5 Dec 2024
Coaching
Revisiting Our Goals
Written by Dennis Stanley

Revisiting Our Goals
As we approach the end of the year, for many in the corporate world, it means we’re fast approaching the “end of year appraisal” or “performance review”. If you’re working in an enlighten organisation, hopefully your upcoming meeting will be “one of many 1:1 session” over the year, with the end of year review being a summary of those previous meetings. Along with New Years Resolutions, this is a pivotal time for reflection and evaluation.
So, my question is this: For those not working in a corporate role, how many of you sit down and review your progress against the goals you set at the start of the year?
Introducing PDCA
The “beauty” of corporate life is that it can instil useful disciplines. One of my favourites is the process of Plan, Do, Check, and Act, or PDCA if you like your acronyms. Let’s dive into why this is so powerful.
As a coach, I use the GROW Model during my coaching sessions. I practise what I preach, and, on a personal level, I like to carry out a reality check on where I am against my objectives regularly; weekly, monthly, and quarterly. The frequency depends on the timeframe of the goal or outcome that I’m working towards.
Why so frequently
Over the years, I’ve come to realise the power of goal setting and putting plans in place to achieve my goals. In doing so, I’ve also learned that our plans need to be reviewed frequently to ensure that we can “course correct” our trajectory towards those goals.
Without reviewing progress, how else can we determine if we are on track or not? This is where PDCA shines. The process encourages us to not only make plans and execute them but to continuously check our progress and adjust as necessary.
Another benefit of the review process is to carry out a sense check of our approach and to challenge ourselves to find better ways of achieving our goal. This aligns perfectly with the Check and Act stages of PDCA, ensuring we’re always refining our methods and striving for improvement.
Personally, I like to use the review process to challenge my motivation for the goal itself. Is the reason behind the goal the same? Am I still suitably motivated to see it through? Motivation is a key factor in delivering on our goals, but delving deep into that subject is for another post!
I used to be guilty of having a “to-do” list that went on forever, with the belief that because it was on my to-do list, it had to be done. Over time, I came to realise that I was weighing myself down with “stuff” on my to-do list rather than focusing on things that would ultimately drive me towards my goals. This realisation ties back to the Act stage of PDCA—eliminating what doesn’t work and doubling down on what does.
Here’s my challenge: how many things do you have on your to-do list that are no longer serving you but still occupy “space” in your head as white noise?