MASTER Risk Model - Learning Resources - Abilities

Vision & Goal Setting

Write one sentence describing how you want your role to grow this year—why does that growth matter to you?

Break one career goal into three smaller steps—focus on moving forward, not making it perfect.

Replace one vague to-do on your list with a clear action and deadline you can measure.

Set a weekly reminder: “Am I building career growth or just clearing tasks?”

Write one key goal on a sticky note and place it at your desk as a daily reminder.

Share your top goal with a teammate today—saying it aloud builds clarity and accountability.

Reflect on what drives your long-term vision—where does it connect to your values, purpose, or growth?

Journal about a time you set a clear goal and reached it—what made it work?

Explore how you typically define goals—do they challenge, stretch, or just maintain your current comfort zone?

List three professional goals from last year—what’s progressed and what lost momentum? Why?

Write about how your vision has evolved over the past three years—what influenced that shift?

Think about a leader you admire—how do they communicate vision, and how could you model that?

Set one stretch goal this week with a clear timeline and outcome—share it publicly to reinforce commitment.

Align one daily task to your longer-term goal—state the connection before you start to boost intention.

Block 30 minutes to revise your roadmap—adjust plans to reflect new insights or challenges.

Facilitate a short team session to clarify shared goals and how they align with company vision.

Create a mini-vision deck (3 slides) outlining your future direction—share with a peer or mentor.

Take one action today that embodies your 1-year vision, even if it feels small or symbolic.

Ask a peer: “What do you think my goals are right now?”—check for alignment and clarity in how you show up.

Share your vision in a 1:1 and ask how others see their role contributing to it.

Invite a mentor to review your goals—do they see focus, ambition, and feasibility?

Ask your team to articulate the shared vision in one sentence—does it align with yours?

Share a personal vision with a peer and ask for honest feedback—what’s inspiring, unclear, or missing?

Ask someone to review a goal of yours and suggest where it could be clearer or more actionable.

Reframe “I’m not sure where I’m going” as “I’m in a season of clarifying what matters most.”

Change “This goal is too big” to “This goal needs steps”—chunk it down to make it manageable.

Recast a past failure as part of your learning path toward a bigger vision—what did it help clarify?

Shift from “It’s taking too long” to “I’m building something that lasts”—focus on depth, not speed.

Reframe ambition as service—how does your vision help others grow, solve problems, or succeed?

Turn “I don’t have time” into “This isn’t a priority yet”—then decide if it should be.

Observe your calendar—do your tasks reflect your top goals, or just urgency? Adjust one thing this week.

Watch how people respond when you describe your vision—do they light up, get confused, or disengage?

Track how often you revisit your goals—are they active guides or static documents?

Listen to how leaders around you talk about vision—do they anchor to it, or react without direction?

Notice how you feel after goal progress—energized, relieved, or indifferent? What does that say about alignment?

Observe when you’re most focused—what kind of goals tend to trigger that flow?

Strategic Thinking

Choose one daily task and ask: “What long-term career skill does this build?” Write one sentence to define it.

Block 15 minutes to map one decision’s ripple effects—who it impacts at work now and later in your career.

Before your next team meeting, note the bigger picture behind the agenda—what outcome really matters?

Ask yourself before starting a new task: “What skill will this build for me in six months?”

Add a “so what?” column to your notes—push yourself to connect facts to impact and action.

Read an industry article and highlight one trend—ask how it could shape your role in a year.

Reflect on a past strategic mistake—what assumption failed, and what would you think through differently today?

Journal about your current role—how does it contribute to the larger business strategy?

Think of a time you connected unrelated ideas—what made the pattern click, and how did it impact your work?

List key forces affecting your company—economic, technological, or social—how do they shape your decisions?

Reflect on how often you react versus think ahead—what patterns could you shift this quarter?

Identify your default focus—operations, relationships, or results—how does it affect your ability to think strategically?

Lead a 10-minute strategy break in your next team meeting—ask: “Where are we headed, and why?”

Take one daily task and redesign it with future consequences in mind—what’s the smarter long-term way?

Draft a “What if…” list of three external events—think through how your team would respond.

Build a simple stakeholder map for your next decision—who needs to win for success long-term?

Facilitate a short pre-mortem: “If this fails, what might have gone wrong?”—note insights for better planning.

Revisit your team’s KPIs and propose one strategic shift to improve future alignment or impact.

