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They’ve invaded social media, attached themselves to everything from food and fitness to life itself, and even the nation’s footballers seem to have rediscovered them (sometimes). Yes, goals are definitely in, but how do you set them and more importantly, stick to them? Tackling the question is our guest blogger, freelance writer and HR specialist Nicola Greenbrook, who's here with some helpful advice... Goals, goals everywhere. There are #relationshipgoals, #lifegoals, #couplegoals, #entrepreneurgoals. Even #deskgoals and #beardgoals. At the time of writing this article, 80 million Instagram posts are tagged with #goals and 733,000 with #careergoals. That's a lot of goals. Many of us should be familiar with goal-setting in our working lives; from early objectives set during probation to the agreement of individual and development targets at appraisal. Outside of work, smartphones and activity trackers such as the Fitbit help us to stay motivated and improve our health. Yet with the pressure to set, commit to and smash our life and career goals, it's no wonder goal setting can feel a little overwhelming at times, and why even the SMARTest and well-intended targets often fall by the wayside. In this month’s article, I’m considering why goals are important, how to avoid getting too tangled up in the pursuit of them and recommending ways to set and stick to your objectives with a little artistic support. First, the theory Social media may encourage us to live our best lives, practice self-improvement and aspire to other people’s intentions, but goal setting is not new. In 1968, American psychologist Dr. Edwin A. Locke pioneered goal-setting theory in his groundbreaking article 'Toward a theory of task motivation and incentives’, and together with Dr. Gary Latham, jointly established the positive relationship between clearly identified goals and performance. According to the 2016 CIPD technical report ‘Rapid evidence assessment of the research literature on the effect of goal setting on workplace performance’, goals affect performance through four causal mechanisms (Latham 2004) that are relevant at work; which include: ► Serving a direction function, so our attention and effort is drawn to goal-relevant activities, rather than irrelevant ones (Twitter etc). ► An energising purpose; harder goals require more effort and hard graft than easy ones that, although satisfying to cross off the list or feel pleased about in your appraisal, only come with a short-term satisfaction. ► If we have goals in place, they allow us to discover and/or use task-relevant knowledge and strategies; which makes us not only a clever clogs, but increases the odds for success (Locke and Latham 2002). In summary, goals serve an important purpose. But what happens when goals go rogue? The downside of goal pursuit Are you an overachiever? Do you get a buzz from setting numerous goals and a rush of satisfaction when you achieve them? Or do you feel unfulfilled rather than accomplished? Have you become a bit obsessed by your targets? Always on the hunt for something bigger and better to strive for, focusing less on intrinsic value and more on external rewards and internal or social comparison? You’re not alone. A fixation on goals can be counterproductive and lead to poor decision making if we become too emotionally attached to ambitious goals at work. A single-minded pursuit can prevent us from learning from problems along the way and considering alternatives or lead us to make terrible decisions - all in the relentless quest of reaching our target and 'ticking it off'. In ‘Destructive Goal Pursuit - The Mt Everest Disaster’, business professor D. Christopher Kayes draws upon real-life stories, including the 1996 Mount Everest climbing disaster where eight people died near the summit. He argues that the climbers were so focused on the attainment of their goal that it caused them to overlook serious problems along the way - such as decreased oxygen and bottlenecks. He coined the term ‘goalodicy’; the obsessive pursuit of goals to the point of self-destruction. Whether planning an extreme expedition or preparing an annual report, it's easy to get a bit caught up in our own form of goalodicy. A useful strategy is to approach your goals meaningfully, examine the process more closely and ask yourself why you’re doing it - rather than ruthlessly conquering a target and immediately focusing on the next one. Goal setting can be daunting, so breaking your main target up into smaller ones can be an effective way of making the process seems less terrifying. Put pen to paper If you find yourself (and your goals) a little out of control, there are ways to regain the drive and motivation. Sometimes, simply writing them down can be a fast track to achievement. Speaking to Stylist magazine, Debbie Wosskow, entrepreneur and co-founder of The Allbright, a London networking club for women in business, says that she clearly writes down her personal and business goals in a notebook