subject: Setting Goals And Achieving Them In Business [print this page] Life is like a journeyLife is like a journey. Unless you know where you are heading to, you will end up being nowhere. Cheesy it might sound; this simple adage has been the success mantra for every achiever on mother earth. Success in any arena has three very simple rules
1. Set goals
2. Draw plans to achieve them and
3. Execute the plans.
Your business is no exception to these rules. Goal setting is a very powerful medium in shaping up the ideal future for your business and then motivating yourself to channelize your efforts towards fulfilling this vision. This practice of setting goals helps you to understand precisely where you want your business to go and exactly where to concentrate your efforts.
Most importantly, properly set goals can give a major boost to your self-confidence. You set targets , whether be it in terms of production , making new contacts , meeting demands or otherwise, and then finally go on to achieve them; making new targets and achieving them again, and gradually getting into the habit of setting and meeting targets. This practice can take your self-confidence, and business, to the next level.
As I mentioned before, successful goal setting can be accomplished in three simple steps
STEP 1: Set specific, achievable goals and fix a deadline
Targets have to be specific and measurable. You cannot answer the question "What do you want to accomplish?" by saying that "I want to increase production." This answer is too ambiguous. To set your goal, you make it measurable, so you need to be more specific. Your answer then might be "I want to double the production capacity within the next four months."
STEP 2 : Determine what your course of action should be
After what, comes how. Now you need to chart out a plan, as to how you will progress.
Break up the entire plan into smaller targets and assign employees the responsibility to meet them. You need to be very specific with every duty assigned and should set individual deadlines so that everyone gets a clear idea of what he has to do and by when he needs to complete it.
STEP 3 : Execute the plan
The goal setting part is over, but not complete unless you execute your plans properly. While your employees will be doing the assigned tasks, you need to keep a constant check on their activities, making sure they are all progressing effectively towards meeting their targets. At times change, there might be change in demand or a new technology might be available sooner than expected. You need to adjust objectives accordingly and rework your targets to account for the changes.
