It’s that time of year again! When we all decide we are going to be more patient, give to charity, exercise daily, and stop drinking Mountain Dew. Goals are great, and goals can be really effective when SMART goal setting techniques are used. This year, to bring your workplace some cheer, why not set some leadership goals for yourself?
A study I did some years ago with colleagues from Center for Creative Leadership and learning and development expert Lauren Garrison showed that setting goals facilitated leadership growth in general, and the more goals one set the better. Specifically, leaders who set a goal of “developing others” or “building and maintaining relationships,” were rated as improving in those areas just three months after setting their goal. So, time to set some goals!
We did this exercise at the Center for Leadership at CU Boulder and will share our goals here. People are more likely to make progress toward their goal if they have accountability, so please share yours to boost your public commitment.
Dr. Stefanie Johnson: My goal is to increase the amount of recognition offered at the Center for Leadership by 50% by the end of the Spring 2024 semester. I will include a plan here: We will make to recognize our team members’ accomplishments each Wednesday during our strategy meeting. We will also have an affiliate of the month, who we will highlight for their great work on our website.
Chancellor Phil DiStefano: My New Year’s resolution is to increase awareness of the Center for Leadership among our external community, including alumni, parents, legislators, and community members. I plan to do this by sharing CFL accomplishments in my speeches and talking points throughout the spring semester around the country and internationally. I have two international trips to Japan and India scheduled, as well as a number of visits within the U.S. that will give me the opportunity to highlight the center, which has recently been named among the top 100 leadership programs in the country.
Emily Savitz: In 2024 I hope to strengthen my leadership skills by sustaining a growth mindset. My goal is to embrace the challenges or mistakes that come my way as a learning opportunity. I aspire to begin viewing challenges not as obstacles but as a way to grow. Self-reflection will play a huge role in this. Taking a moment to step back and look and look at the challenge from a different point of view is one way I hope to achieve this goal and evolve as a leader.
Ryan Slocum: This spring, I am aiming to aggregate data on all 32 of the Center for Leaderships's affiliate programs to better understand the impact of the CFL. My metric for success will be creating a tool to reliably point incoming students to programs that will best serve their interests as developing leaders, based on the information I have been able to collect through my role.
Jessie Kasynski: This coming year I am going to stretch my limits and try to take my leadership into contexts beyond my comfort zone. I am a creature of habit and I enjoy predictability, so inviting new settings and ambiguity into my daily life, will be a challenge.
Brad Spears: This year my goal is to be deliberate about checking in on my values and the organizations’s values before I commit and say “yes” to a new opportunity. I have found that saying “yes” very often means saying “no” to previous committments, whether this is done intentionally or unintenitionally. My aim is to be intentional, everytime I commit, in order to keep my priortities and time aligned to the things that matter most. In doing so I hope to improve how I show up as a leader and a teammate.
Seth Webb: Effective, resilient, and mindful leadership starts with self-leadership and prioritizing our own emotional and physical health and well-being. An increasing amount of research suggests that spending time in natural outdoor environments is associated with numerous human health and well-being benefits. Additionally, our social-emotional well-being relies on a robust network of trusting relationships. To nurture the well-being and social connectivity of our Leadership Educator Network, I will facilitate three Leader Wellness Outings in the spring, summer, and fall. These local out of office experiences (OOEs) will offer a chance to spend time together outside, connecting and discussing topics related to our work as leadership educators. Dates TBD.
Jessi Follett: This year, I my goal is to enhance my leadership skills by becoming more reflective and intentional through consistent journaling. I aim to write in a journal for at least one hour throughout each week, reflecting on my leadership experiences, challenges, and successes, and regularly reviewing them to identify patterns and areas for improvement. Improving my reflective practices aligns with what I encourage students to do, and I want to better lead by example. This will help me develop a deeper understanding of my leadership style, decision-making processes, and the impact of my actions on others.