Goal setting... that actually works?

The Banyan Bulletin - January 2022

New year, new Banyan Bulletin!

It’s a new year and a new format for the Banyan Bulletin - I’ve switched to Substack! Rather than blog posts living on my website, the Bulletin will now live here on Substack. This platform offers me a (free!) way to write in a style that is my own and the freedom to explore a bit more in that writing that blogging doesn’t always “agree” with. From here on out, each month, here’s what you can expect from the Bulletin: 

• something to make you think (my longer-form piece for the month - either a tactical how-to or an exploration of some topic within nonprofit fundraising/organizational strategy/psychology), 

• something to make you laugh (that nerdy nonprofit humor that I firmly believe we all need more of), 

• something to make you act (an inspiring quote or story I’ve come across that aims to help fill your professional tank), 

• and a question of the month, which will be geared towards the next month’s topic, so I can incorporate more great ideas from all of you and we can keep the conversations going all month long.

Ok, enough about format changes! Let’s jump into this month’s topic — goal setting for nonprofit pros. 

Something to make you think

Goal setting… that actually works?

It is that time of year - when personal resolutions abound and work plans bubble over with goals, metrics, and action items. But - let’s be honest - we all know these resolutions typically stick around for a month or so, creeping in the back of your head, (maybe even haunting you) before you go back to the way you’ve always done things. It is highly likely that some of you have already waved good bye to the resolutions you set ~3 weeks ago. (No judgment!)

So how can we seize on that feeling of wanting to make change happen, but… actually follow through? What follows is my process for breaking big goals into effective plans you can and will actually execute. 

(Note, this template does rely on a pre-developed strategic plan and fundraising plan. If you do not have one, reach out to me and I’d be happy to point you in the direction of some resources to begin building those important docs!) 

First things first, don’t commit for a full year.  

Focus on implementing the change for a shorter chunk of time. For work-related goals, I find that quarters work quite well - long enough to make measurable progress but not so long that you completely forget about the goal because you get bogged down in the day-to-day of work life.

Look at the big picture and identify your single most important goal, and some measures that help show progress. 

Take some time to review your strategic plan and your annual fundraising plan. What is the single must-achieve goal for 2022 that you are responsible for accomplishing? Let’s say that for your organization, your big picture strategic goal over the next year is to expand awareness of your mission and services so you can serve more people. Write that single goal out and take some time to brainstorm some achievable metrics that get you closer to that goal (that fall within your job duties so you are in control of making them a reality!). If you are looking to expand awareness, maybe that is number of referral partners, number of presentations in the community, or some sort of activity/engagement metric from your email marketing (it could also be all three!).

Take time to understand why.

Once you have some metrics in mind, you’re going to dive deep and spend time writing out why that goal, and the metrics you chose, are of the utmost importance to accomplish. Questions to ask yourself when considering your why: 

• Why is this vital to our organization? What is the end result if we achieve this goal? What is the result if we don’t try at all?

• Why is now the right time for this goal to be our highest priority? (Hint: If you can’t answer these first few questions with clarity, then you need to rethink which goal you are going to focus on. Take your time responding to these questions!) 

• Why am I the person/team to lead/execute? 

• How do I feel thinking about taking on this goal? (If the answer to this is HOLYCRAPHOWWILLIDOTHIS then you need to rethink those metrics you set!)

In my experience, answering these questions for yourself is the single most important step in ensuring you can make your goal stick. Whenever you get off track or feel stuck (because it WILL happen!), you can refer back to this writing to recommit to the purpose behind your work. 

So we have already clarified a lot for ourselves: we’ve identified the big idea we want to address, some measures of progress toward that big idea, and the purpose underlying why this is so important. How do you move from “I see the end goal” to “I see how to GET to the end goal”? We break these metrics down into concrete, tangible steps. 

Turn the big picture goal into daily, weekly, and/or monthly action items. 

Take the metrics you have identified as ways to get closer to your ultimate end goal. If your goal over the quarter is to expand awareness of your services, you may have included metrics like: 

• Increasing the number of active community partners referring people to your services

• Increasing the number of Board members with community connections to your client base 

With these in mind, you can now parse out plans for each of these metrics. My process here is to make the action items as explicit as possible. Write down the actual community partners you know you want to be referring to you by the end of the quarter and the steps you need to take to begin building those relationships. Write down the exact ways you will search for and identify new Board members. (This may mean your first “subgoal” is to outline exactly what a great new Board member would bring to the team - so it isn’t just about getting out there and meeting people right away!) Then, give each of the action items you’ve identified deadlines. 

The key here is to keep things realistic and, wherever possible, keep things in your control. You can’t control whether or not a prospective Board member says yes to your invitation to join - but you can control the process of going about finding Board members who are great candidates to bring on board and inviting them to join your work in a strategic, purposeful way. 

Finally, build in accountability checks. 

Ok, so we have a big picture goal and some smaller action items that work towards that goal. The last component of a quarterly plan is defining how you will hold yourself accountable. 

For me, putting it all into my calendar (my paper planner… there’s just something about writing it out that I’ll never move away from) is my first step. My second step is to share it with someone who is also invested in the end result. For work-related goals, this should probably be a supervisor during a regular check-in, to say “hey, here is how I see myself prioritizing our organizational goals AND how I see myself most effectively supporting our organization for this quarter”. This gives them the opportunity to work through any changes with you if you’ve veered off track. 

Finally, to keep accountable, I am a huge fan of weekly check-ins on my own. This typically involves me reviewing the big goal and the WHY behind the big goal at the end of each week or two and then identifying the concrete actions I took to move that goal forward this week. If I don’t have anything concrete to share, it helps me see where I need to refocus next week. If I do, I simply know what my next steps are in the weeks ahead to keep things moving forward. 

The freedom good goal-setting brings

The best part of all of this? By defining the most important goals and strategies you need to achieve, you are also giving yourself the freedom and the confidence to say NO to things that do not fit within that framework. You can look at this plan - daily if needed! - to tell you right away whether a meeting, task, or email response is truly worth your time and attention. If it doesn’t target your big goal, it can go to the bottom of the list (if not be crossed off the list entirely!) 

So there you have it, friends. A straightforward approach to turning a BIG goal into effective, actionable work. Thoughts on this goal-setting process? Reply to let me know what you think!

Something to make you laugh

Something to make you act

Action has magic in it.

~Barbara Sher

(Now go make some magic with that wonderful quarterly plan of yours!)

Question of the month: 

What is your favorite way to make your annual impact report a bit more engaging? 

Reply directly to this email to share your ideas. I’ll highlight them next month when the Bulletin dives into all things annual reports!