You have ambitious growth plans for your business. But without clear goals, you might feel like you’re driving down a dark road without headlights. You see little, but you hope you’re headed in the right direction. The question is: how can you ensure that everyone knows where they’re going and that you can adjust course along the way?
This is where setting clear goals comes in. They are the compass and roadmap of your organization. But how do you set them effectively? Let me guide you through the steps.
Why Goals Are Important
You’ve probably heard the saying: “What gets measured gets improved.” Goals provide direction and focus, not just for you as a leader but also for your team. They make success tangible and measurable.
Henk had decided to set goals. He told me he wanted to significantly improve customer satisfaction. I asked him about his specific goal. “We’re aiming for satisfied customers.” It sounded like a vague ambition, so I challenged him to formulate clear goals that everyone could understand. The new goal became: “Achieve a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 50 within six months.”
Practical Tips for Setting Measurable Goals
1. Start with Your Long-Term Strategy
Goals should contribute to your company’s larger mission. Ask yourself: “If we achieve this goal, how does it bring us closer to our vision?” Then work backward to define shorter-term goals.
If you follow the scale-up methodology, you likely already have a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). Read more in the article “How a BHAG Gives Your Business Direction and Momentum.”
2. Make Goals SMART
You’ve heard it before: goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. A goal like “Generate more revenue” becomes much stronger when you say: “We want to increase revenue by 20% within Q2.”
3. Involve Your Team
Goals work best when they’re not imposed from the top down. Ask your team what’s feasible and challenging. This increases engagement, creates buy-in, and ensures people take ownership of their goals. Commitment becomes stronger when everyone has a voice in setting the agreed-upon goals.
4. Focus on What Matters
It’s tempting to create a long list of goals. I’ve seen clients with pages full of detailed goals—this is the other extreme where the forest is lost for the trees. More isn’t better. Focus on the concrete goals that truly make an impact.
5. Monitor and Evaluate Regularly
Setting a goal is just the first step; you must also regularly check progress. Use dashboards or weekly check-ins to track and discuss progress. This gives you the chance to adjust in time.
6. Use a Methodology
More and more companies choose methodologies to effectively set and monitor goals. Options include OKR (Objectives and Key Results), BSC (Balanced Scorecard), and FAST Goals (Frequently discussed, Ambitious, Specific, Transparent).
Common Pitfalls in Goal Setting
• Trying to achieve too much: Too many goals lead to confusion and a loss of focus.
• Lack of specificity: “We want to grow” is not a goal. “We want to acquire 50 new customers” is.
• No follow-up: Goals without regular evaluation are like plants without water—they wither away.
Stay Flexible
Goal setting is not a “set it and forget it” process. The market changes, and your company changes with it. Be willing to adjust your goals when necessary, but don’t lose sight of your long-term focus.
With clear goals, you provide your team with both direction and motivation. Everyone knows what is expected of them and how they contribute to the bigger picture. And let’s face it: what’s better than achieving a goal together that once seemed out of reach?
