Those individuals that hold managerial positions must always have the company’s goals at the forefront of their minds.
Whether the company aims to increase revenue, diversify services offered or franchise, managers must work towards those goals daily.
In order to do so, they not only have to meet certain deadlines and milestones themselves, but must also motivate and supervise their employees to do the same.
While some bosses may believe that spending the time on this activity is just a waste of time, not doing so can lead to miscommunication in the department, and a lack of a common goal for the team.
To set effective goals, follow these tips:
Set Achievable Timelines
When setting goals for your department, make sure to create achievable timelines.
If you simply create objectives with no deadline, employees will not get a sense of how hard they need to work to achieve results, or you will all forget to track the completion of a task to mark it as done.
If you create a deadline that is impossible to meet, you will be setting up your team for failure, causing them to stress and ultimately be disappointed in themselves.
Creating a milestone that is years away will not encourage the team to work towards it at all because it will seem too far away.
Therefore, it is important to create timelines that are realistic, yet close enough that employees do not put them on the backburner.
Easier tasks can only require several days, but more complex ones may need weeks or months to be completed.
Assess The Goals
Setting a goal is beneficial to create a sense of purpose for the department, but after writing it down, managers need to assess each and every milestone.
Evaluate whether each item on your list is achievable with the current set up in your office.
Consider whether your employees have the skills and know-how to complete the steps necessary to achieve the goal, if not, further training may be required.
Think about whether your staff has the tools necessary to do the work required for the milestones; they may need more current software, for example.
Track Completion
After setting the goal, the most important part is to track and mark its completion.
First off, it will let your employees know that you are not just setting empty goals, but truly require their hard work to further the company’s mission.
Second, it will make your staff feel valued and appreciated once they have finished their part of the milestone, and have been praised for their role in the successful completion of the projects.
Goal setting helps to achieve milestones for required deadlines.
Help your staff to plan for and effectively manage their projects by including them on the goal setting for their department, and then empowering them with the skills and tools necessary to contribute to the mission.
