In 2019, only 5% of companies hit their corporate goals and objectives for the year.
It’s frustrating for you and your employees to fall short of corporate objectives. There are side effects of falling short. You’ll see a drop in productivity and morale.
These are hard to bring back once they’re lost. The best way forward is to set corporate goals and objectives that are attainable.
How can you do that and maintain a forward path in your business? Keep reading to learn how to set corporate goals and keep your business on track.
Develop the Business Vision
Business owners struggle getting from one day to the next, let alone having the time to think about where the business should be in five years.
How many customers do you serve? How many locations do you have?
Consider the culture and what your day looks like. Don’t be afraid to dream big.
You can distill it down into one aspirational statement. For example, a landscaping company’s vision statement could be “To make every homeowner in our service area proud of their yard.”
The Difference Between Goals, Objectives, and Strategies
You have this grand vision for your business that seems impossible to reach. This is why you have a strategy, objectives, and goals.
The problem is that business owners and managers use these terms interchangeably. They set a few goals and think they’ll bring the vision to reality.
You need to have all three present to connect the broad vision to specific action items that get you there.
Goals are the result you want to see happen in your business. An example is that you want your landscaping company to be the market leader in your area.
In the case of the landscaping business, it will target the residential landscaping market to convince homeowners that the company is better than the competition.
The objective is more specific. It’s measurable. Since it’s measurable and time-based, it’s easy to confuse it with a SMART goal. An example of an objective is to own 53% of market share in the next three years.
Once you have the goal, strategy, and corporate objectives down, you can connect specific action items to reach the goal. These action items are tactics.
The tactics give each action item a clear purpose. You and your employees will find it easier to stay on task because they know why they’re doing an action. They can see the potential outcome.
Get Employees Involved
Since employees perform the tactics, you need to get them involved early in the goal-setting process. Share your vision with employees.
Don’t be afraid to share your excitement with them, too. It gets them excited and motivated.
When you share your vision, tell them that you’re looking to set corporate goals and objectives. They’ll be quick to tell you about the potential obstacles and issues.
Together, you can come up with a series of corporate goals and objectives for your team. You’ll also have a plan to overcome challenges.
Choose Your Goal-Setting Framework
How do you write goals that help you measure and reach them? It depends on the goal-setting framework that you choose.
You can opt for BHAGs, which are Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. These are broad goals that make you and your team stretch outside of your comfort zone.
These are closest to objectives, which are important to write out.
Two other frameworks are KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and OKRs (Objectives & Key Results). These two get used together to measure the performance of action items and whether you’re moving towards your strategic goals.
This guide to OKRs explained demonstrates the differences between OKRs and KPIs.
Write and Share Goals and Corporate Objectives
Writing your goals and sharing them with your team makes them more likely to reach them. Put them on the whiteboard, email them out, and make them visible.
You can find creative ways to show how close your team is to reaching the objectives. A thermometer or measuring stick can show that the needle is moving in the right direction.
Should You Offer Rewards?
Managers struggle with the behavior/reward principle. They want to reward employees for certain behaviors, but they don’t want employees to expect a reward for everything they do.
You can offer a reward if your team reaches the objective. You can also reward individual performances that stand out from the crowd.
The right reward structure provides extra motivation for employees to hit their marks.
Measure Results
The biggest advantage of setting corporate goals and objectives is that you can measure them. You can look at your overall performance and know where you stand.
If one of your objectives is to reach 99% in customer satisfaction and you’re at 95%, you know you have work to do.
Check your results on a weekly basis and adjust tactics as needed.
Leave Room for Flexibility
COVID-19 rocked every single business. It taught business owners that they have to remain flexible, even in a post-COVID world.
You need to be prepared for supply chain issues, increased competition, and other things that impact your ability to reach your goals.
These things aren’t excuses as to why you didn’t reach your goals. See them as opportunities to improve, adjust, and still reach your goals.
Setting Corporate Goals and Objectives That Make a Difference
The entire point of setting corporate goals and objectives is to focus on key areas that drive your business forward. Employees get motivated and they have a renewed sense of purpose.
That is, as long as you set the right goals and objectives.
This guide showed you the key steps for setting corporate goals. Base them on your vision and use the right framework. Get your employees involved so they will be extra motivated to achieve them.
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