The Goal Tree

This exercise turns aspirations into tangible actions. A clear visual to understand and break down your personal development. If like me you’ve struggled communicating how goals move a team member forward. Or even working out your own development goals, give this template a try.

A former manager first introduced me to this 'future-back' approach, similar to Dean Graziosi's 'Craft Your Unstoppable Future' exercise."

Envisioning your desired future state, assessing your current position, and mapping out the steps to bridge that gap.

I’ve started to call this “The Goal tree”

Getting started in 5 steps

A  —  Contexts 

1. Write your current state — where do you see yourself now? Having them write how they see themselves now has other benefits. It helps you as a manager to see how they see themselves.

2. Write a future state — where would you like to go in the future? Have them write a future state goal. Consider having them include goals outside of the current team or company. 

Eg.  "I want to lead a global sales team"; even if you might not have this role in your company, you better get to know them, and their intentions. 

I've found by connecting to a larger goal, you can help retain the team members through difficult times. They can see for themselves how their actions are working towards a goal that was self directed. 

 B — Improvement areas

3. Start writing out what you see yourself needing to improve to achieve this change.  Create three improvement areas. I recommend writing out as much as you can think of, then merging and filtering out to get to three. 

Tip: If you get stuck. 

Google your Future state. Look up similar job descriptions, or read the Job description in your own company.   What do you still need to show "to get that job?" You can take points from the job requirements as your improvement areas. 

C — Specific + Measure

4. Now, break these three topics into three measurable tasks or improvements. Looking back in 6 months, you must clearly understand what was intended. 

5. Last, write out how you will measure completion or progress on these topics in the final  column.  This can take time. Don't be afraid to write too much at first. You can narrow it down. This should be no longer Than one to three sentences. 

TIPs for getting unblocked

Find references & explore If your team members are anything like me or teams I've had in the past. You might get hit with a very valid question: "I don't know what I want for my future state". 

This is okay. Merely pick something. Remember goals can change over time, and they aren't trapped by this decision. 

Explore subjects that excite you and collect works or references that you like.

• One way to do this is to look up job descriptions or find people you would like to emulate.

• Look at projects or types of work you'd like to do. "What one can do — so could another."

• Start to identify what skills you need to improve. (persuasive writing, facilitation, interviewing, etc.)

There you have it. 

Your goal tree.