12 Professional Development Goals for Managers

Strong managers aren't born – they're developed. Setting clear professional development goals for managers pays off across the whole organization: better retention, higher efficiency, and a team that trusts its leadership. It also matters for you personally, since the skills that make you a better manager tend to raise your career ceiling and your earning potential.

The trick is knowing which goals to pick and how to make them measurable. Below are 12 professional development goals for managers, each with a concrete example you can adapt, plus a quick framework for setting them.

How to Set Professional Development Goals as a Manager

Before picking from the list below, give each goal a structure that makes progress visible. Most managers get better results using the SMART format – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

"Get better at delegation" isn't a goal; it's a wish. "Delegate two recurring reports to team members by the end of Q2 and reduce my weekly admin time by three hours" is a goal you can actually assess.

A few ground rules:

• Pick one or two goals at a time. Twelve simultaneous priorities is the same as none.
• Tie each goal to a business outcome. Faster onboarding, lower turnover, fewer escalations.
• Set a review date. A quarterly check-in beats an annual scramble.
• Get input from your team. They see the gaps you can't.

1. Master the Art of Giving (and Receiving) Constructive Feedback

You are a role model in your organization for your team, and your workers look up to you for feedback and guidance. When you learn to master the art of giving feedback, you can help your employees improve their performance, sharpen their hard and soft skills, and move up within the organization.

Giving constructive feedback can be difficult, but it is a skill that can be developed through learning and practice. Your ability to let your team know what they're doing right and what needs a little tweaking will help your operation run more smoothly, effectively, and productively.

An essential part of giving feedback in a well-received way has to do with being open to hearing constructive criticism from your employees or higher-ups. Though it can be hard not to take it personally when people give you feedback, your organization will benefit from an environment where workers are encouraged to share their thoughts, concerns, and ideas.

Example goal: Deliver structured feedback to each direct report within 48 hours of a project milestone, and ask for reciprocal feedback in every one-on-one for the next quarter.

2. Improve Your Time Management Skills (and Teach Them to Your Team)

One of the most vital personal development improvements any manager can make is managing their time better. After all, you will find that your team isn't eager to be efficient with their time when they see you complete tasks in a less-than-timely manner and meet important deadlines.

Time management is essential on any given workday, but it really shines when things get down to the wire. When you have several different tasks vying for your attention or an increase in your workload, you'll be glad you took the time to develop your time management skills.

As you learn to incorporate these skills into your work, you can share what you've learned with your team. Over time, you'll likely notice that things happen faster, your workers are less stressed, and everything operates like a well-oiled machine.

Example goal: Cut time spent in status meetings by 25% this quarter by consolidating three weekly check-ins into one, and reallocate the recovered hours to focused work.

3. Take a Leadership Course

Of course, you wouldn't be where you are today if you didn't have what it takes to be a leader. That being said, we all have weak points we can improve upon to bring our management abilities to the next level.

Sometimes, taking a leadership training course can be an incredibly beneficial way to work toward and reach your goals. If you're interested in developing your professional and managerial skills, you might find that learning from the experts gives you a fresh perspective and a helpful timeline to follow as you learn.

Self-awareness is vital in leadership, and one crucial element you'll want to be aware of is the fact that there are a number of different leadership styles. You might find that you have a handful of leadership styles that you call upon in different scenarios. If you want to learn more about how you lead, check out our What's My Leadership Style management development tool, assessment, and workshop.

Example goal: Complete one leadership assessment and one structured course by the end of Q3, then identify two specific behaviors to change and review progress on them in monthly one-on-ones with my own manager.

4. Increase Your Adaptability

Sometimes, it's best to set up systems and stick with them. In any career, though, there will also be instances where you need to be flexible and adaptable – where you need to refocus your company's resources or rebuild your operations. Change is inevitable, and as leaders, we must be prepared to have the flexibility necessary to turn on a dime when necessary.

For this reason, it's a good idea to check in frequently with your ability to adjust to change even when things are stable. Not only will it ensure you don't get bowled over when something unexpected happens, but it will also keep you on your toes and precisely the right distance from your comfort zone for optimal personal and professional growth.

Example goal: Volunteer to lead one cross-functional or unfamiliar project this year, and afterward document three assumptions I had to revise along the way.

5. Improve Your Active Listening Skills

As a manager, you likely have excellent communication skills that have helped you climb the career ladder. When in a leadership position, though, it's easy to focus more on the speaking part of communication and forget about the other half: listening. 

There are several vital listening skills you'll want to continue developing as a manager, and the benefits of active listening are many.

You'll find that active listening can help you:

• Build trust and strong relationships among your team.
• Solve conflicts in the office faster and prevent conflict from arising.
• Anticipate problems before they crop up.
• Feel confident and empowered as a leader.

If you feel like active listening is one of the weak points you need to develop or that this skill is lacking among your team, start by learning more about the barriers to active listening.

Example goal: For the next 90 days, open every one-on-one by listening for ten minutes without interrupting or jumping to solutions, and summarize back what I heard before responding.

6. Get Better at Managing Your Stress

According to numerous studies, the major source of stress in the lives of American adults is work stress. Being stressed out has many short and long-term effects on your mental, emotional, and physical health.

Not only is too much stress incredibly unpleasant and puts you at risk for a long list of health issues, but it also doesn't do much good for your team. You'll find that your employees will be able to keep a level head even in the most stressful moments in the workplace if you're able to stay calm and collected. On the other hand, if you're stressed out, the people that look up to you will take it as a sign that things are going off the rails.

