Leadership Academy Focuses on Goal Setting for Success
October 26, 2020
The D.C. Bar 2020 John Payton Leadership Academy continued its online training on October 16 with the session “Successful Goal Setting for Attorneys,” aimed at helping participants rethink how they set goals and providing them with better tools to articulate and achieve those goals.
The session was presented by Diane Rosen, professional life coach and co-founder of Compass Consultants LLC; David Maas, head of Wisconsin’s Statewide Prosecutors Education and Training program; and Laurie Lyte, a training professional and principal at Lytehouse Solutions LLC. During the session, faculty explained how the goal-setting theory of motivation is linked to task performance, and how having measurable and achievable goals, along with constructive feedback, leads to better outcomes.
Rosen, Maas, and Lyte also emphasized that intrinsic to achieving goals is trial and error. There should be room for failure, and one can learn from those failures and pivot in other directions to achieve their goals. “When we don’t reach those goals, it provides an opportunity to accept feedback and analyze where we fell short,” Maas explained. “Maybe it was a failure in the pathway that we set for ourselves. We have to readjust our strategy to meet that goal next time. But setting realistic goals allows us to either hit [them] or accept feedback.”
Goals also require commitment. “They pull you into the future,” said Rosen. “When you have a goal, it motivates you because you’re working on how to get there. And because you’ve chosen a goal that matters to you, you’re engaged in seeing it into fruition.”
When designing goals, one should think big, break down strategic steps, explore options and alternatives, and seek resources to achieve them and overcome barriers. Maas recommended mapping out goals, perhaps in a journal or on a whiteboard. “It’s also good to do that in group settings because you’re identifying the ultimate goal very clearly to the group,” he said.
Rosen presented two different goal-setting models: WOOP (wish, outcome, obstacle, and plan) and SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely). Toward the end of the session, Lyte recommended that participants seek out accountability partners to help them articulate, strive for, and commit to their goals.
The 2020 Leadership Academy launched in March with 24 attendees from diverse practice areas and workplace settings. Due to COVID-19, the academy transitioned its training sessions from in-person to online.
The Leadership Academy was established in 2013 and renamed in honor of the late John Payton, director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund who was regarded as one of the most influential civil rights attorneys of his generation. Payton, president of the D.C. Bar from 2001 to 2002, devoted much of his career to the training of young lawyers and served as a mentor to many.
