I have been thinking a lot about Personal Development Plans (mine included of course), and how these relate with setting and achieving goals. 

So far, I have been using 2 main approaches to creating and setting goals: the SMART goals and the OKR framework. 

If you haven’t come across either of those here is a short summary. 

SMART goals

(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound)

The idea behind this framework is that goals need to be something that you can relate to and want to achieve. It tries to answer questions like is the goal something that you can achieve within a realistic time window and how will you know you have actually accomplished it ?

OKRs 

(Objectives and Key Results)

This framework can be used for company, team or personal objectives. Similar to the SMART framework it defines not only the goal (objectives) but also the key results that will tell you if you have been successful or not.

What I have realised though is that neither framework can help you answer the question why these goals and why now?

Also, I know quite a few people struggle when starting from a blank paper when it’s time to set their goals for the first time. As a manager I  want to be able to help if that is the case. 

So, here is my latest how-to in this space. Ask yourself or the person you are managing: 

What is the one skill you are developing at the moment?

I have found this question works really well to help frame the conversation:

• it shifts the focus from doing things to developing skills
• it brings the person to the forefront as the main actor, moving away from projects and deliverables
• it brings focus and clarity as it anchors the subsequent goals to a specific skill to be learned or improved 
• projects, goals and results become a means to an end not the end itself 

The thing I like the most about this question though is the intentionality it injects in the conversation. 

It makes you think about your current skills and the skills you would like to have. It also helps you evaluate how well you are doing and where you would really like to improve. 

Being able to take a pause and think about your skills and what you would like to do next is a very important step. You can’t develop skills by accident (well some you might but there is a limit) so being clear on the what and why can really help.

So what is the one skill you are developing at the moment?