Ask a leader: “What blind spots do you think I have when it comes to strategic thinking?”

Share a strategic idea with a colleague—invite them to challenge your assumptions or implications.

Ask a peer what long-term risks or opportunities they see in your current initiative—compare perspectives.

Invite a cross-functional teammate to review your plan—what connections or dependencies are you missing?

After a meeting, ask someone: “Was I thinking too narrowly, or did I zoom out enough?”

Share your thinking process on a decision and ask for feedback—did you consider the long-term view effectively?

Reframe “What’s the fastest route?” as “What’s the smartest route long-term?”—prioritize durability over speed.

Turn “We’ve always done it this way” into “What’s changed that might warrant a rethink?”

Shift from “What do we need now?” to “Where do we want to be—and what gets us there?”

Recast reactivity as opportunity blindness—what might you miss by focusing only on the urgent?

Reframe decisions as investments—“What return will this give in 3 months, 1 year, and beyond?”

Change “How do we hit the target?” to “What future are we really trying to shape here?”

Observe when decisions are made in your team—do they reflect short-term needs or long-term strategy?

Watch how strategic thinkers in your org ask questions—what patterns of inquiry do they use?

Track your decision process this week—how much time do you spend zooming out vs. executing fast?

Notice where you get stuck in details—what might a higher-level view reveal instead?

Observe meetings focused on execution—what’s missing from the long-term conversation?

Note your own language—do you speak in outcomes, forecasts, risks, and priorities, or only tasks and to-dos?

Innovation Management

Identify one small frustration in your daily workflow and list three alternative ways to handle it today.

Ask a peer in another department how they approach a similar challenge—adapt one idea to your own role.

Spend 10 minutes sketching out a rough idea for a project—capture it quickly without editing.

Challenge yourself in your next meeting: “What if we didn’t do this step?”—see what ideas open up.

Use a random word generator and link the word to your current task—spark fresh associations.

Add a “New Ideas” tab to your notes—list five creative options you haven’t yet tested.

Reflect on a time you helped spark a creative solution—what behaviors supported innovation in that moment?

Journal about when you resisted a new idea—what drove your resistance, and what was the opportunity cost?

Write down your last three successful ideas—what patterns or habits helped you generate them?

Think about a leader who fosters innovation—what actions and language make others feel safe to contribute ideas?

Reflect on how you handle ambiguity—do you see it as a threat or a space for invention and growth?

Explore where your current environment supports or blocks experimentation—what changes would reduce friction?

Test a new way of doing a familiar task—change your tool, method, or sequence and observe the outcome.

Propose a pilot idea with a clearly defined test window and success metrics—keep it simple and practical.

Ask your team to identify the most outdated process—volunteer to redesign or test it as an experiment.

Give yourself 30 minutes to solve a challenge using only constraints—less time, fewer tools, limited resources.

Share a bold idea with someone in leadership—even if messy or early, put it into conversation.

Set up a 1-week “innovation sprint” with a peer—each of you solves a known problem in a new way.

Ask a colleague which of your ideas they thought had real potential—what stopped you from pursuing it?

Share your latest idea and ask a peer to challenge it constructively—embrace useful friction.

Invite your team to rate which current process most needs rethinking—start there together.

Ask a customer-facing colleague: “What feature or idea do clients keep wishing we’d build?”

Discuss with someone from a different department how they experiment—what could you learn or borrow?

Ask your team: “What’s one idea we’ve dropped too soon?”—consider reviving and testing it.

Reframe “That’s risky” as “That’s untested”—explore what a safe, small version of the idea might look like.

Change “That’s not how we do it” to “What if that’s the reason we’re stuck?”

View every failed attempt as innovation data—ask: “What did this teach us about the problem space?”

Instead of “We need a big idea,” say “We need a small, testable one that solves something real.”

Reframe pushback as a filter—what part of the idea could improve from tension or critique?

Shift from “I’m not creative” to “I haven’t practiced experimenting enough”—innovation is a skill, not a trait.

Notice who shares ideas in meetings and who doesn’t—what dynamics support or stifle innovation?

Track how long it takes for an idea to go from thought to test—where’s the slowdown?

Watch team reactions to new ideas—do they get excitement, silence, or resistance?

Observe which environments (time, location, energy) help you generate your best ideas—create more of those spaces.

During project reviews, listen for patterns in failure—what do they suggest about untested assumptions?

Monitor how you respond to new suggestions—do you build on them or default to critique?

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