every New Year’s Eve. This allows her to check progress, review whether the goal is important and still relevant and stay on track. Meanwhile a recent study from Dominican University found that people who scribbled down their goals and kept track of their progress at least once a week accomplished significantly more than those who didn’t. Or go one further: bujo! Bullet journalling - or 'bujo' - is a great way to get your goals down on paper, release your creative side and build in some self-care too. It's essentially a notebook-organisation system and artfully annotated to-do list which promises to help you achieve your goals and declutter your mind. Devotees of the practice have also added a creative and performative aspect to bullet journalling by adding hand-drawn illustrations and decorative spreads. Bullet journalling not only helps create a structure and a plan and stick to it, it can be calming and meditative too - a bit like using an adult colouring book. Helen Colebrook is an HR consultant from Devon and creator of the popular @JournalWithPurpose. She started using journals around four years ago and believes it can be inspiring and motivating to see how others manage their time. Whilst Helen admits that it can take a little more time than a usual to-do list, and it is of course important to carefully balance planning with the actual delivery at work, she also believes it encourages better time management and reflection. A bullet journal has been proven to be more than just a pretty list; according to Forbes, vividly describing your goals in written form is strongly associated with goal success, and people who very vividly describe or picture their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish their goals than people who don’t. I recently attended a business network event and observed many of the participants already successfully ‘bujo-ing’ and reaping the benefits when it came to goal attainment. (I felt rather pedestrian with a plain notebook full of unruly Post-Its and enthusiastic scribbles). 'Bujo': far less rude than it sounds, and not just for people with too much time on their hands And finally… Career and business coach, Nathalina Harrison has some great takeaway tips on goal setting: ► The practice of goal setting is not a waste of time, or a distraction from your 'real work’. If you don't know what you are trying to achieve in detail, how can you expect to get there? Schedule in time to do it too or it might never get done. ► Annual and quarterly goals are a good place to start to make the process feel more manageable ► If you find you’re not achieving your goals, don’t beat yourself up about it. It could be time to revisit, reflect and review at the end of the month/quarter and have a good think about why. Did you over-schedule? Are you up to your eyes in it with other stuff? Could it be that, deep down, you may not care about the goal or believe in it? Discuss it with your manager and consider letting it go... ► Set yourself a dream goal; one that gets you really excited and motivated. Then let your other goals service this one. ................... With a meaningful, flexible and creative approach to goal setting - written down of course - you’ll be smashing your #careergoals in no time at all. Nicola Greenbrook - HR Specialist & Freelance Writer Contact Nicola, check out her brand new website, or follow her on Twitter. More from Nicola Greenbrook: ► Charity Careers 4: meet James Harris of Rethink Mental Illness ► How to keep things fresh at work ► How to negotiate a pay rise in the charity sector Don't miss the Harris Hill & CharityJob 2019 Salary Report...the essential guide to UK charity salaries. With market insights from our sector specialists and the expert team at CharityJob, you'll find more than 350 current rates for roles in 26 job functions, based on over 45,000 recent charity vacancies. More from the blog:

Be it a glamorous getaway or simple staycation, holidays are a chance to relax and recharge. Which you'll probably need after the frantic fortnight of frenzied preparation that all too often comes first. So how do you take a stress-free break without simply cramming it all in beforehand? And what if you're left holding things together on the home front? In this month’s guest article, freelance writer and HR specialist Nicola Greenbrook has advice on pre-holiday planning to help you head away with everything in hand, keep calm with your carry-on, and be raring to go on your return. Holiday season is well and truly upon us. Oh, the anticipation of what’s to come! An opportunity to get stuck into the book gathering dust on the bedside table or to broaden your horizons at a bucket list-worthy destination. A chance to recharge and refuel. According to Dr Christian Jarrett, holidays can make us happier, healthier and even prolong our lives. Sometimes though, the pace and pressure in the weeks leading up to the holiday almost negate the benefits of the break itself. Here are some tips to help you deliver a successful handover - keeping