Goal Setting & Individual Action Plan

To achieve personal excellence throughout your umpiring career, you are bound to measure your success in
a variety of ways, perhaps accreditation progress and the achievement of your goals.
It is important to recognize that goal setting and action planning are two critical processes undertaken by
every successful umpire.

Goal Setting
SMART Goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely

Specific A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To
set a specific goal you must answer the six 'W' questions:
*Who Who is involved?
*What What do I want to accomplish?
*Where Identify a location
*When: Establish a time frame
*Which Identify requirements and constraints
*Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal

EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, 'Get in shape'. But a specific goal would be,
'Join a health club and workout 3 days a week'.
So a long term general goal may be to umpire at a World Championship, short term goals
may be, achieve level 4, Level 5 and so on. The specific goal may be to improve plate
mechanics or improve handling of players and coaches.

Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you
Measurable set.
When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and
experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required
to reach your goal.
To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as…… How much? How
many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

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 When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you
Attainable can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial
capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring
yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.
You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a
time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far
away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your
goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals
you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the
traits and personality that allows you to possess them.

To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and
Realistic able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide
just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial
progress.
A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low
motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy
simply because they were a labour of love.

A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there's no
Timely sense of urgency. If you want to lose 5kg, when do you want to lose it by? 'Someday'
won't work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, 'by May 1st', then you've set your
unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional
ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything
similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this
goal.

Find a Mentor
A mentor is someone more skilled or experienced who offers advice, support, and guidance to facilitate the
learning and development of a more junior or less experienced person. Mentoring relationships occur in all
aspects of life but are often a key feature of the organisational life where more senior staff members take on
the role of being a role model, trusted adviser, coach, and teacher to their junior colleagues.
In the work environment, mentors can play an important role in the career advancement of more junior staff
by offering on-the-job support, career advice and access to networks and organisational knowledge (both
formal and informal). Many successful people have had mentors help them along the way. You may have
more than one, someone sports specific, someone with life skills.

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Personal Goal Setting Date __ / __ / __
Consider Short, Medium and Long term goals. Note: Your Mentor may assist with this process.

Goal 1 Quality Check : Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timely

XXX

Goal 2 Quality Check : Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timely

XXX

Goal 3 Quality Check : Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timely

XXX

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Individual Action Plan
Once you have defined and committed to a SMART Goal, the next step is to implement an Individual Action
Plan.
Action planning need not be a complex and difficult process. Keeping sight on your goals, action planning
simply outlines the small steps, the short term goals to be achieved one step at a time. Try to focus on only
three key Actions at any one time. This will allow the process to seem achievable and you will not be
consumed with too many things at once.
Carry out a SWOT analysis, write it down, you must be true to yourself; this will help you with your ACTION
plan.
S = Strengths W = Weaknesses O = Opportunities T = Threats
Action means doing, keeping the plan alive and editing, amending and adding steps as you progress.
Writing down an action plan is much like writing down your goals, it will assist you to commit to the end result
and it is easier to hold yourself accountable to the actions and the deadlines.

The basic premise of development planning is ACTION:

1 Identifying where you are right now
a. What are your strengths?
b. What are your weaknesses?
2 Identifying where you want or need to be. Perform a GAP analysis (where are you now)
a. What needs to be worked on for you to get to the next level?
b. Which weaknesses need to be addressed?
c. What area is to be given priority?
3 Coming up with a plan to fill that gap
a. Be specific
b. Identifying resources
c. Create a schedule
Remember: 'Action' implies doing, keep the plan alive!
If you do not achieve the goal within the planned time frame, don't give up. Re-assess the plan, and
re-action it.

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All Development is Self Development
One of the greatest roadblocks most people encounter in their career success is that they failed to develop a
critical skill or are concentrating on developing the 'wrong' skill set for the jobs they currently have or the jobs
they someday want.
Self-awareness is the first step on the path to career development. By assessing themselves against the
competencies, individuals (together with their supervisors/coach/mentor) can identify both their current
strengths and their developmental opportunities.
In the Individual Development Plans’ most common application, individuals review the competencies first to
assess their personal level of skill – and once again to determine the relative importance of each
competency to be a success at the desired level of officiating.
By analysing and discussing the gaps between their current level of skill and the competencies important for
success in their jobs, individuals can gain insight about their current and future prospects and determine
whether or not they want to find a developmental remedy.
Development is tough because development means change, and most people don't like change, especially
at the personal level. Development cannot be wished for or directed by well meaning mentors. Successful
development needs to occur at the core of the individual. The only person who can develop is a
motivated adult with a need. Only those individuals, who are serious about learning and adopting new
skills, will develop.
The key to an individual's successful growth is her/his own sense of personal responsibility for development
and career growth. For effective development to occur, you need to develop a plan that is tailored to specific
development needs and includes ways to get continued feedback.

Successful Development Requires Regular Feedback

Others can, and will, help by encouraging, supporting and guiding an individual's development efforts.
Theoretically you can grow on your own, yet change efforts can be significantly enhanced with the support of
others who can provide ongoing feedback and encourage accountability. Beyond the supervisor, help can
come from many sources - a trusted colleague, a mentor or even others outside the organisation.
Find someone you can share success with, it may be your mentor, it may be someone else. It is important to
get praise from someone who knows your goals along the way, even if it's yourself.
1 Set Goal – Long term, short term
2 Set SMART Goal
3 Carry out SWOT analysis
4 Carry out GAP analysis
5 Find a Mentor, discuss and show the Goal and Action Plan
6 Set your Action Plan

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Individual Action Plan Date __ / __ / __
Key Focus
Action Steps: Others Involved Indicator of Success
Area
Specific things you have done to achieve People who How to determine Due Date Status
Broad Topic
your target support improvement
as a target

1. Attend the Umpire Clinic in February 1. State Trainers Correct Stance – Slot, Head 1. Feb 1. Complete
2. Have brother video my game for review 2. Brother Height and Heel to Toe 2. Late Feb 2. Complete
3. Review game with mentor and identify issues 3. Mentor 3. Late Feb 3. Complete
Plate Mechanics Correct Signals – Play Ball,
4. Practice mechanics off diamond 4. - 4. Late Feb 4. Complete
Count, Strike, Ball, Check Swing
5. Practice mechanics in local game 5. - 5. Early Mar 5. WIP
6. Seek feedback from others each game 6. Senior Umps Tracking the ball with my nose 6. Ongoing 6. To Do

1
XXX

2
XXX

3
XXX

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