New year, new you: Professional goal setting for next year and beyond

Creating SMART goals

SMART goals can help bridge the gap between wishful thinking and reality. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. Look at what you want to achieve, apply the SMART model, and start actioning items to get closer to your end goal.

Building on strengths

Another strategy for goal setting for yourself and your team members is to build on existing strengths. Setting goals based on strengths allows people to work with their aptitudes in mind while simultaneously challenging themselves to apply their talents in new ways. Recent studies from Gallup reveal that organizations "operating within a culture that places a strong emphasis on strengths can significantly improve key performance indicators like turnover, productivity and absenteeism – and modern performance indicators like hope, adaptability, wellbeing, resilience and stress mitigation."

Working with a theme

Kelly Zemnickis is an award-winning film producer, director and stand-up comedian who owns her own transcription business and takes a more out-of-the-box approach to her annual goal setting. Zemnickis says, "Instead of resolutions, I pick a word for the coming year that will be my theme." Her word is something to work on or toward. Past words have included “Stronger” and “Balance.” Zemnickis doesn't like the pressure of a resolution; she says selecting a single word instead provides "flexibility and inspiration." While it won't work for everyone, it's an excellent practice to remember or use as a starting place for goal setting.

Getting started

Do you need help figuring out where to start? Here are some actionable and achievable professional goals you can tailor to your needs and take into 2025 and beyond.

Read more

Setting aside more time to read, whether for professional development or pleasure, can help you in your career. Who doesn't need interesting facts for small talk during networking events? If you aren't interested in books, look to online articles, magazines, industry e-newsletters, blogs or newspapers. Any time you read, there is potential to expand your knowledge base or reinforce and activate passive knowledge. Reading for just 15 minutes a day during your morning coffee break or weekday commute will bring you over 50 hours of learning opportunities each year. For those who want to tie their reading goals to their fitness goals, listening to audiobooks or podcasts during a workout can help to log learning hours.

Volunteer

Volunteering can be an excellent way to marry causes you are passionate about and your professional life. In addition to taking on board or committee roles that you may not have access to in your paid professional role, volunteer roles offer tools to grow your leadership and teamwork skills and professional network. To ensure the right fit, try a one-off volunteer role to get a feel for a new organization before you commit to something bigger.

Network more

Setting a specific goal around networking can help you set targets and stay on track. Many people associate networking with significant industry events. This can make it feel overwhelming. While attending such events on a quarterly or annual basis can be an excellent way to build and maintain your network, you can take other smaller measures more regularly.

Build and maintain your professional network online as a regular appointment in your calendar by:

• Sending email notes or LinkedIn messages of congratulation to connections
• Sharing articles and insights with colleagues via email and social media like LinkedIn
• Adding to your networks online by connecting with, reacting to and commenting on posts from people you meet and work with

Remember to also make time for business lunches, coffees and team-building to connect with people in person on a regular basis.

Commit to learning

A professional development plan is a great way to make formal learning a part of your routine. Subscribe to newsletters and social media from course providers in your industry so you don't miss out on learning opportunities that matter to you, and set calendar reminders for registration deadlines for multiple-part courses. Block off time in your calendar and take advantage of pre-recorded industry webcasts or other online providers to gain access to free and lower-cost courses that you can work on at your own schedule.

Update your resume

While you're spending time socializing on LinkedIn, remember to update your work experience profile and ensure that your resume is current. As you make note of your professional accomplishments and awards for your annual review and throughout the year, also add them to your online profiles and hardcopy CV. This will allow you to be ready should all that networking pay off and a new position on your goal list become available.

Create your own opportunities

Working with other departments in the workplace can be as simple as joining a committee. This can increase your overall visibility within your organization, help you build a rapport with different departments and strengthen your confidence. If you see a need for a committee and it doesn't yet exist, speak to the appropriate parties about building that committee and becoming part of its executive.

Streamline things

You can improve your department's workplace by creating process documentation. You can start small with one process per year, per quarter or per month, depending on your workload and goals. Process documentation allows you to increase performance and accountability, reduce ambiguity and confusion, remove unnecessary or outdated steps and provide meaningful analysis.

Conclusion

No matter what your goals are for next year, take some time to reflect on this year, your biggest accomplishments and lessons learned. These reflections will help you in your goal setting practice for next year.

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