mission. Earn 1.5 hours in HRCI Recertification Credit and 1.5 hours in SHRM Professional Development Credit. Register Now
By participating in this interactive webinar, you’ll learn:
- Increase visibility and recognition from top-level executives and enhance leadership
- Ensure that your HR expertise is strong—and communicate that
- Express your knowledge of corporate culture effectively
- Strengthen communication by using the right vocabulary
- Align HR’s goals with the goals of your organization
- Access outside opportunities that drive business goals, and understand the strategy
- And much more!
Register now for this event risk-free.
Tuesday, January 22, 2016
1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Eastern)
12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (Central)
11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (Mountain)
10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (Pacific)
Approved for Recertification Credit and Professional Development Credit
This program has been approved for 1.5 credit hours toward recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI) and 1.5 credit hours towards SHRM-CPSM or SHRM-SCPSM.
Join us on Friday, January 22, 2016—you’ll get the in-depth HR’s Place at the Executive Table: Boost Your Stock When You Contribute to the Strategic Mission webinar AND you’ll get all of your particular questions answered by our experts.
Train Your Entire Staff
As with all BLR®/HR Hero® webinars:
- Train all the staff you can fit around a conference phone.
- Get your (and their) specific phoned-in or e-mailed questions answered in Q&A sessions that follow the presentation.