4 Ways to Track and Adapt Your Goals During the Year

At this point, we’re coming to the halfway point of the year (and summer!).

If you are in a corporate role, you likely established a set of goals early in the year, and if you’re like most people, you likely forgot what those goals are as we hit June.

And while you hope you are excelling at your role and that your work will speak for itself, when it comes time for your year-end review, you’re going to be assessed against those goals you established at the beginning of the year.

With that in mind, its always best practice to periodically track your progress towards those goals. In this article, I outline four potential ways to proactively manage your year-end goals throughout the year.

Keep a goal tracker

How many of you get to your year-end review and completely forget what you did 6 months ago? It has happened to me plenty of times.

One possible remedy is to keep an ongoing tracker and write down your accomplishments in real-time.

It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or formal (a simple Word doc or Excel sheet would do), but if you try to set aside a few minutes here or there (every week, every couple of weeks, every month, etc.), it will allow you to easily track your activities throughout the year.

And if you track your accomplishments and activities throughout the year, writing your year-end review will be so much easier.

Talk to your boss

Ask your manager for a recurring check-in that only focuses on goals and career progression. Set up a cadence (monthly or quarterly might be a great place to start), and don’t dilute the agenda with other items (to-dos, daily activities, etc.). Really have this meeting just focus on progress towards those year-end goals.

I had a manager who set up a monthly meeting to do just that, and it was a great way to stay on track and for me to obtain real-time feedback throughout the year.

Talk to your colleagues

Chances are you don’t just interact with your boss at work. You likely work with peers and people from throughout the organization (different departments, different teams, admins, executives, etc.).

And when it comes time to write your review, your boss is going to ask them for feedback, so similar to your check-ins with your boss, check in periodically with our colleagues.

Ask for candid feedback (both positive and constructive). It doesn’t have to be as formal as the regular cadence you establish with your boss, but feedback conversations with those you interact with on a day to day basis can go a long way as you progress towards your goals.

Adapt and pivot your goals (with your boss’ approval)

Professional goals can change during the year. This is especially true for accountants, where you’re either in client services and have no idea what your projects or clients will be at the beginning of the year, or you work in industry and you constantly have to adapt to the ever changing direction of the company.

With that in mind, be ready to adapt, or possibly change, your goals as your situation changes throughout the year. Use that check-in with your boss to determine if the goals you set in January are still applicable or require a tweak or two. In many cases, one of your goals is likely not applicable, so adapt your objectives (and related tracking).

You’re trying to set yourself up for success

There are tons of ways to track your performance against your year-end goals. While we just highlight a few in this post, I encourage you to set in place some system where you can easily track your accomplishments and measure yourself against your annual objectives. It will not only make writing your year-end review easier, but it will also hopefully set you up to exceed your goals and achieve that next raise, promotion, or whatever it is your are striving for in your role.