Goals are crucial motivators in every part of our lives. For many people, the right target can act as a compass, guiding them towards important accomplishments and helping them find their way in life. A strong set of goals will push you towards everything from job opportunities to promotions and new skills in your medical device career.
However, to get the most from your professional targets, you first need to know how to define and set your goals effectively. Learning what it takes to set achievable, challenging, and encouraging goals will give you the direction you need to excel in your career.
So, where do you get started with successful goal-setting?
1. Set “SMARTER” Goals
SMART goal setting is a tried-and-tested framework designed to help you define your goals more effectively and accomplish more. In the medical device landscape, setting SMARTER goals will help you to define exactly what you want to achieve and when.
SMARTER stands for:
- Specific: Choose a specific goal, such as: “I want to become a Medical devices sales manager by the end of the year”. The more detail you include, the better.
- Measurable: Quantify what you want to achieve, such as “I’d like to improve my performance by 20% in the next 6 months”.
- Achievable: Make sure your goals are something you can achieve. If you don’t have the qualification required to become an application specialist, your next goal shouldn’t be to apply for app specialist roles. Instead, focus on getting your qualification.
- Realistic: Be reasonable with what you can accomplish in your chosen time frame.
- Timely: Pick a specific time for when you want to achieve each part of your goal.
- Empowering: Make sure your goal drives you towards a positive overall outcome – like a more satisfying career.
- Reviewable: Remember to review your goals regularly and update them as your career aspirations evolve.
An example of a SMARTER goal may be: “I want to become a medical device manager in the next 2 years, earn a new qualification within one year, and improve my leadership skills within 6 months.”
2. Make Large Goals Achievable with Small Steps
When setting goals for your career, it’s easy to get carried away with lofty ambitions. There’s nothing wrong with having high hopes for yourself, like wanting to become the head of your own medical devices team or work for a prestigious brand.
However, it’s important to ensure your goals aren’t too overwhelming. Setting big goals with no obvious steps to get you from point A to B can make it more likely you’ll give up on your ambitions entirely because you don’t know where to begin.
A good way to make your goals more achievable is to break them down into smaller steps. For instance, if you want to be a Medical devices manager, you might start by taking a number of leadership courses or increasing your responsibilities in your current role.
Breaking your goals down into smaller chunks will also help to keep you motivated, as you’ll be able to track your progress.
3. Hold Yourself Accountable
We all have moments in life when we feel more motivated and driven and moments when we lose track of our goals. The last thing you want is to set a new plan for your medical devices career at the beginning of the year when you’re feeling inspired, then forget all about it by March.
Employing accountability tactics will help to ensure you keep pushing yourself in the right direction. For instance, you can try sharing your aspirations with your boss or manager and ask for their help making progress. Your boss can give you new challenges and tasks at work to improve your skills or help you find the right training opportunities.
Working with a recruitment professional is another excellent way to keep yourself accountable if you plan to apply for a new job as part of your goal. They can help you get into the right talent pipelines and check in to see whether you’re progressing toward developing your CV with the right skills.
4. Track your Accomplishments
Sometimes, it can feel like you’re making exceptional progress with your targets, hitting one goal after another out of the park. Of course, you may also encounter times when you’re not making as much progress as you might like, or you feel as though you’re “lagging behind” on your accomplishments.
Motivation is crucial to achieving your goals, as it keeps pushing you forward when times are difficult. There are few better forms of motivation than evidence of your accomplishments. With this in mind, keep a list of all the things you’ve achieved that might be taking you closer to your desired outcomes.
For instance, you might not have earned your position as the manager of your own sales team yet, but you might have finished a leadership skills course with flying colours and taken on more responsibility in your current role. Maybe you’ve connected with a recruitment agency, and they’ve got you in the talent pipeline for some of those big companies you’d love to work for.
Tracking your achievements and celebrating little wins will help to keep you on the right track.
5. Keep Your Goals Up-to-Date
Like many sectors in the healthcare landscape today, the medical devices industry is moving at an accelerated pace, driven by the changes in the marketplace. New roles and opportunities are emerging in this landscape all the time, which could impact your goals.
At the same time, as you continue to work towards a specific professional target, you may discover things about yourself and your skills that change your perception of the “ideal role”. Checking in with your goals regularly and asking yourself whether you’re still on the right path can ensure you don’t lose direction.
Schedule an appointment with yourself regularly, usually every 6 to 12 months, to consider your goals, your current progress towards your targets, and any changes you might want to make. You can then update your recruitment professional and boss with your new targets if necessary.
What Next?
A specialist recruitment team in the medical devices sector can help you get on the right path towards your career goals in no time. From helping to develop your CV, to improving your chances of finding the right employer, your recruitment partner can be crucial to your success.
Kinetic has been working with Pharma and medical devices companies for over 10 years, focusing within the UAE landscape. Contact us today at (+971 (0)4 442 0921) or over email!
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