Are They SMART?

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."

- Plato, philosopher

In my day-to-day interface with small business owners I find several consistencies. Today I will discuss one big one. 90% do not understand what a good, effective, viable goal is.

You might say why is that so important? Well, it is important because having good, effective, viable goals are critical to a business's success. If you want to know why I am so passionate about this you can listen to this short audio on Goals? Why Bother?

So work with me here. If goals are critical to success, then I think you will agree it is critical to define what a goal is and understand the difference between a tactic/action/rock to reach a goal.

A powerful, effective goal should be a SMART goal:

Specific

Measurable

Accountable

Realistic

Timeframe

Every single one of these is critical, but the Measurable part is usually what is missing from their list of goals. If it is not measureable, then it is not a good, effective, viable goal.

These are examples of what I see people writing down as goals.

1.    I will to grow the business profitably in 2015.

2.    Jill will hire and retain a great staff by using the Topgrading System by 2016.

3.    Bill will to develop a highly effective marketing plan by June 2015.

4.    John will improve our Accounts receivable with a new process installed by June.

These are all Tactics/Actions/Rocks, whatever you want to call them, but they are not goals.

These are the goals (matched to the Actions above):

1.    I will grow revenue to $1.5 million with an EBITDA of 10% in 2015.

2.    Jill will increase employee productivity to $250,000 per Full Time Equivalent and reduce our employee turnover by 50% by December 2015.

3.    Bill will generate 250 leads and convert 20% of those to new customers in 2015.

4.    John will get our A/R days outstanding under 30 days by June 2015.

The Actions/Tactics/Rocks are the things that will be done to ensure we reach the goals and there will be more that we should prioritize and execute to achieve each goal above.

The next thing we do with a SMART goal is begin tracking and measuring and communicating it weekly to the company. If you set goals and then look at them every quarter, or not at all, they are worthless. You have to put some charts in the lunch room and meet weekly for a few minutes to show the team where we are against those goals. Now they come to life and people know what they are and get aligned with them, are engaged and motivated.

We don't forget, we get involved and everyone learns what they can do to help reach the goals.

So if you take the time to set goals, make sure you set SMART goals. Then you can easily come up with the Actions/Tactics/Rocks, prioritize and assign accountability to people in the organization to execute them.

Making sure those Actions/Tactics/Rocks get done - now that is a subject for another time.

Regards,
Rick