Adding your first goal on waymaker

Learning outcomes:

• What to do if you've just joined us and have existing goals
• What is the difference between a goal and outcome?
• Create a quick action goal
• Best practice for creating a goal
• Create a goal in the roadmap module
• Why now matters

 

What to do if you've just joined us and have existing goals

If, prior to starting with waymaker, you and the team have some goals you are working towards, whether personal, operational or aspirational, add them in waymaker.

 

If they are not in the structure of goal and outcomes, that’s ok, just create a goal. If they are in the form of goal and outcomes, then create the goal and the outcomes.

 

Don’t worry about writing a good goal title at this point if you’re not sure about it, we can help with that. Just capture the context of the goal in the goal title.

 

 

What is the difference between a goal and an outcome?

Its important to understand the difference between a goal and outcome.

 

The most important skill is the ability to set an effective goal for yourself and for those that report to you. 

 

This skill is foundational in your ability to lead a group of people from A to Z. If no-one knows what ‘Z’ is and what the steps are to get there, then you have no chance of ever reaching it. 

 

Goals are the building blocks of strategic alignment. The ‘Lego blocks’ of the Waymaker Leadership Curve. 

 

Goals should be qualitative, significant, concrete, action-orientated, and inspirational. They should define the team's mission, the aspirational finish line.

 

Once you have written your goal, then you need to answer the question, "how do you know you have achieved your goal?"

 

An outcome is evidence that a goal has been achieved. It is best understood as a ‘how’ you will you get there.

 

Outcomes are best as metrics; number #, currency $ or percentage %.

 

They should be specific, time bound, aggressive but realistic and verifiable through measurement.

 

Outcomes describe how you are going to get to the goal. You could think of outcomes like steps on a ladder or the evidence that you got there.

 

On a best practice goal there should be around three to five outcomes. These outcomes will have different due dates and bring context to how the goal is going to be achieved.

 

The assumption is, if all the outcomes are achieved, then the goal is achieved. But, if you can’t achieve
on one of the outcomes, it probably means the goal hasn’t or can’t be achieved.

 

Create a quick action goal

We're all about productivity so we've made it easy for you to create a goal from anywhere on the platform, we call it a quick action goal. 

 

Click the quick action goal button in the top right of the screen to open the quick action goal editor.

 

Give the goal a title and set the status the function the goal relates to. These fields are mandatory, so if you're new to waymaker, and the goal you are creating is something you are working on, set the status to in progress and the function the goal aligns to. If you have set the goal status to in progress, once saved it will appear on your homepage.

 

If the team drop down is visible, assign a team, this is also a mandatroy field.

 

Add a why now description. This is not a mandatory field but is important. A good why now justifies why the goal should be, or is, a priority for you, the team, and the broader business. It can be hard to write, that is why it's important. It shows you have thought about the goal and how it contributes to the organisation's milestone, or top-level, goal.

 

The goal will be assigned to the person that creates it so no need for anything else.

 

 

Best practice for creating a goal

We have just covered how to use the quick action goal process to create a goal from anywhere on the platform. Best practice for creating a goal, however, is to navigate to the roadmap module and create it there. The reason for this is that the roadmap shows all goals in the organistion sorted by status in a kanban view. Each card represents a goal and displays the goal title and goal owner.

 

This gives you the opportunity to review your leaders' goals and think about how you can contribute. 

 

To navigate to the roadmap module, click the navigation menu button in the top left of the screen, then select roadmap.

 

The roadmap module loads to show your goals. You can filter the data by clicking the filter button and making the relevant updates to the goal data criteria. Filter by goal view, business unit, team or user.

 

To review a goal, click the goal title to launch the goal detail screen.

 

To close the goal detail screen and get back to the roadmap, click the back button next to the goal title.

 

Create a goal in the roadmap module

So now you know how to review other people's goals in the roadmap module, now its time to learn how to create a goal in the roadmap module.

 

Click the add goal button in the upper right of screen to open the goal editor. Unlike the quick action goal editor, in the roadmap and goal module you get access to the full goal editor controls.

 

At a minimum, complete the same fields as the quick action goal.

 

Give the goal a title, set the status and the function the goal relates to. These fields are mandatory, so if you're new to waymaker, and the goal you are creating is something you are working on, set the status to in progress and the function the goal aligns to. 

 

If you set the goal status to committed or in-progress, you will need to specify which quarter the goal  will be set for. If the goal will run for longer than a single quarter, toggle the multi quarter toggel on and then add a start date, due date and financial year you are aiming to achieve the goal by.

 

If the team drop-down is visible, assign a team, this is also a mandatory field.

 

Add a why now description and click save.

 

The goal will be assigned to the person that creates it. If you need to change the goal owner, click re-assign goal, type the new owner's name and when it appears in the drop-down, select it then click the save button. If you need to add a collaborator to the goal, click add collaborator and follow the same process.

 

Adding a team member as a collaborator allows you to assign that person tasks relating to the goal and outcomes. It also allows the person to edit the outcomes.

Why now matters

Answering why now is great way to get the team thinking about why the goal is so important right now.

 

A good why now should be 2 to 3 sentances that justify why the goal should be, or is, a priority for you, the team, and the broader business. It can be hard to write, that is why it's important.

 

It gets the goal owner to think about their goal and how it contributes to the organisation's milestone, or top-level, goal. This process aligns the team and contributes towards a collaborative and motivated culture.