Want to help your team members grow in their careers? Setting strong professional development goals is the key. Clear goals help your team members turn their career aspirations into real, measurable progress – making work more fulfilling for all of you, now and in the future.
What’s Coming Up
- What Are Professional Development Goals?
- The Psychology Behind Goal Achievement
- Creating SMART Goals That Actually Work
- 25 Examples of Professional Development Goals
- Aligning Career Goals with Team Members’ Working Styles
- Moving Forward with Professional Development Goals
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Further Reading
What Are Professional Development Goals?
Professional development goals are specific objectives that help your team members build new skills, knowledge, and abilities to advance in their careers. Unlike regular performance targets that focus on immediate job duties, these goals aim to develop competencies that support long-term growth and career advancement. Professional development goals work best when they’re part of a professional development plan (or PDP) that maps out learning paths and timelines.
Well-thought-out professional development goals help bridge the gap between current capabilities and future aspirations. They give team members clear targets to work toward, whether they’re looking to strengthen their technical skills, enhance their soft skills, or prepare for leadership roles.
As a manager, by connecting your team members’ goals to both their individual interests and organizational needs, you can create development opportunities that benefit everyone involved.
Is your team operating at its best? Find out with our free Team Dynamics Quiz. Get quick, insightful, and actionable results in just 2 minutes.
The Psychology Behind Goal Achievement
Well-defined professional development goals play a critical role in team growth. They help your team members measure their progress, keep them motivated when challenges arise, and give their direct reports a clear sense of purpose.
Professional development goals are specific to each individual team member. They are based on their skills, short-term goals, and career aspirations. This type of personalized development creates more meaningful motivation.
Generic goals often fall flat because they overlook who your team members are as individuals. When everyone is given the same goals without consideration for their unique strengths and interests, it’s harder for them to stay engaged.
The way that you set goals affects how likely your team members are to reach them. It’s not just about pushing them to be better at their jobs. You want them to pick goals that match who they are. And that’s where personality theory comes into play.
How Personality Influences Goal Preferences
Personality theory suggests that different personality types have different natural tendencies in how they think, make decisions, and interact with the world. These aren’t rigid boxes but rather preferences and inclinations that influence behavior and motivation, as well as how different people approach work and learning.
Your team members’ personalities impact which goals they think will energize them and which will drain them. The following personality insights can help guide how you set goals for other members of your team:
- If one of your team members loves analyzing things, they might enjoy goals that aim to improve their systems thinking and technical skills. They are most likely an Analyst (Intuitive, Thinking) personality type.
- If your team member is people-focused, they’ll probably like goals that are geared toward building relationships. They are likely a Diplomat (Intuitive, Feeling) type.
- If they’re detail-oriented, they probably prefer goals with clear steps and measurable results. This would describe any team member with a Sentinel (Observant, Judging) personality type.
- If your team member is adaptable, they might embrace varied goals that let them be creative. Most likely, they’re an Explorer (Observant, Prospecting) type.
When your team members’ professional development goals match their personalities, they’re more likely to stick with them – even when things get tough.
Want to understand your team better? See how your team’s personality makeup shapes your work in adaptive (or maladaptive) ways with our Team Assessments.
What Keeps Your Team Motivated
Most people perform better when they are doing something because they enjoy it, rather than just pursuing rewards. That’s the difference between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, and it directly affects how you set professional development goals for your team.
People who choose goals because they really want to improve certain skills tend to stick with them longer than those who are just chasing a promotion. Finding goals that connect to tasks that your team members naturally enjoy creates powerful motivation.
Encouraging a supportive professional network within your team can help keep everyone motivated. When your team members share their goals with each other, they can help one another stay on track and exchange useful pieces of advice.
Creating SMART Goals That Actually Work
What are professional development goals that really work? They often follow the SMART framework. That means that they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This model turns vague ideas into clear goals that can guide career growth.
Breaking Down the SMART Framework
When helping your team set professional development goals, make sure that they use these SMART criteria:
- Specific: Team members should state exactly what skill they want to develop. A goal that’s too vague might say “Get better at leadership,” while a more effective goal would be “Learn how to give helpful feedback to team members.”
