Goal Setting for Career Growth
Planning is nothing without doing. Action is Everything.
As a leader I have experienced both sides of setting goals: helping others set their goals and being helped with my own.
It was early in my career, autumn 2015, at 3 AM in a dark room lit only by the glow of my computer screen. I was finishing the very last task (deployment scripts to provision servers) for the meeting with my leader the next day, to assess what I had learned. I finally got it right, but with no possibility for a good night's sleep after. I had started working on the task way too late. I had set this goal 3 months before, only to get started 2 days before the deadline. Please, do not tell my leader.
When the company that I was working for had a tremendous period of growth and hired from five to eight juniors every quarter, setting goals for career progression was essential to get them up to speed. Goal setting was an important ingredient of the company’s success. It relied on having as many skilled engineers ready to help with projects as fast as possible.
Achieving goals gives us wings, we feel a sense of accomplishment. However, there are at least a few important perspectives on setting goals to consider.
Growing Engineers
Without motivated and engaged individuals, it’s difficult to achieve success as a company.
The more we know our teams, the better (it’s a leadership trait we can learn from astronauts). Not everyone thrives in a high-growth and learning environment, and that’s okay — it’s important to understand the motivations of each team member.
Before setting goals for my team, I engage in conversations with them to understand their interests and directions for growth. Whether it’s in backend, frontend, cloud and infrastructure, technical skills or people skills, we collaborate to establish SMART goals.
Over the years, we have implemented organisation-wide career paths that serve as a source of inspiration for goal-setting. Technical leaders act as mentors, assessing the feasibility of goals within a given timeframe. This process is also coupled with salary re-evaluations, ensuring that growth is aligned with recognition.
The nature of the organisation shapes the goal-setting process within its boundaries. Some organisations follow a top-to-bottom approach, aligning goals with company-wide objectives and leaving little room for individual direction in growth, others are more distributed.
S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Every three months, we set three larger goals, and these SMART goals are validated by leaders to ensure clarity and alignment.
What are S.M.A.R.T goals?:
Specific: It is well-defined what is to be achieved; the more specific, the better for quantification.
Measurable: The progress can be clearly measured.
Achievable: It is feasible given the current time and resources.
Relevant: It aligns with growth, career paths, or the overall direction for an individual.
Time-bound: The timeframe is clear, and the deadline encourages us to take action.
As a technical leader responsible for the technical growth of my team members, I found this aspect of my work particularly rewarding. We stuck to these criteria to ensure the goals are properly set.
Daily Work with Habits
Why can’t I start my tasks earlier?
Some people are so scared of missing deadlines that they jump into action right away. I am on the other side of the spectrum because I wait too long. Preventing procrastination should be part of a system designed to achieve goals.
I struggled to find the most suitable method for personal growth. I explored various techniques, but during a routine one-on-one, my leader shared his approach, which focused on daily habits. That was the revelation. Now, I concentrate on daily progress that leads to steady, incremental growth, observable almost every day. This approach has helped me to overcome procrastination.
My favourite example of consistent improvement that comes with each attempt is a running habit that started 3 years ago. Regular running not only enhances my physical performance but also boosts my cognitive ability in a way that no other life hack did before. Progress in running is slow but visible over an extended timeframe.
Action is Everything
We have different understandings of what it takes to grow. Some people learn and explore simply by following their passions, without needing any guidance. They thrive on exploring, building, and learning through the process. Others, however, need to have a clear vision of what awaits them at the end of the learning path. They require more guidance either from themselves or from their mentors.
Firstly, it is important for us to truly understand what we want to achieve. Without this understanding, any goals or objectives we set will not lead us in the desired direction.
Secondly, having a perfect plan with clear goals means nothing if we fail to take action. Action is the key to achieving results.
One of my favourite quotes, from Derek Sivers' book "How to Live", illustrates the importance of taking action:
The most valuable real estate in the world is the graveyard. There lie millions of half-written books, ideas never launched, and talents never developed.
— Derek Sivers
Summary
We can look at our growth from various perspectives. It is crucial to understand ourselves and determine the most effective methods for us. I have spent numerous late nights on tasks that ultimately did not have much long-term significance.
For this publication, my goal is to publish 52 posts within the year — a goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
I hope you achieve personal growth in your own unique way, which aligns with your needs and values.
Thank you for reading!
Michał
PS For reliable advice on habits and goal-setting, I recommend James Clear and his book "Atomic Habits". You can also find valuable resources at this link: https://jamesclear.com/goal-setting
PPS procrastination: as my friend always jokes — I will explain the definition of it, but tomorrow.
Post Notes
Discover Weekly — Shoutouts
Articles that might help you explore new perspectives which I have read this week:
"Perceived Difficulty is a Productivity Killer: How to Build Focus” from
by — Take on overcoming procrastination and engineers’ challenges to focus."My Mentee Went From Junior -> Senior Engineer in less than 2 years. Here's how" from
by — An example of successful career advancement with regular check-ups and reflection. It resonates with this post."My Substack Chat Incident Postmortem" from
by — A post-mortem of a particular Substack chat issue that would have scared most writers, with valuable lessons on managing incidents."The simple secret of productive people" from
by — Key insights from ‘Deep Work’ by Cal Newport on achieving productivity.
There were multiple times when I faced the dilemma of whether I should push someone outside there comfort zone. I’ve felt the goals they wanted were very minimal, and won’t improve them that much. But when I pushed for goals outside of their comfort zone, they just didn’t follow up on that.
Initially, I felt that I need to push harder, and help them ‘see the light’, but after a couple of years I understood that not all people want fast growth. Some engineere want to stay in a senior’s role, just writing code 🤷♂️
This article is for anyone who wants to grow his personal development.
"Secondly, having a perfect plan with clear goals means nothing if we fail to take action. Action is the key to achieving results."
You must take action to make any progress. Even if your plan lacks 90% of what a perfect plan has, take action. Do something and progress.
You'll learn along the way.
Loved the article, Michal! Well done :)