How do you define SMART career goals with your mentor?

1 Identify your career vision

In order to set SMART career goals, it’s important to have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish in your career. Your career vision is a long-term statement that reflects your values, interests, and passions, and it helps you align your actions with your aspirations. To identify your career vision, ask yourself questions such as what are the most important aspects of your work, what are the skills and strengths that you enjoy using and developing, what are the problems or needs that you want to solve or address, and what are the outcomes or results that you want to achieve or contribute to. Additionally, brainstorming, researching, or exploring different career options can be helpful in gaining clarity on your career vision. You can write down your career vision as a sentence or paragraph and share it with your mentor for feedback and validation.

2 Break down your vision into goals

Having a clear career vision is the first step to success. To make it more achievable, you can break it down into smaller and more manageable goals. These goals can be short-term, medium-term or long-term, depending on the complexity of your vision. For example, if your career vision is to become a successful entrepreneur in the health sector, some of your goals could be completing a business plan for your start-up idea (short-term), securing funding and launching your product or service (medium-term) and scaling up your business and reaching a wider market (long-term). When creating your goals, you can use either a top-down or a bottom-up approach. The former starts with your ultimate vision and works backwards, while the latter starts with your current situation and works forward. You can also combine both approaches to gain a balanced perspective. Writing down your goals as a list or map and discussing them with a mentor are great ways to get input and advice.

3 Apply SMART criteria to your goals

To make your goals more effective and actionable, you need to apply SMART criteria to them. SMART criteria are a set of standards that help you evaluate and refine your goals, such as being specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. To do so, you can use a template or checklist to review and revise them, as well as look at examples or models of SMART goals. Writing down your SMART goals as statements or sentences can help present them to your mentor for confirmation and approval.

4 Track and review your goals

Once you and your mentor have set SMART career goals, you need to track and review them regularly. This helps you monitor your progress, measure your results, and adjust your actions. It also allows you to celebrate successes, recognize challenges, and learn from experiences. To track and review your goals, find tools or methods that suit your preferences and needs - such as spreadsheets, journals, apps, or calendars. Additionally, set up a system or routine that works for you - like weekly, monthly, or quarterly check-ins, reports, or meetings. Invite your mentor to be part of the process by sharing updates, feedback, or questions; or by requesting their support, guidance, or accountability. Tracking and reviewing your goals is a continual and dynamic process that requires commitment, flexibility, and openness. Create plans or procedures for tracking and reviewing methods with your mentor's involvement and encouragement.

5 Update and revise your goals

To ensure your career goals remain SMART and relevant, you should review and revise them with your mentor regularly. This helps you adjust to changing situations, take advantage of new opportunities, and overcome challenges. You can evaluate your current progress by conducting a SWOT analysis or gap analysis between your actual and desired state. Identifying changes or improvements that need to be made, such as adding, modifying, or deleting some of your goals, or changing the SMART criteria, is also important. Communicating and collaborating with your mentor on these changes or improvements will help you explain your reasons or rationale for the changes and gain their opinion, suggestion, or approval. Updating and revising your goals is a necessary part of career development that requires awareness, creativity, and courage. Once you have written down the revised goals as new statements or sentences, you can implement them with the support of your mentor.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?