Setting goals for your business is incredibly important but the key to setting them successfully is for them to be specific enough that you can measure their outcome. Having a post-it note on your board that says ‘Get more sales’ is not a focused enough goal and it is highly likely that it will be difficult for you to measure what this looks like as the parameters around it are too vague. Setting business goals is one area that a Gloucester Business Coach such as https://www.randall-payne.co.uk/services/business-advisory/business-coaching/ can help you with.
Smart goals are a particular way of setting out your goals so that you can set out clear definitions of what you want to achieve and can then put any support and strategy in place to make this happen. These kinds of goals work well with strategic thinking as they allow for high level plans and then break these down into manageable projects that can be delegated to relevant people within our business as necessary.
SMART is an acronym that standards for the different elements of the goal setting process and it is broken down as follows:
S – Specific. This is all about making your goal as detailed as you can and explaining what you want to achieve. It also involves looking at why you are choosing this goal in particular and how it will help to move your business forwards in one way or another. If your goal relies on your needing the support of others this also needs to be noted.
M – Measurable. By giving some measures to your goal it helps to make it more attainable and allows you to review and reflect on it as you go along. This means that you can evaluate its progress and if necessary breakdown the measures into smaller tasks that can be timescaled into a longer process.
A – Achievable. Goal setting should feel a little scary but shouldn’t be so outlandish that it is unachievable. No one wants to set goals that they are never going to be able to reach.
R – Relevant. This is where you need to look at the goal you are setting in terms of the wider business goals that you have in place. This helps to ensure that your goals are going to help you move closer towards your overall business aims and are where your time and energy are best spent.
T – Timebound. Having goals that have no target dates and are open ended can mean that you never actually achieve them. They become almost limitless. It is important to add a time scale to your goal, whether that is a specific date or the end of a financial year or business financial quarter.