help with professional goals

[awhitmer83]

My employer has recently changed the way we receive raises - we are "graded" by our supervisors on a number of tasks, and each range of scores equates to a certain % pay increase. Personally, I think it's stupid, though I applaud their attempts to be objective.

My supervisor emailed me this morning and asked me to come up with 3 professional goals. She said they need to be goals that I am close to meeting, because the new evaluations are due in November. These three goals will be the only non-generic items I'm rated on in my evaluation, so they need to be specific to what I do and measurable.

I have been thinking about this since yesterday, and I have no clue what kind of goals to set! I'm a dialysis center social worker, so what I do is kind of dependent on what each individual patient needs. A lot of my time is spent waiting for someone to need something. Some of them don't need/want my services, and since social services aren't essential for their dialysis treatments, I don't talk to them if they have signed a waiver asking me not to.

I've thought about what I've done in the six months I've been here, but I still haven't come up with any good ideas. I updated all the forms I use for the medical charts, but somehow I don't think that's what they're looking for. I have worked to make a database of all the patients' information (insurance, transportation, transplant status, etc.) but that doesn't really do anything except make it easier for me to remember who's who.

One thing I thought about is completing all assessments for new patients within 30 days of admission. However, that is already a Medicare requirement, so I have to do it anyway. That said, the previous social worker didn't always get them done.

I am just clueless here - I've never had to do this before. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[WorkInProgress]

I think the database thing is actually a good goal.

Maybe you could try to get the new patient assessments faster than 30 days? Or maybe that would be a good goal for after November?

Is there some kind of applicable training that you might be able to do before then? My employer likes to see training.

[awhitmer83]

Good thought on the training - I don't know if I can fit anything in by November, but I could use that for next year's goals. I have to get 30 continuing education hours every 3 years for my license, but I could devote a certain number of them to work-related trainings.

I feel like an idiot, but I really don't know what they're looking for. Trainings, things I'm actually doing in my day-to-day job.... What else? What other types of goals should I be forming here? My real goal is to get out of this job as soon as possible, but somehow I don't think that would help my performance evaluation. As long as I'm here, though, I have to come up with something. I'm the only social worker, too, so I can't exactly ask my coworkers.

[TinyDancer]

Sorry. . . I wish I had more suggestions, but without being familiar to your field, it's difficult t be much help. . . because my goals for development are always closely tied to my field. The only suggestion I really have is. . . could you shadow internal customers and someone in your group that isn't in your field to learn more about them that will help you?

I know that being in HR, I have development goals to spend time in the operating departments so I will understand the operation and where people are coming from when they have an issue.

I'm not sure if this is a useful development item for you. . . but just throwing it out there!

[redav]

Here are some guidelines for setting good business goals--they are called SMART objectives:

Specific - exactly what is it you want to achieve?
Measurable - how can you definitively tell when you have achieved it?
Achievable - can you do it?
Rrealistic - is it reasonable with the resources you have?
Time-based - when will you achieve your objectives?

I don't know how you would apply these to your job, but here are some examples of SMART objectivs:
- Within the next 2 months, improve customer satisfaction (as determined by a survey) from x score to y score.
- Over the next year, you will attain x% on-time deliveries of orders.
- By the end of the year you will reduce the average time to complete a certain task by 10%.
- You will complete a training program in the next six months.

[awhitmer83]

We always did SMART goals in college and grad school - I know how to make them SMART, I just don't know what the goals should be.

I think I'm going to use the database as one of the goals. I did it in Access, and some of the other staff members have had me add in stuff that fits their jobs. I'll say it's going to be done by October 15, even though it's already done, so I have time to go through and tweak the reports a little.

I just don't understand how to form professional goals in a position that doesn't involve anything tangible. If a patient needs a referral for a kidney transplant, I send it, but I can't set a goal of "x number of referrals by x date" because it's impossible to know who will be referred. I could say that all referrals will be sent within 72 hours, but I don't really know how anyone could hold me accountable for that. I document the request and my sending the information, but someone would have to go through the charts to actually check, and there is no record of which patients requested referrals.

So much of my job depends on circumstance - I really don't have any set things to do, because it all depends on what the patients need (if anything). This is really hard.

[winneythepooh7]

As you know, I am a social worker as well. A big part of my job is resource building and expanding our program. This obviously translates into being very long-term and ongoing. I also am a huge support and resource for family members who are also very stressed out. You should think about those kinds of things too (not just the immediate patient). My mom went through dialysis once and it was extremely scary because none of us expected this nor really knew much about it. I think you should think outside of the box and think about what brings your patients to you, and what you could provide them and their supports to make their life better. After all, that is what social workers do, no?