Goal setting is vitally important if you are to realize your ultimate business objectives. A vision without specific, targeted goals is just a wish or a hope.
Without targeted goals, how will you ever know if your vision is being accomplished? A vision needs a project road-map with milestones, but how do you determine what those goals are?
Your Goals Should be S.M.A.R.T.!
One of the effective goal setting methods is to use the S.M.A.R.T. principle, this means that all of your goals should be;
- Specific: The vision itself is general while the goals are specific targets to be met. Specific goals answer the who, what, when, where, why and how questions as specifically as possible.
- Measurable: Goals must be Measurable in terms of progress and attainment. They must be tracked according to the amount of time or money spent, or results achieved as appropriate. Just imagine playing basketball without keeping score!
- Attainable: Clearly, a goal which cannot be met is not a goal, it is an ideal. If you know you need certain infrastructure in place to accomplish your vision, you should break down your goals into Attainable steps you can monitor as each step is put into place.
- Realistic: A goal may be attainable, but not with the resources at hand. In that case, you need other goals to build up to the level where the attainable goal becomes Realistic. A goal may be possible, but you need the right people with the right amount of time and support to make it happen. Also R should be for Relevant.
- Timely: All goals need to be accomplished within a given Time frame. Deadlines may indeed be missed, but without any time table there will be no sense of urgency and no reason not to put it off until “later.”
Before you can even set goals, it’s a good idea to sit down and re-define the purpose of the business. This will help you then to set goals that matter to you and the business, and are in line with the overall focus and direction.
