Posted on October - 26 - 2010

Goal Setting For Business

Whenever we set out on a journey, the only way we have of knowing we are on the right road is by tracking our progress on a map. We can only do this if we know the start point, the destination and the route. Business is a journey, as is life. Our goals define the destination. Our plans and daily tasks are all about the journey. If we have not defined a destination, how can we ever know if we are going in the right direction?

Goal setting provides long-term vision and short-term motivation. It focuses knowledge acquisition and helps in planning resources. By setting clearly defined goals you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals. You can see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long pointless grind.

Unless someone is critical to helping you achieve your goals, avoid sharing your goals with others. The negative attitude from friends, family and neighbours can drag you down quickly. The thoughts in your head must be positive. The following broad guidelines apply to setting effective goals.

Positive Statement

Express your goals positively: ‘Become a more effective people manager’ is a much better goal than ‘do not upset staff’.

Be Precise

If you set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that achievement can be measured, then you know the exact goal to be achieved, and can take complete satisfaction from having completely achieved it. For example, if your goal is to growing your business, visualise exactly what that larger business looks like in terms of premises, numbers of customers, number of employees, key numbers. This gives you a basis for overcoming the common human weakness: “Dreaming vaguely, dreading precisely”.

Develop Goals in 6 Areas of Life

  • Home

  • Financial/ Business

  • Spiritual

  • Physical / Health

  • Social / Cultural

  • Mental / Educational

Set Priorities

Where you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones. Write goals down to avoid confusion and give them more force.

Keep Operational Goals Small

Keep the goals you are working towards immediately small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it can seem that you are not making progress towards it. Keeping goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward. Today’s goals should be derived from larger goals.

Think Goals Through

When you are thinking about how to achieve goals, asking the following questions can help you to focus on the sub-goals that lead to their achievement:

  • What skills do I need to achieve this?

  • What information and knowledge do I need?

  • What help, assistance, or collaboration do I need?

  • What resources do I need?

  • What can block progress?

  • Am I making any assumptions?

  • Is there a better way of doing things?

Make an Appointment to Review

Schedule a regular time and date (daily is best) in your diary to review progress against your goals and to translate them into tasks and plans that move you step-wise closer to success.

For some other views of goal setting, check out John’s articles on Setting SMART Goals and Setting DUMB Goals.

This was a guest post by Paul Fileman of Results-Zone. Results-Zone bring extensive knowledge and experience gained in Blue Chip organisations to businesses like yours. They ensure that your business is fully exploiting a well thought through operating plan. They work alongside you and your team – as business results managers. They ensure that your team and your business are elevated to the results-zone. They bring you “hands-on” experience – similar to employing high quality management skills without the risk or costs in recruiting full time employees.

 

Similar Posts:

Share
No Comments
Read More

Post a comment