Achieving Business Goals

Goals - Definition and Importance

Goals are desired outcomes (target) that an individual, team, or entire firm intends to achieve within a certain time frame.

Goals are important because they:

• Act as a target; allowing the focus of energy in a specific direction

• Are used as measuring stick; allowing a firm to track their progress / improvement

• Can be motivating; challenges inspire the best of individuals / teams

• Increase commitment; when goals have become internalised, it becomes personal for all involved to achieve it.

There are two main types of goals

Outcome-based goals: 

These goals represent the end result of an activity. Examples include profit levels, market share percentage, total weight lost, result in assessment task. These goals are necessary but can be demotivating if too high. Large goals must be broken down into smaller, incremental goals.

Process-based goals (system):

These goals focus on the actions you take in pursuit of the end result. Examples include improving customer service and adding new products (to improve profit levels), developing marketing strategies (to capture market share), exercising for 1 hour a day with heart rate of over 120bpm (total weight lost), and studying for 2 hours per night (result in assessment task).

SMART Goals:

There are good goals and bad goals.

Bad goals are too general, not realistic and have not time frame allocated to their achievement. To set effective goals, use the SMART acronym:

• Specific: Be very clear and explicit. What exactly do you want to happen?

• Measurable:  Ensure that progress outcomes can be measured to ensure you know when you reach your goal, and how your progressing toward it.

• Achievable: Set goals that are challenging but not out of reach.

• Relevant: Set goals that you and others are willing and bale to work towards; goals that have purpose and a point; what’s the reason for achieving it?

• Time-bound: Setting deadlines for the goal’s achievement acts as a motivator. Setting sub-deadlines for incremental goals drives commitment to overall goal. 

Examples of a SMART goals could be:

Improve operational processing speed by 5% in 12 months. The firm will produce 2% more output per day in 6 months. This can be measured and tracked. This will lead to higher profitability for the firm.

For each subject, I will spend 30 minutes per night studying course materials and completing set tasks. This will be timed and measured. This will lead to my mastery of the courses and the HSC, changing the course of my life.

Conflicting Nature of Goals:

Not all goals are compatible; some goals tend to contradict others. 

It is a good idea to ensure that a firm has a coherent set of goals that do not work against each other.

For example: Maximising profitability can be achieved by cutting costs. Cutting costs may involve changing practices to the detriment of the environment or other people.

Most goals can work together. Looking after the environment can lead to more sales (market share / growth), standing behind good causes (social justice) can also lift the profile or brand of the firm.