Example goal: Identify my top three workplace stress triggers within 30 days, put a specific response in place for each, and reassess how well those responses are working at the 90-day mark.

7. Pinpoint and Work on Your Weaknesses

Even the most accomplished people in the world have room to grow, and recognizing that we all have weaknesses that we can work on is essential for professional development.

The first step towards this goal is to accept and understand that weaknesses don't mean you don't have strong and well-honed leadership skills. It simply means that there are some areas where you are more developed than others.

Example goal: Complete a 360-degree feedback review by the end of Q1, select the single lowest-rated competency, and build a six-month improvement plan with a re-assessment at the end of it.

8. Improve Your Work-Life Balance

Having a job you love that gives you purpose is fantastic, but it's essential to ensure that it isn't taking over your life. To create a sustainable and long-lasting career, you'll want to build realistic and firm boundaries that separate your professional and personal life.

There are so many benefits to having a healthy work-life balance: boosting your happiness, improving your well-being, and lowering your stress levels. It will also have a significant impact on your career, helping to improve your performance as well as your satisfaction at work.

If you find that your professional and personal lives are constantly bleeding into one another, this might be an excellent professional development goal for you to work on.

You can begin by becoming self-aware of when you are dealing with personal issues at work and vice versa.

Some people find it essential to have a hard and fast rule where they don't deal with any work concerns outside of their eight-hour workday. Depending on your role and industry, this might be more or less possible. Either way, creating some separation between these equally important aspects of life can help you feel better at work and home.

Example goal: Hold a firm end-of-day cutoff on at least four of five weeknights this quarter, and stop responding to non-urgent messages after it.

9. Reduce Micromanaging and Increase Delegation

It's often said that if you want something done well, you should do it yourself. Managers are all too aware of this maxim, as it can be frustrating to hand out tasks only to find that they aren't completed promptly or done incorrectly.

The reality is, though, that you can't do everything yourself. If you are struggling to relinquish control to your employees and feel the need to watch their every move, the professional development goal of reducing micromanaging and increasing delegation might be the perfect place for you to set your sights.

Micromanaging can have many negative consequences in the workplace, including:

• Leaving employees annoyed and resentful.
• Leads to burnout in both managers and workers.
• Reduces the trust employees have in leadership.
• Leaves managers less able to keep their eye on the bigger picture.
• Boosts the turnover rate of employees.

Obviously, none of these are desirable in your workplace. Delegation, on the other hand, has a lot of positive benefits that can help your organization grow and thrive. They include:

• Allowing managers to focus on higher-level tasks.
• Improving productivity, time management, and efficiency.
• Building trust between teams and managers.
• Improves communication.
• Fosters confidence in the abilities of employees.

Learning to delegate can feel frustrating and stressful, but over time you'll find that workflow in the office is much smoother while morale is at an all-time high.

Example goal: Hand off two recurring responsibilities to team members by the end of Q2, and limit myself to reviewing that work once before it's final.

10. Become a Better Coach to Your Team

You've accomplished a lot in your professional career, and you're in a position where you can share what you've learned with your employees. They look up to you for both direction and guidance, and developing your skills as a coach and mentor can positively affect the individuals in your office and the organization as a whole.

This is a win-win situation. Not only do your workers get the opportunity to learn from your experience and develop their skills, but it also helps you become self-aware of your experience and skills while also building your confidence.

One of the ways that you can meet this goal is to ensure your employees know you are available for questions, concerns, or problems they have. Let them know that you are there to help if they are struggling with specific skills or wondering about the potential career trajectories they could choose starting from their current position.

Example goal: Hold a dedicated 30-minute career conversation – separate from performance reviews – with each direct report twice this year, and help each person name a development goal of their own.

11. Build Time in Your Schedule for Self-Care

This might not seem like a professional development goal, but it most certainly is. If you want to be the best manager you can be, you must pay attention to your physical, mental, and emotional health.

Do you feel like you prioritize work over taking care of yourself? If so, this is a goal you'll want to incorporate into your professional development roadmap.

Example goal: Block two 30-minute recovery periods per week on my calendar, treat them as unmovable, and track how many I actually protect across a 12-week stretch.

12. Develop Soft Skills

You've already proven that you have the hard and technical skills necessary to get to a leadership position in your organization. And, most likely, you have a good stack of soft skills that have helped you along the way.

Usually, people will be more comfortable with some soft skills than others.

A few of the essential soft skills for managers include:

• Problem-solving skills
• Communication skills
• Empathy
• Creativity
• Decision-making
• Time management
• Critical thinking
• Delegation
• Positivity and optimism
• Attention to detail
• Patience
• Self-motivation

Unless you are a true master of soft skills, you'll likely look at this list and see several skills that are strong suits of yours in addition to a few places where you could improve.

Example goal: Choose one soft skill from the list above, ask three colleagues to rate me on it now and again in six months, and close the gap between the two scores.

HRDQ Is Your Go-To Resource For Leadership and Management Skills

When you read through our list of the best professional development goals for managers, it might be tempting to lump all of them onto your plate all at once. In reality, it's best to select one or two to work on at a time. You'll likely find that many of these leadership skills are interconnected and that it becomes easier to improve your weak points over time.

At HRDQ, we have a complete catalog of over 90 training courses to help you reach your professional development goals and become the best manager you can be. If you oversee a managerial staff, our products can also help your employees continue to grow and improve as their relationship with your organization deepens over time. Take a look at our Reproducible Training Library!