Having business goals and objectives is essential for any company, because if you don’t know what you’re striving toward, you’ll never get there. But it’s even more important that the goals that you set for your business are really good ones, and that they’re not just the next logical progression of achievement. There are good goals, better goals, and best goals, and while you can’t always be striving toward the best goals, they are the ones you should keep in mind at all times. Here are seven ideas that will help you reach your business goals and which will result in greater business profits for your company in the coming year.
Make sure leadership is all on the same page
It’s a good idea to periodically sit down with your leadership team and make sure that they’re all on the same page as to the best possible business goals to strive for in the coming time frame. Taking the time to figure out exactly what you’re trying to achieve, will have a much better chance of accomplishing quarterly or annual objectives.
Define key milestones
With any major objective, it’s very easy to get bogged down in the details of trying to accomplish that goal, and it can in fact scuttle your chances of achieving the goal if you do get too enmeshed in minutiae. For this reason, it’s a good idea to define some key milestones which are interim achievements along the path of striving towards your main goal.
Designate a project champion
Whatever it is you’re trying to achieve to increase business profits, make sure you designate a project champion to spearhead the overall effort. When there are several leaders involved, it’s very easy for the buck to be passed, and for accountability to fall short. When you have a single person in charge of a project, there’s only one source to look at if goals are not being met.
Have a monthly review
At the start of the year when you’re considering how to increase business profits, it’s a good idea to set up monthly reviews, so that progress can be monitored, and problems can be identified in time, with a view toward overcoming them. Keep these meetings brief and centered, and don’t let them become complaint sessions with people just airing out petty grievances.
Weekly updates
Weekly updates are a good idea, so that all members of a project or team are aware of what others are working on, and what the status of that work is. This doesn’t need to be a formalized meeting with everyone in attendance, but it can be accomplished by a software tool which allows for collaborative effort among your team members.
Create an objectives dashboard
All of your business goals and objectives should be centrally defined on a dashboard which everyone has access to, as opposed to maintaining them on a hard copy list which sits on your desk. All team members should be constantly aware of the status of your goals and objectives, so that they’re also aware of successes and set backs.
Celebrate achievements
When you get through a certain period having met your goals and objectives for that time frame, it’s a good idea to reward team members with some kind of celebration. This lets them know that you really appreciate their efforts, and it may even provide some incentive for the next period. When hard work and superior effort results in business profits, your team members should share in that success.
Could you use help identifying business goals for the new year? Doerhoff & Associates knows you can use all the help you can get to grow your small business successfully, and we are here for you. We strive to provide what you really want and need – a unique and customized set of services to fill the gap and support you, the business owner.
