We must all develop as professionals yet it can take time to assess your progress and your growth against your goals.
Those goals could vary and end with a dream job or a promotion that you have had in mind for years.
Other goals may be more intrinsically linked to your current job and how you believe you are progressing on a professional level.
Simply setting yourself some goals is a great way to become effective so you should know how to measure your growth properly.
By ticking off achievements and goals, you can see how quickly you are managing your growth.
In this article, we will look at how to measure growth and evaluate your goals as a professional.
Table of Contents
How To Measure Growth
Tip: Make sure that your goals are achievable by your own efforts and with the support of other people if needed.
The first step to measuring growth starts with identifying what you ultimately want to achieve as a professional. That should be a long-term goal that encompasses plenty of short-term goals and milestones within it.
There may be aspects of your job that you want to improve on, skills you want to learn, certifications you want to achieve, and projects you want to complete. By setting specific goals along the way, you can measure how far you have developed as a professional.
For a company, growth can typically mean profit or overall reach yet, for a professional, your goals may be more personal. It could be associated with helping a company reach those goals yet I have found that growth should be managed by an individual and should not be linked to goals that are outside of anyone’s control.
Only when you look at your own performance and your own aspirations can you effectively measure your own growth.
It should be said that some goals are easier to measure than others. That could be a sales target yet even then, simply achieving that target could mean forsaking your own personal growth in the process.
If you want to become a better professional, perhaps set a measurable goal like achieving certain certifications or a degree. Such educational pursuits can be strictly managed and then measured by yourself based on how much time and effort you put into them.
You can even break down certain goals into milestones which can make them easier to measure. These are somewhat minor achievements yet they all add up to an overall goal.
Measuring your growth against milestones can help sharpen your focus as a goal comes into attainable sight. This may be a specific task or a certification that you know has helped you get closer to your goals.
How To Evaluate Your Goals
Tip: Use the SMART approach to evaluate your goals
Some goals just mean more than others, it can be that simple. I have found that setting a goal is a great first step to achieving anything yet it should be created by using the SMART goal-setting process.
This stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and, finally, Time-Bound. Once goals are measured against the SMART goal-setting process then they can easily be evaluated.
Goals that are measurable are far easier to manage, evaluate, and eventually achieve.
- Specific: Once your goals are specific, they become effective. If you have a dream job in mind or a dream company to work for, put that in writing. Write out the job responsibilities and the required skills too so you know exactly what is expected of you and how you need to grow as a professional.
- Measurable: You can later evaluate your progress by how many job responsibilities you match in the job posting. Should you have learned the skills you need for the job posting, then you can say that you have matched that goal in practice. The next step is getting that job.
- Attainable: Of course, evaluating your goals is only going to be helpful if they are truly attainable. In my experience, setting wildly optimistic goals can bring you down every time you measure your growth alongside them. Keep it manageable, attainable, and possible.
- Relevant: All goals should be relevant, otherwise, what’s the point? In your professional life, these goals should be about how your professional life matches up with your long-term objectives.
- Time-Bound: Finally, many measurements are made against the progress of time. If your ambitions include a key executive position then that could take decades to achieve. However, the key steps to achieving that goal will be incremental such as years of experience in a certain position. In that way, I can see why you would evaluate your growth against them promptly.
Once you measure your goals against the SMART definition you can see your progress.
Some goals may not be achievable in a certain amount of time so bear that in mind and reassess that deadline accordingly.
Other goals may simply not be attainable anymore, through no fault of your own, so you can reassess them to make them more relevant and attainable.
The Importance Of Measuring Progress
Tip: Make sure that the deadline, for any goal, is achievable
Once you have set a professional goal, you have set yourself up to be measured by that benchmark. However optimistic or pessimistic that goal may be, and how stringent the deadline in which you have set yourself to achieve that goal, you have to be honest with yourself.
In my own experience, it is important to take time to mark out the steps you have to take to achieve a certain goal. Of course, the goal is the endpoint but if you know what you need to do to get there then the progress becomes easier to manage.
It can seem unfair simply to set a goal and give yourself a few years to achieve it without knowing how to get there. That’s why it is important to measure your progress honestly and to be fair with yourself.
A goal may seem unattainable now, yet by measuring your progress at certain points I have seen that a goal can become closer than you imagine. When you do measure your progress against a certain goal, remember that certain obstacles can come in your path but take that into account too.
Simply measuring your progress can provide you with a guide to fully achieving your goals. By looking back, you can work out which methods worked and which ones did not.
It certainly helps to give yourself some time between moments when you do measure your progress as it can help to see how far you have come to achieving your goal and remind you of your motivation to keep striving.
Final Thoughts
Should you want to measure your growth and evaluate your goals as a professional, it helps to put some thought into it.
Break down overall goals into attainable milestones that you can effectively see yourself ticking off. I also think that it is important to use the SMART approach as it helps to put goals into perspective by their relevance and how long it may take you to achieve them.
A lot of people fail to achieve their goals, partly because of a poor approach, yet if you measure your growth effectively then the process becomes easier.
I’m a blogger and entrepreneur. I want to help you in your journey to build your business online.
