With the New Year coming up fast thoughts turn to making resolutions and setting goals for many businesses and individuals.
One of the best ways to ensure you achieve your goals is to use what is called the SMART approach in establishing them. SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic and timely.
While goal-setting theories and exercises have been around for decades, we have George T. Doran to thank for this method and accompanying framework. Over the years it has been tweaked here and there but the objectives and process remain the same.
The following provides a basic outline of the process and poses some questions that can help you establish your goals for 2025.
Specific: You need to make a concrete statement that articulates clearly what you want to accomplish. It is not just a matter of saying “I will grow the business.“ It is getting into the details like how you will make it grow. Will you add more products or services, employees or expand your marketing?
Measurable: This is fairly straightforward, but you must establish some solid guidelines. Will your success be measured by units sold, dollar volume, or some other tangible benchmark that may be unique to your business?
Action-oriented: It is essential that you identify what actions need to be taken to reach your goal. Be specific. If you plan on introducing a new product or service, detail what it will be or look like. Do you need to hire more help or get assistance from an outside consultant?
Realistic: This is not the time for visionary thinking. No time to dream about winning the lottery. Your goals must be attainable. If your goal setting indicates that you are going to have to work 8 days a week to make it work, well that is not going to happen. There are so many goals that are never attained because they are simply out of reach and not realistic.
Time-sensitive: You will need to establish some deadlines and checkpoints along the way to remain on schedule. Setting goals, even those that may be a few years out requires that you establish some timelines.
Once you have gone through this process and established clearly stated goals you can then move on to creating strategies that will become an actionable plan. A SMART plan that will help you achieve what you want to accomplish to make your business a success.
Joe Smith is a communications consultant and an accomplished fine artist. He can be reached via email at joesmith@shaw.ca