your credibility, peace of mind and work relationships intact. Before you go... (Excited! Full of anticipation! But a bit stressed!) American polymath Benjamin Franklin quite wisely said “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. He was spot on. Nailing a holiday handover is all in the preparation; giving yourself sufficient time to organise everything weeks in advance. Forewarn your absence Make sure your holiday dates are in your team and key stakeholders’ diaries as soon as your leave has been authorised; even if you sort the finer, exciting details later. If you’re client or supporter-facing or manage multiple projects, consider adding an extra line to your email signature a few weeks in advance that clearly outlines the period of your absence. Rather than appearing smug (‘I'M GOING ON HOLIDAY FOR TWO WEEKS AND YOU'RE NOT’) it instead ensures your contacts are notified well in advance and can plan accordingly at their end. It also prevents any nasty surprises on your last day. The art of the handover note It’s always a good idea to start your Holiday Handover Notes (HHN) a good few weeks before, even if you jot down headers or topics in the first instance, rather than frantically wracking your tired brain the night before you fly. Consider always having the document open in the week before you go, for ease of brain-dump, rather than scribbling a note on a Post-it that gets lost in a yellow sea of more Post-its or overloading your already full head. CJ Sinclair, founder of Go Travel and Talk, a network that provides detailed travel guides to worldwide destinations with solo travellers in mind, is always on the move; and therefore well-practised in the art of the perfect handover. She breaks her HHN down into critical priorities, current and upcoming projects and ‘things to watch’ and ‘worry or pain points’. CJ also cleverly adds screen shots and media, to break up the words and highlights important text for an easy at-a-glance view. Aim to strike the balance with a comprehensive but concise approach to your HHN. HR News suggests that ‘…there’s no need to cause an unreasonable amount of stress on the employee/s covering you whilst you’re away, so highlighting all the ‘need-to-know’ points will help them keep on top of things’. Order tasks by priority and include key delivery dates or deadlines, with the most recent first. Schedule in a face-to-face meeting with your colleague who’s taking the reins. You can talk through the HHN before you go, so they can ask questions and jot down their own points. Avoid being patronising; your team are knowledgeable enough to know what ‘pass invoice to Finance' means in practice. There's no need to go into intricate detail about the ‘third cupboard on the left with the squeaky drawer’ if everybody knows perfectly well all about the squeaky drawer. Be a clever planner In the weeks before, keep your diary as clear as possible and stay focused. It may feel a wrench missing Steve from Events’ birthday lunch, but avoiding social engagements or non-urgent appointments wins you back a few hours of uninterrupted work time. At 7.00pm on your last day when you’re panicked and finishing with all your holiday toiletries still to buy, you’ll be grateful for that hour. You can catch up with Steve and the gang on your return. If you’re a freelancer or consultant in the not-for-profit sector with no-one to actually hand over to, it's even more crucial to plan ahead. CJ finds that scheduling everything in advance with calendar reminders or apps like Later and Tailwind, can be helpful. Although "it does mean a lot of work beforehand to get it all done”, she also notes “it’s amazing how much technology can help to give you a little respite!” Avoid dumping-disguised-as-a-handover-task Be reasonable and conscientious, and tie up as many loose ends as you possibly can before you go. Don't be tempted to use your absence from the office as an opportunity to slip in a few projects that have been on the back burner, or to dump tricky tasks you’ve been putting off on to an unsuspecting colleague. This may cause resentment in your absence, confusion or delays to a project. Don't use OOO to get a LOL It’s tempting to set a comedy out of office message, but the best advice is to save it for the comedians. As funny as they might be to read, there's a fine line between light-hearted and inappropriate, and it's not necessarily in the same place for everyone. Getting it wrong and causing offence can reflect badly on the charity, its purpose and mission. A simple message that clearly states your return date and who to contact in your absence will do the trick, although it can be a nice touch to highlight a particular campaign your charity is running. Oh, and don’t forget your voicemail too if you receive direct calls. Set boundaries Depending on what works for you, let your direct reports and manager know how and when you can be contactable if a genuine emergency arises while you’re on the beach. Otherwise, you should trust your team and colleagues to adequately