Setting and Achieving Business Goals

Goals are a method used to create a target or desired result to enable a business to improve its current position.

They are important because they give a business something to aim for or achieve.

Continuous improvement is important as the market/economy is changing all the time. Without looking to improve your current position, you may find the business not responding as quickly to changes, or it may be missing opportunities.

Making goals manageable

To be useful, a goal needs splitting into smaller targets/aims that will lead to the business achieving the end goal or purpose. A goal without a plan to get there is just a wish; a goal with an actionable plan is a realistic strategy.

A goal may seem almost impossible to begin with or a long way off. The key is to celebrate all the smaller wins when hitting targets along the way. This makes the journey more enjoyable, gets buy in and ultimately leads to the business getting to where it needs to be.

Getting started with goalsetting

So how do you do this?

Start with your main goal, and then break it down into much smaller sections until you get to task levels that can be split out between different individuals, giving them ownership. A program like Lucidity will give you this breakdown and allow you to share the tasks among a team.

SWOT and Competitor Analysis

If you are struggling to start or don’t know which goals should be a priority, start with a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis on your business. A SWOT analysis will enable you to identify areas that need improvement within your business.

Then consider a competitor analysis. A competitor analysis will help to identify your position within the market and will reveal anything your competitors are doing that you could do better.

Setting SMART goals

The most useful goals and targets use the SMART method (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely). This ensures that the targets are simple and feasible with an easy measure of whether they have been met or not.

• A goal that is ‘to be the best at what we do’, isn’t very helpful – at what point do you know this has been achieved?
• A better goal would be to say, ‘to achieve 40% of the market share by January 2025’ and then consider what KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you will use to measure this appropriately, and break it down into smaller targets with dates leading to the goal date.

All targets should have a time period/date set for when they should be achieved by - this encourages progression and lets you know you are on track.

Reporting and progress monitoring

Once you have set your goals and targets, what’s next? To keep the momentum up and to make sure you are progressing, the key is to continually monitor progress. Set monthly or quarterly reminders to look at the plan and where you are with it and make sure you actually do it!

Once you stop monitoring it, you will find progress grinds to a halt, and no one is being held accountable for their part in the strategy.

Make sure it is all recorded, either using Lucidity, Excel, Word, or whichever format works for your business - but make sure it is written down somewhere. If it isn’t recorded, ‘it didn’t happen’.

The importance of a business plan

Consider writing a business plan, this will help bring together your current position and end goals, allowing you to write out the strategy and have it in a clear format that all relevant personnel can see and understand.

A business plan will help raise awareness of future plans and, together with the goals and targets, will make sure the team will see what their contribution will be working towards, helping to reinforce accountability and the importance of each target/task.

How Genus can help

When setting and achieving goals, you need the right tools, insight, and experience to get the very best results for your business. The Genus team will work closely with your business, designing or improving your systems, providing a fully bespoke service tailored to your goals.

Our team brings together years’ worth of accounting experience to design and build your business a bespoke solution, including competitor analyses, strategic planning, financial leadership and management reporting. Book a free consultation today and learn how Genus can transform your business.