By Patrina Pellett, PhD

Goal setting for medical science liaisons is critical to being a high performer. It's essential to avoid being reactionary in your activities. MSLs are super busy with a lot on their plates. It's easy to get caught up in the minutia and not focus on moving the needle. Setting goals helps MSLs stay focused and have a large impact.

On December 4, 2023, there was a Prep and Planning Guide… Make 2024 Your BEST Year EVER LinkedIn Live session with Tom Caravela, Julie Chen, Sarah Snyder, and me! Keep reading for the top 5 Goal-Setting Tips for Medical Science Liaisons. You can watch the full recording here.

For more goal-setting tips download this MSL Goal-Setting Guide.

5 Goal-Setting Tips for Medical Science Liaisons

Tip 1: Review and reflect on your activities for the year.

Do a rescan of your territory. Julie suggests asking the following questions:

• How many HCPs did you visit?
• Are there HCPs you didn't engage with and should have?
• Do you need to revisit your HCP list and add new people?
• What activities worked well?
• What was worth your time?
• What did you not have time for?

Julie recommends making a list for cool projects you want to work on and then create some room in your calendar for next year.

Ensure you are current on your HCP notes, CRM and insights entries. Get ready to start the following year with a bang!

Don't forget to review your company's goals to keep those top of mind and to help guide your professional goal-setting.

Tip 2: Have personal goals separate from the company goals.

This will keep you well-balanced. Include stretch goals. It's ok to dream big!

Tip 3: Write your goals down.

This increases the chance you will accomplish them! Sarah and her family have a giant board where they write down their wins and losses for the year. It's in an area of the house that is very visible. I write down my goals in my planner and review them daily. Figure out a system that works for you and keeps you inspired. 

Tip 4: Begin with the end in mind.

Tom recommends identifying your big goal and then working backward. For example, if you want to get promoted next year, what has to happen on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis for that to happen? Chunk your time to ensure you are being strategic and working on your goals.

Tip 5: Give yourself grace.

Set goals, but be adaptable. Medical science liaisons have a lot going on. Have the expectation that you won't be perfect all the time, and that's perfectly ok! Understand that you will have times with a lot of travel or meetings and this will make it hard to stay on track all the time. Keep taking steps toward meeting your goal.

"You can't hope or wish, you gotta do" -Sarah's Daughter.

For more goal-setting tips download this MSL Goal-Setting Guide and check out this MSL Talk Podcast episode where Tom outlines more tips!