- Measurable: Goals should set clear ways to track progress. Something like “Improve my presentation skills” isn’t measurable, while something like “Give three department presentations with a satisfaction rating of at least 4 out of 5” is more appropriate.
- Achievable: The best goals are challenging but still doable. A goal like “Become fluent in Mandarin in one month while doing my regular job” is way too difficult, but “Complete a beginner Mandarin course over six months” can set a team member up for success.
- Relevant: It is best to connect your team members’ goals to their career paths and the company’s needs. Something like “Learn video editing” is not relevant if your team member’s work doesn’t involve videos. “Learn data visualization to improve the quality of my financial reports” would work much better.
- Time-bound: Deadlines can help create focus. A goal that says “Become certified in project management” is too open-ended, while “Complete all requirements for a Project Management Professional Certificate by June 30” sets a clear timeline for success.
Common Mistakes When Writing SMART Goals
Even when using the SMART framework, professional development goals can fail if you make these common mistakes:
- Setting goals that are too difficult: Unrealistic goals or timelines will discourage your team members.
- Setting too many goals at once: Spreading team members too thin reduces their success.
- Making goals too rigid: Good goals can be adjusted for changing circumstances.
- Ignoring work-life balance: Setting goals that require too much time can take away from your home life.
The best professional development goals push you and your team to grow. But they are also realistic about workload and personal life.
25 Examples of Professional Development Goals
Here are 25 examples of professional development goals grouped by the personality type that they are most appropriate for. This list shows how to create goals that match different working styles while still following the SMART criteria.
You can share these examples of professional development goals with your team members as inspiration. They can use these goals exactly as they are written here. However, it’s likely that they will want to adjust them slightly to better reflect their own goals.
5 Goals for Analytical People
Here is a list of areas where team members who enjoy logic, systems, and problem-solving might consider creating professional development goals, as well as some examples of relevant SMART goals:
- Data analysis certification: Complete a data analysis certification within six months to help with quarterly budget planning.
- Process improvement: Create a system to reduce project approval times by 20% by the end of Q3.
- Programming skills: Learn Python basics through an online course and use it to automate two weekly reports by December.
- Problem-solving leadership: Lead a cross-functional collaboration project to solve a departmental problem by Q4.
- Predictive analytics: Take two courses on predictive analytics and use the techniques to create a sales forecast model by November.
5 Goals for People-Focused Personalities
For team members who excel at understanding others and building relationships, here is a list of areas that can be rewarding to work on, along with some sample SMART goals:
- Emotional intelligence development: Read two books on emotional intelligence and use three new techniques in team meetings this quarter.
- Conflict resolution: Take a negotiation workshop and successfully help resolve two team conflicts by year-end.
- Professional network expansion: Go to four industry events and meet at least five new people every three months.
- Coaching certification: Complete a coaching certification and mentor two junior team members over the next six months.
- Public speaking skills: Join a public speaking club and give a 15-minute presentation to the department by September.
5 Goals for Detail-Oriented People
Team members who are detail-oriented may want to get even better at organization and thoroughness. Here are some areas where they might wish to grow and some relevant goals:
- Documentation improvement: By the end of Q2, create three project document templates that reduce prep time by 30% while improving quality.
- Quality assurance enhancement: Find and implement five best practices that reduce error rates by 15% within six months.
- Compliance expertise: Get certified in compliance regulations and create a training workshop for the department by December.
- Time management mastery: Improve time management skills by using a new task system and reducing missed deadlines by 90% this quarter.
- Advanced Excel proficiency: Master advanced Excel functions and create three automated reports that save at least five hours weekly by October.
5 Goals for Adaptable People
For those on your team who thrive on variety, innovation, and creative thinking, here is a list of areas that can be fruitful to work on, as well as example goals:
- Innovation leadership: Lead two brainstorming workshops and implement at least one new efficiency solution per quarter.
- Cross-departmental experience: Volunteer for three projects in different departments to learn new subject areas within the next year.
- Design thinking application: Complete a design thinking course and use the methods to solve one major team challenge by November.
- Skill integration: Master two complementary skills and create a training that combines both of them by Q3.
- Knowledge management system: Develop a personal knowledge system that reduces the time that’s needed to learn new responsibilities by 25% this year.
