Setting Goals and Measuring

“Setting goals is great, but without a way to measure progress, goals become meaningless.”

Jeff Haden, writing at BNET’s Owners Manual blog

He’s right!  Not only do our girls need to make a plan and set goals for the Gold Award Project, they also need to find a way to measure their success.  And sometimes, it’s going to be tough! 

I spoke with one girl during an interview, and she said that SHE couldn’t measure it herself, BUT the M.D. who was supervising the project COULD!  And she would share the data with the Gold Award girl, who could then work to either change her program OR keep it the same.  With that kind of feedback, the girl would be able to tell whether her goal was being met, or not.

Working with a domestic violence shelter, as several of our Gold Award girls do, it’s really hard to measure the impact their work will have.  Due to state laws, no one EXCEPT those who have completed a 40 hour training, may work with the residents of the programs.  So how to measure impact?

Shannon said that her Gold Award Project will be as measurable as it can be!  She will start a DV Club on campus, bring in speakers, participate in fair booths handing out information.  She said that she’d be able to count the increasing number of students who participate, and how many flyers they hand out.  Will she be able to quantifiably say how many students she helped?  Not really, but at least she can count how many people she touched with information. And her hope is that those she touches will also touch others in the future.

Both girls see the goal, and have clearly set out plans to achieve that goal. Both have taken the measuring step into account, and both will use that information to continue moving their projects forward.  They, and the Gold Award Committee, will be able to see that they have achieved their approved goals.