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As business owners or company
leaders, I’m sure you have
experience with goal setting.
We all know it is important, but
do we really give it the time and
attention it deserves? Do we use
these goals actively to guide our
work throughout the year?
Many of us know that our goals
should be SMART! This is a great
acronym to keep us focused on
developing solid goals.
The goal should be Specific
. As
you develop your goal, really get
a vision of what you are trying to
achievewiththisgoal.Keepdrilling
into your vision until you come up
with something very specific. Go
for the detail on this visualization.
What the mind cannot visualize, it
cannot achieve!
Yourgoalshouldbemeasurable.
What metrics will you use to
track your goal and determine if
you have succeeded? You need
tangible evidence of completion.
This can include short-term
or smaller measurements if
appropriate to gauge progress
throughout the time period.
Goals need to be achievable
.
They should be challenging, with
a touch of realism! Doubling
revenue in a year is likely not
achievable if the most revenue
has increased has been 25%. You
need to ensure you have (or can
acquire) the knowledge, skills
and abilities to achieve the goal.
R stands for relevant
. Is this
goal relevant to moving your
business forward? Will achieving
this goal fundamentally add to
the success of your business?
This step ensures that you are
picking a goal that actually
matters. Goals are relevant
when they align with or support
other goals.
Finally, the T stands for time-
bound
. Our goals must have
a deadline - a target date for
completion. Solidifying a goal in a
time-bound deadline establishes
a sense of urgency and
importance that helps them from
being overtaken by the normal
day-to-day fires that seem to pop
up in an organization. Setting
mini timelines along the way to
the ultimate completion helps
even more.
Developing a set of SMART
goals is wonderful. But wait,
there’s more…!
Once your goals are set, you
need to be flexible
. As you
are working on your goals,
sometime events occur or
situations arise which might
Setting Goals
By Megan Patton
SOAR TO SUCCESS
/
A
pril
2016
/
Business Acceleration Strategies