Fun fact: those who set goals and objectives are far more likely to succeed than those who don’t.
Don’t believe us? Check this out…
A group of researchers at the Harvard Business School conducted a study into the benefits of goal setting and found that those who set business goals were ten times more likely to succeed than those who did not, while those who wrote goals down were three times more likely to succeed than them!
Setting goals and objectives for your business as early on in the year as possible will make for smooth travelling along your self-made roadmap to success – here’s why:
- Provides Clear Business Direction
Setting out business goals and objectives as early as possible ensures that a clear endpoint is in sight, giving the whole team something concrete to work towards. Without clear goals and objectives, you run the risk of waning motivation or focus within your team, leading to a potentially detrimental decrease in both efficiency and productivity.
- Easier Progress Tracking
By developing a set of business goals and objectives, the movement towards these can be tracked and progress easily analysed. Setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) objectives (a cliché, we know, but relevant all the same!), for example, means that objectives are detailed and remain easily attainable, without seeming overly daunting or far-off. And don’t forget, these goals do not have to be set in stone. Setting them early means that they can be adapted frequently to address strengths and weaknesses, meaning your business continues progress positively.
- Easier Communication with Team Members
By involving the whole team in objective development, it ensures that all members have a clear understanding of the business strategy and are working towards a common goal. These business objectives can be referred back to regularly, and progress can be shared, producing consistent levels of staff motivation and efficiency.
- Bonus Benefit!
Here at Your Finance Team, we use automated systems that have proven to be hugely beneficial to small businesses in terms of tracking and monitoring goals and objectives, offering real-time benchmarking. For example many of our clients have a budget set in Xero where they can track their financial performance against this target. We also use Fathom for more insightful reporting, fast cash flow forecasting and actionable financial insights into one refreshingly easy business management solution.
Setting business goals and objectives shouldn’t just be about determining what you want the end product to be, it’s about mapping a clear journey through the business year that will help you successfully navigate towards your perceived endpoint, making for a strategically planned and successful new year.