Notes #46 Goal Setting

For leaders, there are several "soft skills" that is valuable for them to be comfortable with, both on a personal level as well as to use within their organizations.  As we have passed the New Years (and the idea of New Year’s Resolutions), I think it’s important to touch on one: Goal Setting.  This skill, along with time management and planning are important for all.

Goal Setting is something we all must face.  As individuals we should be setting goals for ourselves.  The organizations we are part of should be doing the same.  Many groups will have an annual planning session in which they review the accomplishments of the group in the past year, including how well they met their goals, set new goals for the coming year, and make plans for the organization.  As leaders, we should be comfortable with goal setting ourselves if we expect to lead our groups in setting and keeping their goals.

Notes #45 Situational Self-Leadership

In prior Notes, we covered the concept of Situational Leadership, which deals with how a leader needs to change their manner of leadership with a follower as the situation changes, and the concept of Situational Team Leadership, which applies the concept to the stages of Team Development (sometimes these are called the Team Development Model and the Team Leadership Model).  With this Note, we ‘complete the trilogy’, so to speak, by covering Situational Self-Leadership.  This applies the concept of Situational Leadership to “self leadership”.  This concept is covered by Ken Blanchard’s Self-Leadership and the One Minute Manager (2005) as well as in a chapter of his more recent Leading at a Higher Level (2006, 2009).