6 Top Tips for Goal Setting in Business

The words ‘goal setting’ incite different feelings in different people. The high-achievers or organisational ambassadors among your people might light up at the thoughts of structure and achievement while those feeling overworked or disengaged might experience stress and strain at the very mention of them. Regardless of who you have sitting in front of you and what they are bringing to the table, there are a couple of musts when it comes to goal setting. We have adopted these at Frankli with great results, so hopefully, some of these goal setting tips will be of some use to you and your company as we all try to progress.

1. Think Big & Exciting

Goal setting tip number one. Start as you mean to go on. In this case, it should be big, bold and brave. It’s time for blue sky thinking when it comes to goal setting; for both your people and your company. Anything smaller will garner that level of return, so just go for it. Everyone should be excited about creating and achieving these goals. If you find people are not reacting positively and enthusiastically, pay attention. Your goals should be something that people want to achieve. Make sure they are appealing and engaging. Ask yourself, what exciting things are we trying to accomplish? If the answers aren’t generating fresh energy, then you’re not done goal setting.

2. Align, Align, Align

Alignment is one of the core elements of our software and for a good reason. If everyone’s goals aren’t aligned, they will float around like company debris. What can be overlooked in this area, however, is the personal, professional goals each person has in the company. These are just as important as their departmental or overarching company ones. If any part of this production line of dreams is neglected, enthusiasm will dip, and people will disengage, thus dropping the ball on the goal front. By linking all of these together, clear and concise aims are created and more likely met. This goal setting tip is a must!

3. Make them Attainable

People must have adequate resources to complete their designated projects. Ideally, tasks are distributed with each person’s job brief, skillset and current workload in mind alongside the timelines for the objectives. Sometimes additional resources are required while other times the requests might be for extra training or support. Regardless of the nature of what’s needed, it’s essential the goals are attainable for each person or else it risks a stressful, confidence knocking situation which is likely to impact negatively on morale as well as performance.

4. Be Descriptive

Despite the relevance of big thinking when it comes to goal setting tip number 04, being descriptive is just as crucial. Everyone speaks a different language, so if the visionary of the team is leading the meeting, they need the facts and figures fanatic to leave knowing what exactly their role is. Precision is key here. You must take the significant objectives and ensure their delivery and delegation is flawless, so there is no doubt in any mind leaving the meeting about what the game plan is and their specific role in it.

5. Make them Measurable

The road of long term goals must be paved with adequate pitstops. Goal setting tip number 05 is all about measurement. These are needed for people to see how far they have come as well as being a place to refuel. Everyone’s goals need to be measurable in both motivation and progress, or they risk going off track. You can achieve this by merely making tasks into attainable bite sized chunks and ones where people can see and feel the return on their efforts as they go.

6. Check-In

Following up with your people to see where they are at in general as well as with their tasks is vital. By doing this, you will be in a better position to spot potential obstacles and take action to avoid them as well as solve and support people if challenges have already appeared. We are all human, so despite the initial enthusiasm that everyone might have after the original goal setting, problems will inevitably arise that stifle progression. Checking in isn’t just about preventing pitfalls though, it’s just as much about praise. As smaller milestones are achieved, alongside everyone working well towards the big goals, acknowledging them is a must. This shows your people that that help is at hand, and they are supported in their efforts to achieve these shared aims. After all, from the first meeting to the completed goals, this is a team effort. People operating in every part of the process need to be included. If all cogs of the wheel are incorporated, then it’s more likely that progress will move smoother and faster.

Frankli has a unique tool that specialises in goal setting using the agile OKR framework. To find out more about how it can work for your people, get in touch with us today.