Happy New Year! If you’re anything like the rest of us, then every new year brings a fresh opportunity to do things a bit differently and make those resolutions that we have every intention of fulfilling.
Yes, we can look back on our achievements of the last 12 months but it is far more positive and productive to look forward to the coming year. Setting fresh business goals for the time ahead is a sensible and common practice amongst larger businesses; performance management objectives with SMART goals are often set as this time of year.
But what about your business? Have you set goals for yourself and maybe your team members? The mnemonic SMART can be a useful place to start!
S – Specific: objectives and goals should never be ambiguous. Set out clear and concise goals for individuals or teams.
M – Measurable: tracking the progress against a given specific target is an important part of keeping you on track and motivated.
A – Achievable: or attainable… there is little point in making the goals so difficult that they will never be realised. This can have a demotivating effect; make sure that the goals are doable!
R – Relevant: how do the goals fit in with the bigger picture of the business? They must have a relevance to the business.
T – Timebound: often it’s a good idea to build in various time frames – month, quarter, year. This will enable a degree of focus and give both individuals and teams hard targets to work towards.
Good luck with your goal setting for 2019!
Ian Noble