Importance of Goal Setting and Reflection in Career Development

This article discusses the importance of goal setting and reflection in career development. It includes workplace examples and SMART goals. The subject is career development and the course code and college/university are not mentioned.

Running Head: Personal Goals & LPA Reflection
Industry Consulting Projects
Personal Goals and LPA reflection

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Table of Content
Importance of Goal Setting and Reflection in Career Development............................................................2
Work Place Examples..................................................................................................................................................... 2
Learning from my manager......................................................................................................................................... 2
The rationale of Decision Making.............................................................................................................................. 3
The art of Leadership at the Hotel............................................................................................................................ 4
SMART Goals...................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................................................... 5

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Importance of Goal Setting and Reflection in Career Development
Top level athletes, successful business people and all the achievers from different fields
set up goals with the vision of fulfilling them in a systematic manner. Goals can be seen
as motivation for short and long term which provides the ability to an individual to
work towards the achievement of the set goals. Goal setting helps an individual to focus
on his accumulated knowledge, organize time and resources so that the person can
make most of his time and life.
The process of goal setting and reflection is like creation of goals to mine one’s career.
The goals help an individual to see the road ahead of his career, gives him motivation
and a lot of time to think and transform the vision into reality. Business organizations
have become highly professional in business conduct, and they value the individuals
who have a coherent understanding of the concept of goal setting. The employees who
are through with their goal setting have cleared the first milestone and now they just
have to walk on the Path of goal fulfilment. Thus, goal setting and personal reflection is
an extremely critical step towards one’s own personal and professional development
and is also beneficial for the organization.
Work Place Examples
Reflection of a person on his life is an accumulation of the experiences he had in his
professional and personal journey. Based on the accumulated knowledge, one’s own
personal experience and professional experiences, an individual learns a lot which
further helps him to refine his career. In the similar manner, the three examples from
my workplace which helped me in creation of my SMART goals are:
Learning from my manager
At Pullman Sydney Airport the management wanted to automate the process of
reservation and bring a process improvement in the customer service delivery. I was
working in the capacity of the Banquet Sales, which was a team of 15 team members.
Our team was going to undergo a massive restructuring and I along with all the team

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members were confused. As there was no proper communication regarding the change,
everybody created their own assumptions and hypothesis regarding the change. This
type of situation leads to grapevine in the organization, which is dangerous to the
working environment of the business organization.
However, my manager was a terrific person, one fine evening; he called all of us for a
meeting on the proposed change in the organization. He communicated freely as to
what is the intent of the management regards to the change, and what will be the
potential impact on our job roles. The manager also asked for our feedback as he
wanted to ensure that we all were comfortable and to empower us by involving us in
the decision making. After the meeting, all of us were satisfied with the information
conveyed to us, and we also had a new found respect for the manager. The way he
communicated to all of us was enriching, filled with confidence and the information was
backed by facts. This made me realize that communication is one of the important skills
that an individual has to learn to remain competent in the ever evolving industry.
The rationale of Decision Making
I remember clearly, it was the beginning of the summers and a lot of guests were
expected to arrive at the hotel. Plus, there were plethora of enquiry on corporate
reservation at the hotel for the corporate meeting and event. We had a limited capacity
of over 250 rooms, and it was a tough call to make, as to who should be given the
preference in allocating the rooms of the hotel. All of us were clueless, as we had no
experience of handling hotel in the time of overbooking. Operation manager, who came
from Sydney came to the rescue, he taught us some valuable lesson in decision making
which I can never forget.
He applied various models of decision making such as T-Chart, SWOT analysis to arrive
at the decision which would not hurt the revenue of the organization. He weighed all the
pros and cons of both the type of guest, before reaching to a conclusion. Had it been me,
I would have not followed a scientific way to arrive at the solution. But the ease, with
which my manager used this model to arrive at a logical and rationale decision, filled me
with Amaze, and I decided to learn and work on my decision making skills.

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The art of Leadership at the Hotel
Sebastian Bazin who is the CEO of the Accor group once visited the Pullman Sydney
Hotel. He was travelling to India to understand and identify the challenge the hotel was
facing with the Indian customers. In his short journey he took time for all of us and
wanted to share his thoughts on the Accor group and the image of the hotel he wanted
to be perceived by the outside world.
Listening to the man, I realized it takes a lot to become a successful and an efficient
leader. Sebastian was talking to all of us in anecdotes, and we all were amazed, as to
how he could pick something massive out of the small incident. He also told us that the
organization is grateful to all of us, who are putting in everything for the success of the
hotel. I could clearly see clarity of vision in his eyes and his thought, his
transformational journey in becoming a leader was another high point of his informal
meeting. This made me realize that leadership is the practical skill, encompassing the
ability of the individual to lead, motivate, influence the team and the organization to
achieve the goals of the organization.
SMART Goals
Goals Specific Measurabl
e
Attainable Realistic Timelin
e
Excellent
Communicatio
n
I would like to
put efforts in
gaining
confidence
while
communicatin
g with my
team and
managers. As
a part of this
personal goal
I would like to
boast my
confidence
and overcome
my stage fear.
The goal
can be
easily
mentioned
by looking
at the
feedback I
receive
from my
managers
and HR in
my
business
organizatio
n.
The goal is
attainable
and would
help me in
my career
growth and
developmen
t.
The goal is
extremely
realistic and
attainable in
the medium
term. The
goal has high
relevancy in
the present
day
organization
al context.
6
Months
Decision
Making
Herein, I
would like to
learn the art
Decision
making goal
can be
The goal is
attainable
and relevant
The goal is
realistic and
would give
6
Months

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of decision
making by
practicing
decision
making
models and
tools which
would
expedite the
process of
decision
making.
measured
by the time
I take in
making my
own
decisions.
in the
present day.
I would be
able to have
a
competitive
edge over
my
competitors.
impetus to
my
professional
aspirations
Leadership
Goals
I would like to
learn and
honour the
art and skill of
leadership. I
would learn
different
leadership
theories and
would also
learn the
successful
journey of
truly
successful
business
leaders
This goal
can be
measured
by looking
at the
upward
slope in my
career. The
quickly I get
to a senior
position is a
reflection
that I am
doing well
with my
goal of
leadership.
The goal of
leadership
will help me
in getting a
clear path
towards my
future
career
aspiration
The
leadership
goal will help
me in
leading,
influencing
and
motivating
my team
members,
which would
eventually
help me in
getting a
leadership
position.
1 Year
Conclusion
Learning from my past and future experiences, and the learning I have accumulated all
my life, I am certain that I would commit myself towards the accomplishment of the
goals set for myself. Goal of leadership, communication and decision making, infused
with my personal commitment would help me in scaling the Zenith of success.

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