Your goals should be consistent with the vision you have for your business.
They do not necessarily require measurable results and are instead more oriented toward your overall vision.
Objectives on the other hand are mostly measurable and targeted toward specific activities.
For example, a general goal may be to reduce your companies waste production. An objective would be to reduce your companies waste from 8% to 4% by the end of 2019.
Your goals are going to influence your overall strategy, and that strategy is going to lead to your objectives.
Having goals and objectives is important because they provide your company with a direction to strive for.
When making decisions for your company, you need to have a direction in order to make the difficult decisions and to take appropriate action.
It’s important to ask yourself… what’s the driving force keeping you engaged? Can you think of one specific thing that is keeping you moving forward?
Goals and objectives give you something to focus on. A short-term goal like increasing your social media presence. Or something more long term like having a profitable start-up in the next two years.
Having a goal and objective will keep not only yourself, but your employees engaged and motivated, especially during the troublesome period following opening a new business.
While employees do want a certain level of autonomy in the workplace, they also want to know what they are working toward, beyond just a pay-check.
Another important note is the distinction between setting goals and setting quotas. Goals should be positive, but setting quotas involves consequences if those quotas aren’t hit.
A workplace won’t be as productive if your employees are operating out of fear.
From a management perspective, setting goals and objectives help to gauge the company’s success.
The more goals are met, the more successful the company. Accomplishing objectives means the company is successfully achieving its goals.
This will help management make decisions for the future of the company, as well as show if unrealistic expectations are being placed on the employees.
The freedom to make their own decisions helps motivate workers and improve work ethic and setting attainable goals will improve employee morale as well.
Too many companies fail to properly execute their business strategies, and a large part of that comes down to a lack of goals and strategies.
Remember to step back and breath!
