SETTING MEANINGFUL GOALS FOR OUR TEAM

Most everyone who has worked a job has had a clearly defined set of roles and responsibilities, or wished that they had. These details would include where to be, when to be there, what to do (or not do), how to do it, and who they work with or answer to. It is pretty standard stuff. But what about defining a path to grow and achieve further success?

Through our experience we’ve found where many business fall short is defining a success path for its employees. When we started Clark + Aldine we had a vision of a strong, supportive team that truly represents the brand we’ve built. Part of that vision for us is setting meaningful goals for our team. And for ourselves, which we wrote a post about! Check it out.

Let us explain.

Our individual team goals go further than the standard outline of a success path. We’re more concerned with empowering our team members to invest in themselves – mind, health, and ultimately happiness. Where a majority of corporate businesses get it wrong (speaking from experience here) is that they don’t practice what they preach. For instance:

You take a vacation and vow to unplug. You’ve set expectations and arranged for team coverage accordingly, only to have round the clock notifications pop up on your phone. And then guilt sets in and you dive right back into work in order to appease and just “get it done”. But here’s the kicker…those vacation days, that PTO that wasn’t truly PTO, is gone. 

OR

You live a healthy lifestyle and part of that is eating clean and at appropriate times of the day. Unfortunately, work meetings have you booked nearly every day from 11 – 1 which is a traditional timeframe for lunch. But you can not miss the meeting, so you try to stay attentive but ultimately feel fatigue and a loss of focus. Kind of hard to maintain that healthy life balance when you have unavoidable roadblocks in front of you, right?

OR

Piggybacking off the above, those days full of meaningless mismanaged meetings means little to know work gets done. You know, those things on your roles and responsibilities outline that you agreed to do when you signed up for the job. Well guess what, they have to get done. Which means you have to find the time at night, after work hours, to get it done. Yup, that likely means less time for yourself, or your family, and more time for work. 

This post is not about the amount of work we should do, or not do, but rather one about knowing limits, understanding the importance of balance and as leaders, investing in our team. Our philosophy and pledge to practice what we preach is this:

MINDFULNESS

Taking time to unplug and recharge is essential. Burnout is a real thing and it has a significant impact on one’s mind and body, as well as their performance (which is felt within a business). And while some days may require an all hands on deck till the job is done approach (hello final install days), those days that do not require time to take care of our minds. We believe meditating, visualizing and reading should be a part of our daily routines. And we are frequently checking in with our team to see how and if they are embracing these practices, and how we find it helpful in our day to day. 

HEALTHINESS

We’re constantly encouraging each other, collectively, to live a healthier lifestyle. Whether it be through diet and exercise, how we speak about the world and others, or what we choose to consume during the day, our health is important. When it comes to smoking tobacco, it is a no go for us. But seeing as one of us (Michael) is an ex-smoker we can understand how difficult it is to just stop (although Michael did quit cold turkey). So instead of saying “no way can you do that”, we set a goal in place. And when that goal is achieved we shall celebrate!

HAPPINESS 

Work is work. Anyone who states do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life is just fluffing your pillow. We do hard work, every single day. But we all have fun doing it. If one of us is just off that day, or not feeling the vibe, we take a little time off site for some coffee or lunch and just talk about other things in life. If we aren’t having fun we aren’t happy. We strive to embrace happiness every day and give it our all to ensure it is reflected amongst the entire team. 

We could go on and on about this topic for hours, but we think you get the point. If you manage a team, a person or just have some incredible goals for yourself please share them! We would love to know how you’ve prioritized goals in your business or life. 

-much love