manage things in your absence, especially if you’ve put all of the above into place. Prioritise your wellbeing, family and friends during that precious break, and where possible, learn to switch off. If it's your turn to hold the fort... It can be tough being the stand-in. You’re managing your own workload as well as bearing the responsibility of doing a good house-sitting job. Be assertive. Even if your colleague is looking rather up to their eyes in it, ask all the questions you need before they go so you’re well informed and can maintain the proper functioning of tasks in their absence - it’s for both of your benefits. CJ Sinclair especially looks after her colleagues by cc’ing them into emails in the weeks leading up to her holiday and keeping them 100% in the picture. If the work is project-facing, she also arranges calls with clients to introduce them to the person holding the fort - so why not consider asking for the same treatment? Be proactive and schedule a meeting with the hander-over on their penultimate day to avoid a last minute panic on the final one. Politely ask that their handover notes are in good shape so that you can go through the entire document together, check your understanding and fill in any gaps. Then schedule one in the early afternoon of their first day back. Consider using Google Docs so that you can update the document with your own notes as you go along. It will save you time and allow your colleague to read through and extract the key points and actions before their return if they fancy, making their first day back easier (and yours; you’ve now just the one workload to juggle. Hurrah!). It can be hard bearing the weight of managing tasks in someone else’s absence and the risk of being overwhelmed is high. Accept that you can’t do everything and be aware of what you can reasonably do. Focus on the deadlines and priorities, and don’t fret if you didn’t even get a peek at the ‘non-urgent’ section of the HHN. These can be picked up when your colleague returns. If you’re struggling, talk to your manager and shout for help. This Harvard Business Review article has some great tips on what to do when you’re covering for colleagues - and can't keep up. When you get back... (Jet lagged! With post-holiday blues! Slightly full of dread!) It's tough coming back from a holiday. Even worse when you’ve had to come straight from airport to office, you’re desperately missing the pool/beach/mountain/all-inclusive buffet and were not at all prepared for a painful reunion with the tube. Here’s some final tips on how to restore some of that holiday-energy. • Keep your diary as clear as you can. Prioritise the meeting with your colleague who managed your work (who hopefully would have scheduled it for early afternoon) and use the morning to clear/organise your emails and get your task list up to date. The responsibility is back with you, and the chances are your colleague will be relieved to relinquish the extra load. • Be gracious and thankful for the support you received from your colleagues. If time hasn’t allowed them to complete all tasks, keep your cool and try not to be angry or concerned that things haven't been done ‘your way’. • Avoid a post-holiday grumble. You fully deserved your break and it’s always hard to come crashing back to reality when you’ve had the time of your life. However, be mindful that while you’ve been travelling they’ve been sweating it in your absence. Don’t moan about being back or repeatedly say ‘this time last week I was *add fabulous holiday thing*' and sigh, loudly. Be grateful for both a super break and a supportive team of colleagues. • Come bearing gifts. Like a bottle of that funny-coloured liquor from the local supermarket, unpronounceable sweets or some local delicacies. It doesn’t have to be expensive or purchased from somewhere impressive; a box of fudge can go a long way to say thank you. So, there you go. You’ve notified people way in advance that you're jetting off. You’ve planned, scheduled, created perfect handover notes with no nasty surprises, and your team know how to track you down in an emergency (unlikely as they’re so well-informed). Now, swap sandwiches at your desk for something delicious al fresco and lose yourself in a good book rather than a report, safe in the knowledge that everything's in hand. You deserve it. Nicola Greenbrook - HR Specialist & Freelance Writer Contact Nicola More from Nicola Greenbrook: ► How to manage stress at work ► How to switch off ► Charity Careers 4: meet James Harris of Rethink Mental Illness Check out the brand new Salary Centre ...home of the Harris Hill & CharityJob 2019 Salary Report, the essential new guide to UK charity salaries. With market insights from our sector specialists and the expert team at CharityJob, you'll find more than 350 current rates for roles in 26 job functions, based on over 45,000 recent charity vacancies. What should you be earning in the charity sector? Find out here... ► Back to the blog homepage

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