SMART goals

Goals are important in business and in life. Goals are meant to push employees to do their best, keep track of revenue, and know how you are growing as a company. Goals need to have rationale behind them in order to set a good tone within your office.

Setting goals that are inefficient makes employees feel defeated, makes your revenue look sparse, and pushes growth further out of your grasp. Whereas setting efficient and meaningful goals helps employees feel empowered and valued, makes revenue meaningful, and pushes growth upwards.

Making your goals meaningful is simple when broken down. Your goals need to be specific to avoid vague interpretation. Goals need to be measurable so you know if they are achieved. Goals need to be realistic in order not to defeat the people behind them. Finally goals need to be time-bound so they can be accomplished in a reasonable time frame. The formula for this is S.M.A.R.T.

Specific – Goals need to be specific in order to avoid vague interpretation and misrepresentation.

Example: We need to get an email system vs. We should get an email system that allows us to automate emails for our sales team.

Measurable – Goals need to be measurable so you know exactly when you have achieved your goal or if you need to change something.

Example: We need to get a bunch of Twitter followers. Vs We need to get 200 Twitter followers by the end of the month.

Achievable – No one wants to feel defeated or unable to perform. Therefore goals need to be achievable. This isn’t done with assumptions. Ask the person performing the task. Without them believing in the goal it will not happen.

Example: We need to have X Project completed by Friday. Vs. The tech team needs until Monday for testing. X Project needs to be done by Monday afternoon.

Reliable – Make sure that the people you have on a project are reliable and they have what they need to accomplish the goal. Otherwise nothing can get done.

Example: This needs to be on my desk by the end of the day. Vs Steve is working on this and he says it will be done by noon.

Time-Bound – Without a deadline goals are just dreams. It is great to have a vision, but there needs to be urgency to those visions, otherwise nothing will ever happen.

Example: I want to get my MBA. Vs. I want to get my MBA in the next five years.

Keeping your goals on track with help to keep your business on track. Make sure to follow these easy steps to keep your goals in check.