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We saw last week that goal setting is an opportunity to focus the efforts of employees on the things that matter. A goal provides them with a direction and also allows them to prioritise their work. This removes confusion and creates clarity.

The goals that are well-structured provide employees with the opportunity to evaluate their own performance. This goes part of the way to explaining why wellstructured goals are effective in driving performance. They appear to create a higher level of motivation than alternatives such as no-goals, easy-goals or unmeasurable- goals.

The goal-setting process broadly unfolds in three stages: (1) Preparation, (2) Agreement of goals and (3) Follow-up and follow-through.

But, analysed in detail, a number of steps are involved.

• Set specific goals

Without specificity, you do not know what you are reaching for or when you have achieved your goal. Instead of writing “Increase sales of the business” a specific goal would read, “Increase gross sales by 15 percent by December 31 of this year.” This tells you exactly what you are going after in the planning process. A specific goal makes it easier to plan the objectives you need to reach in order to achieve it. It is important that the goals are well thought out SMART goals. (We discussed them last week). Prepare a Goal Setting worksheet and enter your goals in the first column.

•  Develop goals that can be measured

If a goal cannot be measured, it is impossible to monitor how well you are doing in reaching your goal. In the above example, a 15-percent increase in sales is measurable. A business owner can easily look at sales reports and income data to determine if sales have increased by 15 percent at yearend. When setting measurable goals, it may be helpful to set mini-goals with it. With our example, a business may also implement quarterly increases that would be needed to reach the overall 15 percent increase in sales for the year. This can ensure the business remains on target through the year. There might be several measures that can be used to evaluate achievement—select those that are most appropriate. Enter the metrics that will be used to measure goal achievement in the second column of the Goal Setting Worksheet.

• Implement business goals attainable by the business, its employees

If you have a brand-new business, becoming number one worldwide in your industry in the next year is likely not an attainable goal. It is important that the goals you set can actually be reached based on the current resources of your business. If unattainable goals are set, it is only setting up your business and your employees for failure. Do not set unreachable goals as a way to motivate. Give employees goals they can reach, so when each minigoal is achieved, that itself will be a motivator.

•  Decide on the most important thing your business must achieve

This item should be something that if you were only able to accomplish this one goal, you would be proud of your business. Then set secondary goals that support it. This will ensure they are relevant to the success of your business.

• Establish a deadline for achieving the goals

Determining the amount of time needed to reach the goal and setting a deadline help to create a realistic sense of urgency and provide the motivation necessary to attain the goal. When establishing a deadline, it might be necessary to break an “overall” or large goal into several smaller ones to make it easier to manage the goalsetting process.

When setting deadlines, consider: (1) Priorities – (which goals are most important?), (2) Prerequisites – (do any goals require another goal to be accomplished first?), (3) Reality – (what organizational, unit, or individual constraints exist in accomplishing this goal?), Measures – (does the timing of any of the measures affect the deadline). Enter the appropriate deadlines in the third column of the Goal Setting Worksheet.

•  Identify obstacles to achieving the goals

Obstacles to goal achievement can come in the form of people, expectations, knowledge, skill, or resources. For example, it may be difficult to reach goals because others will stand in your way (people), you don’t have the existing capability to reach the goal (knowledge/skill), or you don’t have the time to reach the goal or the funding to make it possible (resources). Consider all of these potential obstacles and enter the most important obstacles in the fourth column of the Goal Setting Worksheet.

•  Identify how to overcome obstacles

Create a plan to address these obstacles. If you have identified multiple goals vying for attention as an obstacle, set priorities. By prioritizing the goals you will be able to direct attention to, and focus on, the most important goals. For example, if the obstacle comes from a lack of knowledge or skill, this obstacle can be overcome in many ways, such as training, conferences, reading, or coaching.

Or, if institutional politics or procedures are an obstacle, often speaking to other people who have achieved a similar goal can be helpful. Ask these individuals what steps they took to reach their goal. Or, if required resources are unavailable to achieve your goal, enlist the help of someone who has control over these resources (e.g., your Superiors). The important thing to remember is to be persistent. You must pursue your goal day-in and day-out and remain flexible and focused on goal attainment. Enter how you will overcome the obstacles in the fifth column of the Goal Setting Worksheet.

• Review the list

After you’ve completed the worksheet, review all the goals to ensure that they are reasonable. Ask the following questions: Is accomplishing all these goals feasible? If not, what adjustments can be made (e.g., extending time frames, setting a goal lower, shifting priorities, eliminating a goal)? Will I be stretched in accomplishing these goals? If not, how can I make the goals more challenging? Will I feel a sense of accomplishment in achieving these goals? If not, what other goals should I add? Based on your response to these questions, make any necessary adjustments to your worksheet. Also, identify anyone who should review your goals and give them the opportunity to do so. Make any additional adjustments, as necessary based on their feedback.

• Review your goals regularly

Nothing diminishes morale and confidence as quickly as an exercise born in a flush of enthusiasm but then forgotten or abandoned. If you set goals, but then forget to follow them up, your staff will soon learn that you are not serious about achieving them. Scheduling regular goal reviews with your staff and with advisors is therefore very important, because the reviews remind everyone that you remain committed to achieving business and personal goals. Progress reviews also reveal if you need to adjust your goals along the way, for example if the marketplace changes or new technology emerges.

The business world is changing so rapidly that you shouldn’t be afraid to change or alter some goals to fit new circumstances. There’s no point in pursuing merely for the sake of pride goals that are no longer meaningful to your business.

(To be continued next week) (Lionel Wijesiri, a corporate director with over 25 years’ senior managerial experience, can be contacted at [email protected])