Types of Development Goals for Work

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Setting and achieving developmental goals for your career can be challenging and rewarding, and pursuing realistic goals that challenge you to move beyond your limitations can help you advance in your career. Additionally, setting developmental goals involves taking an active approach to improving your skills, growing your knowledge and ultimately becoming better at what you do. In this article, you can explore what developmental goals are, why they’re important and some types of developmental goals you might set for work.

What are development goals?

Developmental goals are types of goals that an employee creates for personal and professional growth in the workplace. While performance goals are those related to the employee’s work productivity and capability, development goals are related to learning and skill development that can aid career advancement. Development goals can be more personal in nature than performance or productivity goals. However, just like performance and productivity objectives, development goals may be more effective when guided by SMART strategies.

Why are development goals important?

Setting goals that help you develop your skills, confidence and overall success in your career can help you advance in your job and make more of an impact in your workplace. Additionally, having development goals can also challenge you to take an active step toward learning something new or taking on extra responsibilities at work can show your supervisors that you take your role seriously and are committed to continuing your growth in your career.

Making and setting development goals for work can also help you build stronger relationships with your coworkers, improve your confidence in how you perform in your job and help you make plans for future work goals.

Types of development goals for work

There are many developmental goals you may choose, but here are some common developmental goals and examples:

Active listening and communication goals

One type of development goal you might set is a goal to improve your overall communication and active listening skills. Improving your communication skills can also impact how you send and receive information from your supervisors and managers. For example, you might set a goal to improve your note-taking during meetings, project planning or other collaborative settings. Improving your note-taking can impact how you process information, conversations and learning opportunities for future reference.

As another example, knowing when to ask for clarification about an email message can be as equally important as carrying out the tasks that the email requests. Similarly, using active listening strategies such as making eye contact and tracking the speaker can ensure you understand your manager’s expectations and directions.

Emotional intelligence goals

Emotional Intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to understand your emotions and the emotions of others. Developing your emotional intelligence as a developmental goal can be very useful in relating to and working with your coworkers and management. Essentially, emotional intelligence can impact the way you build relationships at work, and having strong emotional intelligence can indicate that you are someone who can establish strong working relationships with your coworkers. Emotional intelligence can also help you boost your confidence in the workplace.

For instance, you can develop your emotional intelligence by listening to others, acknowledging their feelings and responding appropriately to how they feel. A common scenario where you might practice using your emotional skills might be during a meeting. During the meeting, you might rely on your active listening and communication skills as well as your empathy to gauge and evaluate your team’s feelings and reactions to different topics. The more you practice using interpersonal skills to guide your interactions at work, the better you can develop your emotional intelligence.

Knowledge-focused goals

Having a better knowledge of your industry is a useful developmental goal for your career. Knowing more about the industry you work in can allow you to work as a mentor for your coworkers, advance to management or supervisory roles and interact with customers as a subject matter expert. Another benefit of setting development goals for work that center on your knowledge and skills is that it can show your employer that you are dedicated and committed to advancing your skills.

Some examples of knowledge-focused goals can include continuing your education, participating in a professional development course, learning a new skill to advance your career and other goals that can relate to building your knowledge and skills. Essentially, actively taking steps to improve what you know and build your skills can show your employers that you are committed to your work and can sometimes lead to career advancement opportunities.

Goals for self-care

Self-care as a developmental goal can be useful for being productive in the workplace. Whether your goal is to have downtime during the workday or to learn how to manage stress better in the workplace, self-care is an essential developmental goal for all employees.

For example, some ways to achieve this goal can be to develop supportive relationships with coworkers, emphasize the positive aspects of the workplace and take breaks from the workday for a quiet time where you are not thinking about work. You might also implement time management strategies as well as organizational strategies that help you focus on important tasks rather than the many little tasks you might have throughout your day.

Goals that challenge your limits

To grow and thrive in your career, working past perceived limitations can be necessary. Challenging yourself to do new things and to take risks can help you professionally. Often people hold themselves back rather than others holding them back. You need to try new things and take risks in your career to thrive. You might consider trying one new career move a month to challenge yourself to grow in your profession.

For instance, you might volunteer to lead a project when you have yet to take on a leadership role or you might participate in a challenging professional development course. Taking positive risks and moving beyond what you believe are limitations can help you achieve other goals you may make in the future.