Welcome

This week has been one busy week for me, has anyone else noticed that colds and flus are flying around. For the past two weeks my wife and children have been sick and work has been crazy busy. Finally on Friday the sickness bug going around the Hillier household hit me. On the slow road to recovery and hence why this newsletter for the past couple of weeks has been slightly later than usual….

You may have also noticed (for those with the attention to detail skills) that this has been renamed to Leadership Launchpad. The big reason for this is aligning this to my focus area around building a space where aspiring and new leaders to come and launch their leadership skills. It also meant I could use my geekiness on having a space related logo too!

This got me thinking about the overall goal of the newsletter and for me this is all about helping as many aspiring and new leaders as possible. For this year I have set my goal of helping 1000 leaders launch their leadership skills to be effective in their role for 2025.

So as we roll into February lets go out and launch, develop and build on our leadership skills in 2025.

Feel free to let me know your thoughts but my X poll resulted in a 67% confirmation to shift to Leadership Launchpad.

Why Goal-Setting is Essential for Leadership

So far, we’ve covered two foundational leadership pillars:

1. Knowing Yourself: because leadership starts with self-awareness.

2. Communication: because even the best ideas fail if they aren’t communicated clearly.

This week, we move to the third pillar: Setting Clear Goals.

Without clear goals, even the best teams will feel lost. If you’ve ever had a team member ask, ‘What exactly are we trying to achieve?’ or ‘How do we measure success?’.

It’s a sign that expectations aren’t fully aligned.

Goal-setting isn’t about micromanaging it’s about giving your team clarity and direction so they can succeed.

The Leadership Gap: Why So Many Goals Fail

Most leaders don’t struggle with setting goals they struggle with making them stick.

Common mistakes include:

• Goals that are too vague: improve customer satisfaction.

• Goals that lack ownership: We need to increase sales.(Who is accountable?)

• Goals that don’t connect to daily work: We need innovation (What does that actually mean for your team?)

The result? Confusion, misalignment, and wasted effort.

When your goals are clear, actionable, and communicated well, your team knows exactly where they’re going and how to get there.

How to Set Goals That Actually Work

1. Use the SMART Framework

   Goals should be:

   1. Specific: Clearly define the outcome.

   2. Measurable: Ensure progress can be tracked.

   3. Achievable: Ambitious but realistic.

   4. Relevant: Connected to business priorities.

   5. Time-Bound: Set a clear deadline.

Instead of saying, ‘We need to get better at customer service, set a SMART goal’, try saying:

Increase our customer satisfaction score from 75% to 85% by Q3 by implementing a faster response system and personalised follow-ups.

See the difference and how much more clearer this is overall as well as having clear measurements. This goal would be really clear and drives accountability for the team too, they know what they will need to do to have an impact on these numbers to achieve success.

2. Connect Goals to Daily Work

   A common leadership mistake? Setting ambitious goals but failing to break them down into manageable actions.

   Ask yourself:

   1. Does every team member understand how their work contributes to the larger goal?

   2. Have we set short-term milestones to track progress?

   3. Are we checking in regularly to ensure alignment?

3. Communicate Goals Clearly

   Last week, we covered communication, and goal-setting is one of the most critical areas where leaders get this wrong.

   A great goal that isn’t clearly communicated is useless. If your team doesn’t fully understand the goal, the why behind it, and their role in achieving it, it will fail.

   Try this:

   1. In 1:1s: Ask, Do you feel clear on our team goals and how you contribute?

   2. In team meetings: Reinforce how each project ties back to the bigger picture.

   3. In feedback sessions: Keep goals front and center—celebrate progress, adjust when needed.

    

4. Balance Individual and Team Goals

   Individual goals should support the broader team and company objectives. If they don’t, people end up working in silos.

   Here’s how to fix this:

   1. Align personal growth goals with business objectives.

   2. Make sure individual success = team success.

   3. Keep a ‘Line of Sight’ between daily tasks and the bigger mission.

5. Make Goals Dynamic, Not Static

   The best leaders treat goal-setting as a living process. They review, refine, and adjust goals based on changing circumstances.

   Regular check-ins (monthly or quarterly) ensure that your goals stay relevant and your team stays motivated.

Reflection Questions for This Week

• Are your current goals clear, measurable, and actionable?

• Do your team members understand how their work contributes to the bigger picture?

• How often are you revisiting and refining goals with your team?

Book Recommendation

Measure What Matters by John Doerr

Summary:

This book dives deep into Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a goal-setting framework used by companies like Google. It focuses on setting clear, ambitious objectives and tracking key results to drive execution.

3 Key Takeaways for Leaders:

1. Set Goals That Stretch Your Team: Ambitious goals push performance but must be broken into clear steps.

2. Track Progress Transparently: Visibility creates accountability. Regular check-ins prevent misalignment.

3. Adapt Goals as Needed: Rigidity kills effectiveness. High-performing teams adjust goals based on real-world challenges.

Final Thought

Setting goals isn’t just about targets it’s about creating clarity, accountability, and clear direction for your team.

Great leaders make goals visible, actionable, and connected to everyday work. Maybe think about getting this listed on a board where everyone can see them? Start team meetings reviewing and aligning on these.

Next week we will explore my final pillar of leadership; Giving Feedback.

I have launched a FREE Leader Tool kit, this is one stop list of resources and frameworks from 1:1 templates, how to have difficult conversations, managing performance and much much more, you can get for free here.

Have a great week and feel free to connect with me and find out more about what I am doing here.