We hear so many personal goals especially during the first month of the year as people come up with different new-year resolution to help guide and direct their lives to specific focus thus these kind of statements can be seen in most journals; “ I want to lose weight from a dress size of 20 to a dress size of 12”, “ I want to join the gym in order to lose weight” and “ I want to learn a special skill before the end of second quarter” or “Every month from now, I will be spending an average of two weekends at home with my family by re-organizing my work schedule”.
Businesses just like individuals need to have goals to know what direction to take. A business goal is like fuel to an engine as this move the vehicle from one point to another; same way a goalfuels and gives life to a business by moving it from its short term goal to a long term goal.
Business success is not just about having a good bank balance or having a certain number of employees nor about having where to go to every day; you should think about what you want to accomplish and set specific goals no matter how preposterous it seems at first. Therefore, goals must be present and become a regular part of ongoing business operations. They can be reviewed or modified as your priorities change, new ones added, and others disregarded. You can easily break them down to objectives and use milestones to measure level of achievement.
However, business owners in this clime tend not to set business goals as they meander there ways through the different stages of business. When goals are absent in a business, such business tend to stagnate and struggle to achieve anything meaningful.
Just like you would not embark on any journey without knowing where you are going even if you cannot locate the place on your own, you will still be able to tell people your plans to get to your destination. Businesses have also been conditioned to work with that analogy of getting somewhere from a Point A to a Point B through goals setting. This is one of the fulcrums for organizational success irrespective of the business size or structure.
Goals are tools used in focusing and channeling your energy in positive directions.They are also stepping stones to an end result.
Imagine having to shoot an arrow without being given a target to aim at. Where and what would you aim at? If you do decide to aim out of confusion, why would you aim there? And what would the purpose be? Do you get the ideanow.…
Figuring out your business goals is very important and will create a road map for your daily business activities.Your goals can be broken into yearly, quarterly or weekly goals that can now be further broken into the company’s daily activity. Do you know that you can actually review these goals periodically in order to know what you have accomplished so far?
Let us now look at some common tips that are important in goal setting for business.
(1) Put Your Goals on Paper –
The power of a pen and paper cannot be overlooked. Take time to write down all you envision for your business as this has a more powerful effect of getting your attention. It is called the power of visualization. Do not just say I want my business to grow bigger than last year or I want to increase my customer base. Rather go ahead and put a figure to the growth you want e.g grow by N100million or by N50 million; I want to get new customers within the next six months. You need to write down the exact number you want within the time frame and then break it down on a monthly and weekly basis. What would be in place to enable you accomplish this? Once this is noted, you can now work your daily activities around the goals. Remember to be specific as you can be. What the mind cannot visualize, the mind cannot achieve it.
(2) Set Achievable Business Goals-
Set goals that you really believe in. No matter what the business goal is, please ensure that you have a chance towards achieving it as must be realistically set. You cannot come from a business turnover of N20million and want to achieve a N200million turnover in less than two months without having any resources on ground to facilitate this quantum leap. It is good to have faith but faith without work will get you nowhere. This does not necessarily mean you have to know just how you are going to achieve it every step of the way but rather to have the tenacity to hold out and see the goals through during challenging period. Ask any successful business owner and they will tell you they never imagined all the steps that they had to take to get to where they are today.
(3) Create Time and Milestone –
No matter what you want to achieve in your business, be clear and have a defined date to know what time you want to achieve the goals. Do not be ambiguous with the goals without attaching any element of timing to it. Timing will add perspective to it and ensure it is measurable. Is the goal going to be worked upon within a quarter or six months? Milestones help you in moving in the right direction and ensuring that you achieve your goals in the long term. For example, if you were going to increase your customer base by 30% within 6 months, you will need to create a weekly or bi-monthly goal of doing cold calls or calling up prospects every month. These can then be assessed and used as milestones towards the larger goal of increasing your customer base. Plan, act and review your goal.
(4) Monitor and Review –
Find a way of monitoring, assessing and reviewing your business goals on a continuous basis. Create a spreadsheet or other metrics to facilitate this. What are you doing on a daily basis that is working for you, are there things to change and improve on? Reaching your business goals without any form of tracking is quite impossible and can be quite frustrating when you get to change your objectives when you have expended all your energy, effort and resources without reviewing.
(5) Be Flexible with your Goals –
No matter what your business goals are, always be open and disposed to changing your course of direction. Once you start tracking and notice that you are not getting the desired result, you need to adjust your plans when necessary.
Action Plans –
What have you been procrastinating on? What plans do you have for your business? Could you take time to work on a fourth quarter goals.
Enjoy your week., Rita Babalola, Text/watsapp : 08162970699, Mail: beacongate@gmail.com
Website: www.thebeacongate.com.
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