You probably don’t need to be told that it’s really important to set goals for your company or organization. They act as a guiding light, provide motivation, and let you know whether or not you’re successful by the standards that are meaningful to you.
But a lot of people don’t take the process of setting goals all that seriously. How you establish goals and outline your plans for achieving them can have great bearing on your ability to meet them, though. And that’s where the following goal-setting tips for business owners and entrepreneurs come in.
How to Set and Pursue Business Goals
- Remember the acronym SMART, which stands for key attributes of smart goals: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-based
- Goals should be concrete and include an objective way to measure whether or not they were achieved; something like “be more successful” is meaningless and pointless
- Set long-term goals, but break them down into mid-range and short-term goals with objective ways to measure your progress along the way
- Establish milestones on the path toward your biggest long-term goals that help you keep on track and that provide motivational boosts
- While goals should push you to excel, they also need to be realistically achievable, and achievable within the stated time frame
- Avoid all-or-nothing type goals that can set you and your team up for feelings of failure
- Refrain from setting goals just for the sake of setting them; have a good reason for each one you set, and be sure it’s significant to the big picture
- Don’t overload yourself or your employees with too many goals
- Write down all your goals, prioritize them, and keep track of when you meet them or miss them
- Keep your list of goals where you’ll see it regularly to help keep you focused and motivated
- Share your goals with others to create accountability and a support system
- Establish detailed, actionable plans for how you’ll meet each goal
- Divide and devote resources based on your primary goals
- Define goals clearly when delegating responsibilities to other team members, and make sure everyone understands the goal, its importance, and their role in meeting it
- Business is unpredictable, so stay flexible enough to change your plans or direction as needed when new circumstances arise
- Schedule a recurring time to sit down and review the list and your progress
- Keep your team updated on progress
- Don’t get too hung up on missed goals; learn what you can from the experience and move on better equipped to meet your new goals
- Celebrate success when you achieve significant goals, and be sure to include everyone who played a part along the way
