How do you set a goal? When my coaching and consulting clients ask this question, I think what they’re really asking is: What’s the best way to set goals and achieve them? When you’re setting goals for your team, department or business, how can you make sure you’ll be successful?
Everyone knows how to set a goal — simply think of something you want and make it your objective. Add three new team members by the end of the quarter. Position yourself for a promotion this year. Grow your social media following by 500 people in six months. Get 10 new clients before the year is over.
If only it were that easy.
When my clients ask me about goal setting strategies, I know that the reason they’re asking is because the way they’ve done it in the past isn’t working for them. They set a goal, but they’re having trouble achieving goals.
For effective goal setting, you need to use a framework. Write out your goal and think through it within the structure of a framework, and you’ll see more clearly what’s possible, be able to figure out how to reach your goals, and increase your chances of success. You’ll be better prepared for any problems that come up and be ready to spot and leverage opportunities that come your way.
But with all types of frameworks out there, what one actually works? I suggest you follow the GROWTH approach, a robust goal setting framework that will help you assess and plan for your dreams.
The GROWTH approach to setting goals is an adaptation of the GROW framework, which stands for Goal, Reality, Options, and Will. In GROWTH, the O stands for Obstacles, the W for Way Forward, and the added T stands for Tactics and H for Habits. These modifications to the GROW framework help you create more actionable goals, guiding you towards actually achieving your dreams.
Here’s what each letter of GROWTH stands for:
First on the list is setting your goal. What do you want to achieve and how will you know once you’ve achieved it? Here you can use the well-known SMART goals to set a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
Reality is about getting really honest about where you are right now. Take a clear-eyed look at your current situation so you can understand the true gap between where you are and where you want to be. What's stopping you from achieving the goal now? List everything that is getting in the way, attitude, mindset, resources like time, habits, whatever. The more honest you are about your current reality, the better and more accurately you can plan your path forward. Too many leaders skip this step or sugarcoat their situation, then wonder why their plans fall short. Reality gives you the foundation for everything that comes next.
This is the one thing most people forget to consider when goal setting — planning for obstacles. When you love an idea, it's easy to be optimistic. But there are always barriers, and if you assess your reality honestly, you'll see that. What potential obstacles could get in the way of achieving your goals? What might stop you from moving from your current reality to where you want to be? Challenge yourself: for every obstacle, consider what options you have available to you. Being prepared with alternatives means nothing can derail your progress.
Now that you’ve identified your objective, your starting point, what might get in your way and your options, it’s time to connect the dots and make a plan. This is what will take you from just having a dream to making it happen. What specific things do you need to do to move you towards your goal? Decide on a date (or a few milestone dates along the way) when you're going to review your progress to make adjustments if necessary, to celebrate your wins, and to hold yourself accountable to the commitments you made to yourself and your team.
Here, your goal setting gets more granular. There are going to be many different ways to reach your goals, so which tactic(s) will you use? Consider what works best for your current situation, what resources you have, and what you like to do. For example, if your goal is to get more clients through referrals and that requires building your network, you could choose to attend more conferences, take more people to lunch, or myriad other tactics.
Finally, to achieve new goals, you’ll need to establish new habits. Whether you develop a habit of daily cold-calling or plan on quarterly goals review with your direct reports, decide what repeatable actions will help you move forward. Here's where the real work begins: maintaining these habits can be the hardest part of the entire process, but it's also where the magic happens. The consistent action you take day by day is what transforms your goal from a dream into reality.
By using the GROWTH framework to set goals, you'll have what you need to succeed in real world conditions. Goals rarely unfold exactly as planned. You'll hit unexpected obstacles, learn things that change your approach, and need to course correct along the way. But when you've done the work upfront to understand where you really are, what could go wrong, and what options you have, you can navigate the inevitable challenges and keep moving forward.
Michelle Nicole Martin
Leadership Coach & Consultant
Connect with me on LinkedIn
At a U14 house league hockey game, my son's team faced the last place team and suffered an embarrassing defeat. As you can imagine, the drive home was a roller coaster of emotions. My 13-year-old son flipped in and out of embarrassment, frustration, blame and anger.
When he arrived at the house, he came to see me in my office. Calm now, he recounted the game's twists and turns but then started to go down the rabbit hole of negativity the deeper he got into the story. So I jumped in, "Hey, tonight was a stinger. I would be hurt, too, if I was you. You can't control people, not the refs or your team. But you can inspire them, and you can motivate them to play better together" He said nothing and walked away after he kissed me goodnight. As the sole female in a house of boys, the lack of response is typical, so I thought nothing of it as I returned to work.
The following day he had another hockey game against the first-place team. My thoughts? "Oh boy, this may be a slaughter after yesterday." Ready to help, I woke up the morning of the game locked and loaded with an epic Denzel Washington-like motivational speech. I watched my son for any sign that he wanted to be inspired. But nope, the morning was uneventful. No signs and barely any conversation, hmmm.
Once we arrived at the arena, I couldn't hold back anymore, so I trimmed my speech by 99.9% and said, "Be you out there and focus on what you can control." He responded with a "Yeah, mom; I got it."
"Geez, I didn't realize" eye roll. Of course, a completely internal reaction; on the outside, I smiled.
During warmup, my son looked proud as ever. He is the Captain, and what that really means in house league, I don't know, but he wears it like he is going to the Olympics, and there is something I admire about that mindset. Then, finally, the ref's whistle rang out in the air, signaling the end of warmups, time to start the game. Then, something unusual happened. My son corralled his team in a circle by their own net, they stood around for a minute or so, and then the energy started to build before erupting in a cheer!
Contrary to my beliefs, this game did not turn into the slaughter I anticipated. Instead, it was tight, so tight. Clearly our team came out to play. We went up by one goal and held on to win the game. So what the heck just happened? After the game, one of the coaches approached my husband and asked if he had seen the team huddle. "Of course," my husband answered, "but I wasn't sure what to make of it" the Coach nodded and responded, "Jaxson asked if he could hold the huddle with the team today instead of the coaches, so we said sure."
Then the reality of what we witnessed hits. Did our son, the bratty, sweet boy we know, who 12 hours ago wanted to blame the world for his hurt and embarrassment, step up as a Captain? Did this 13-year-old boy take his role to heart? Did he really step onto that ice with the presence of a leader to rally his team to a victory against the first-place team? Yes, he did.
He didn't ask permission; he didn't play small in self-doubt. He wears the C, and that's all he needed. Damn.
We waited until we were alone in the truck before I asked him about the huddle "Jaxson, can I ask what you said to the team before the game?" "Yeah, that last night doesn't matter, we lost because we didn't play like a team. These guys know we got our butts kicked last night, and they think they can do the same now. No way, let's go run their sh*t" as he replayed the story, his voice faded almost to a whisper when he let the swear come out, which I found humorous but pretended like I didn't hear.
My curiosity in high gear, I asked, "Jaxson, when did you know you were going to do this," Cool as a cucumber, he responded, "last night before I went to bed, I knew what I had to do." Awestruck, I almost asked him to come to work and evaluate my leadership skills. But, the part I found fascinating was his conviction and confidence. He wasn't arrogant or cocky; instead, he was poised and had an air of leadership presence that was inspiring.
It's a reminder that when things go south, you can be critical and list the facts, who should've done what, and when. Or, with humility and presence, you can lead through tough times by modelling the behavior of "we win together, we fail together, we can and will raise together."
Which type of leader will you choose to be?
Michelle Nicole Martin
Leadership Coach & Consultant
Top Small Business Voice on LinkedIn
