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In Focus – WHY
Goals are just goals which many assert are simply “dreams” unless we make them really tactical and practical. Last week we explored what goals could be. This week let’s look at your milestones.

A milestone is a significant point or event in a project, process, or development that marks a notable achievement, progress, or completion of a specific phase.

Milestones are often used to track and measure the advancement of a project or goal, providing clear points of reference for evaluating success and planning future actions. They serve as key markers along the timeline, helping teams and individuals stay focused, organized, and motivated by breaking down larger objectives into smaller, manageable components.

Milestones can represent various accomplishments, such as the completion of a critical task, the attainment of a certain level of performance, or the achievement of a specific deadline.

Overall, milestones are essential tools in project management and goal-setting, providing a framework for assessing progress and ensuring that objectives are met in a systematic and measurable manner.
 
Activity
Taking a look again at your top 3-5 goals (for the quarter, or the  year). What are the MILESTONES for each one. Write these down and schedule them out. 
Who are you going to be accountable to? When will you share this with them?

Resources
Use the One Page Plan to capture your milestones. You will find a copy of this at the back of PlanDoTrack, Coaching Business Builder and/or in Reconnecting Workspaces (as one of the Team Tools at the end of chapter)
 

As a coach I spend a lot of time with groups, teams and individuals exploring topics aligned with exploring who they are and what they need to do to be more effective. in group coaching Goals are important to explore as everyone will be on their own pathway. As a business owner, goals are critical for success as they provide us, and those who support our work with clarity around where we are going.

For those that work with teams, or are part of teams, team effectiveness is an important area to explore. Team effectiveness is part art and part science. The science behind it shows that there are at least sis key elements, which I call factors, which help teams thrive. The research from the last few decades from multiple researchers (Katzenbach and Smith, Hackman and Wagerman and others) continue to point to core elements which help teams thrive.

These include what I have termed the Six Factors of High Performing Teams™ :
#1 – Clear mission and vision (head back to Week 1 of this series!
#2 – Clear goals
#3 – Understanding what success is going to look like
#4 - Clear Roles
#5 - Shared Practices
#6 - Shared Team Commitment

This week’s Coaching Business Builder post explores #2 and 3.

I explore the Six Factors in my second TEDx talk, Coaching Teams Through Chaos, delivered in Toronto in December of 2022. You can view it here - or at this link - https://youtu.be/oQlu7zQeZ5E?si=OhlRlASBCeY3qAK8

Activity
Pull out your annual plan for the year. When was the last time you looked at this? Take note of your top 3-5 priorities. How are you sharing these with others? Re write the goals making sure they are:
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Timebound
 E – EXCITING?

Back to motivation and last week’s theme of your zone of genius and your pull factors, what do you love to do and need to do in order to thrive?

Also consider what is an ENABLER for this – What will help ensure success for this?

Also consider what is a DERAILER – What might get in the way of this success?

Goals are an important anchor for teams to ensure that alignment is happening. What conversations are important for you to have?
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Enjoy!