5 Universal Goals That Benefit Everyone
Of course, some professional development goals are helpful for almost everyone. Here are some areas that most people can benefit from working on, as well as some sample goals:
- Active listening: Improve listening skills by using three new techniques and scoring 20% higher on communication in the next performance review.
- Digital literacy enhancement: Learn two new software tools that increase productivity by at least 10% within six months.
- Strategic thinking development: Take a business course and contribute three usable ideas to the department’s annual planning process.
- Resilience building: Create a stress management routine that improves job satisfaction by 15% over the next quarter.
- Business writing refinement: Complete a business writing workshop and reduce document revision cycles by 30% within six months.
Aligning Career Goals with Team Members’ Working Styles
Personality tests reveal your team members’ natural preferences, strengths, and potential weaknesses. These insights can help you create professional development goals for them that will:
- Use their natural strengths
- Address weaknesses that might hold them back
- Match how they naturally learn and work
- Support rather than fight against their core tendencies
For example, if someone on your team is very analytical, you can set smart goals to strengthen their systems-thinking skills. You might not want to push them into people-focused roles that would exhaust them.
Balancing Growth with Authenticity
The best professional development goals strike a balance that encourages individuals to do two things:
- Step outside comfort zones: Growth means developing new abilities – or at least applying existing skills in new situations.
- Honor true preferences: Working in direct contradiction to natural tendencies rarely works in the long term.
Encourage your team members to use the following approaches to maintain this balance:
- Moderate rather than eliminate natural tendencies. For example, encourage a detail-oriented team member to start a presentation by taking a bird’s-eye view and explaining the overarching goal before diving into the nitty-gritty details.
- Find authentic ways to develop necessary skills. For example, an adaptable individual who is focused on creativity might get organized through visual systems rather than rigid checklists.
- Develop complementary skills that support existing strengths. For example, an analytical person could improve how they present data, rather than focusing only on relationship skills.
Avoiding Goals That Don’t Fit
Some professional development goals may seem good on paper. But they can be frustrating if they go against a team member’s natural working style. You can catch this in time by noticing if your team members exhibit any of these warning signs:
- Constantly putting off work on a goal despite wanting to improve in the relevant area
- Feeling drained rather than energized when working toward a goal
- Starting strong but repeatedly giving up
- Reaching a goal but feeling that they can’t keep it up in the long term
When you notice these signs in your team members, don’t give up on their growth completely. Instead, look for different approaches that they can use for achieving the goal. This can help them accomplish similar outcomes while better matching their natural tendencies.
Moving Forward with Professional Development Goals
Setting effective professional development goals turns vague career aspirations into achievable results. By understanding how personality affects working style, you can create goals that feel exciting to your team. This will lead to higher success rates and greater job satisfaction.
Well-crafted professional development goals help both your team members and your organization. Companies benefit when employees continuously develop relevant skills. Employees with a plan are more likely to adapt to changing organizational needs. These team members often also find more fulfillment in their work.
To start setting goals that are informed by your team members’ personalities, you can take the following steps:
- Encourage your team members to take our free personality test.
- Help each team member think about their natural working preferences.
- Guide everyone to pick two or three high-impact development areas that match both their strengths and career goals.
- Work together so that everyone can create SMART goals that honor their authentic working style while developing their abilities.
- Set up regular check-ins to maintain accountability.
- Celebrate progress so that everyone can stay motivated.
Professional growth never stops. By updating goals regularly and recognizing changing interests and strengths, you build a strong foundation for long-term career growth. This will boost job satisfaction within your team.
You can also take a team dynamics assessment to gain an even deeper understanding of how the different personality types in your team work together. This can give you great insights into each person’s natural working style to further help you set professional development goals that truly match their strengths.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are professional development goals?
Professional development goals are clear objectives that help develop the skills, knowledge, and abilities that are necessary to move forward professionally. They can help you and your teammates improve job performance and prepare for future opportunities.
What are SMART goals for professional development?
SMART goals for professional development are objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. They provide a clear plan to build skills, as well as specific steps to track progress and realistic deadlines for reaching goals.
How often should professional development goals be reviewed?
Professional development goals should be reviewed at least every three months to track progress and make changes as needed. Regular check-ins can help your team members stay on track and adjust if priorities or circumstances shift.