Before your business can be expected to achieve goals, you need to know specifically what needs to be achieved and when it needs to be achieved.
A key to effective performance, then, is to set clearly defined goals. There must be no room for doubt. For example: ‘respond promptly to customer enquiries’ is vague:
- What exactly does ‘promptly’ mean?
- Within one hour, or one day, or one week?
A more clearly defined goal would be: ‘respond to 100% of customer enquiries within 24 hours of receipt’. This goal clearly states what the person in this position must achieve.Try asking yourself the following question for each goal that you set:
‘If this was my goal, would I be able to clearly demonstrate that I had achieved it?’ If you are in any doubt about how it could be demonstrated that you had achieved it, your goal is probably not clear enough. Clearly defined goals should meet five criteria.
In a start-up business, there are two principal types of goals:
- Goals for the business, agreed with external stakeholders such as funders
- Individual goals for the team members
Irrespective of the type, they should be SMART goals
Specific
The goal should be very specific about what needs to be achieved. Vagueness can cause problems later when measuring performance. For example, how would you measure success with the following goal:Improve brand awareness of the company.Not only that, but if it was your goal, would you know exactly what is required of you? Generally, if goals are measurable, time-bound, within influence, and realistic, they are also understandable. However, it’s important to check for understanding when setting goals so there will be no question later about what’s to be achieved.
Measurable
For goals to be measurable, it is usually necessary to assign numbers or other criteria to them.
Compare: Respond to 100% of IT support calls.
To: Return IT support calls.
In the first example there’s no question about what is expected. That’s not the case with the second. It is open to interpretation and doesn’t really define the goal. Because vague goals are confusing, they are less likely to be met. Individual goals are usually measured in terms of quality, quantity, cost and timeliness. Here are some examples of how these measurements can be applied to individual goals:
- Score in the “good” to “excellent” range on 90 % of customer survey responses. (Quality)
- Write 30 reports. (Quantity)
- Stay within 10 % of budget. (Cost)
- Reply to all IT support calls within 48 hours of receipt (Timeliness)
Achievable
If you don’t think that you can reach goals, you may become frustrated and discouraged.
In a similar way, expectations shouldn’t be set so low that you experience little challenge. When challenge is lacking, people often lose motivation, and the job doesn’t get done. For these reasons it is essential that you communicate openly with your team and external stakeholders. This approach increases the likelihood that challenging yet reasonable goals will be identified.
Realistic
It is reasonable to expect team members to achieve goals only in areas in which they have some influence. A goal should not be one where it can be derailed completely by factors beyond the person’s control.
Time-Bound
A goal should always include a time frame. Time frames can be stated in terms such as “per minute” or “per year,” or they can be deadlines, such as “by December 1st”. For example, “Respond to 100% of IT support enquiries within 24 hours of receipt”. Note how the measurable goals listed above have become time bound:
- Score in the “good” to “excellent” range on 90 % of customer survey responses.
- Schedule all job interviews within one month of the deadline for applications
- Stay within 10 % of budget per costing area.
- Revisit the goals you described in the last section.
- Ask yourself how SMART they are