Brief History

Before I go into detail about what made the meeting so powerful, I want to give you a brief history of what led to it. Back in October, as I have mentioned often in this blog, I attended the Catalyst Conference. I learned more during this conference than I have at any other I have attended.

Toward the end of the conference, every attendee was given a cardboard cut-out of a “call-out” like you would see in a comic strip or cartoon (see picture at left). We were told to write on this cardboard call-out any commitment(s) we were making as a result of what we had heard during the conference. Then, at the end of the last session, we were all to hold up our call-out commitments for everyone to see.

Applied to Work

Because I thought this was a great idea, I brought a blank one back to work with me. We had duplicates made and gave one to every employee in the sales department. Everyone was told to come back a week later with their personal and professional goals written on the cards, ready to present them to the group. We gave examples of what they might write, but left it wide open.

All week, our sales managers worked with the salespeople in planning their performance goals for 2012. They also helped the salespeople think about their personal goals, asking questions to help prod them to think bigger. We encouraged them to “Get A Bigger Frying Pan!” as it related to their performance as well as how that could impact their lives outside of work.

Exceeded Expectations

I have to be honest, knowing that many of these people had never spent any time planning out their income, performance, or personal goals before, I was not expecting much. I was hoping for a few bright lights to make the exercise worthwhile. Even then, I was not convinced I would not be disappointed. My expectations were not reflective of the quality of the people, just their lack of experience with this kind of thinking.

As I alluded to at the beginning of this post, I was flat blown away. Folks, I simply cannot describe to you the power I saw in this exercise. This is one of those times where my vocabulary and lack of professional writing skills fails me (and you)! I just cannot do it justice.

Genuine Personal Goal Setting

What I witnessed was a group of 25-30 co-workers pour their hearts into sharing with the group what their real desires were for the new year. I saw souls bared and masks removed. I saw people looking to others for true acceptance and encouragement, seemingly without fear of rejection. I saw real, raw life goals come out in virtually every single presentation.

One young lady shared that she had been in a bad car accident over a year ago and only recently began driving again due to severe anxiety and fear. Her goal: to make enough money this year to buy a car for cash…not only for the purpose of having a car, but to overcome the fear and put it behind her.

Another young man has been unable to be involved at all in the life of his 5 yr old son until the past few months. His goal: to make enough money to be able to take that son on vacation for the first time ever.

One of the older salesmen has set a goal for increased income so he can better support a local family of 14. The unusual part is this: he is not related to them. He simply wants to give back out of his abundance.

Use This Idea!

I could go on and on, but I do not have the room here. Trust me that I witnessed the early signs of some lives changing in significant ways. I must encourage you in the strongest words possible to take this idea and implement it. It is simple and virtually free, but the effects can be monumental.

I cannot wait to report back on these goals next year!

Have you ever done personal goal setting like this with your employees?

What kind of results do you think you would get?

Why would you not try this idea?