SKC Goal Setting 2020
Over the past year in 2019, I believe I watched the movie Moana over 50 times with my son--and that is not exaggerating. He is a huge fan of Maui. There is one Moana quote that stands out and I reflect on it often. Maui is teaching Moana how to sail and describing what a wayfinder is. Maui says: “It's not just sails and knots, it's seeing where you're going in your mind. Knowing where you are by knowing where you've been.”
As an entrepreneur, this quote hits home. Having a vision and goals on how to get there is a key to your success, but you have to keep in mind that your vision and goals also affect your team and that everyone needs to be on board to make sure the year is a success. Once goals are set and the new year starts, optimism is at its highest. There is a feeling of anxiousness, excitement, and eagerness, just like at the start of a race--but remember, entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint. As the days become weeks and weeks become months, the elation from the start of the year begins to deteriorate and excuses are made about why goals are not being met. At the end of the year, the team feels beaten and they do not have a holistic view of what they have accomplished. Remember--it’s not all about the wins, but also learning from your failures. To avoid this feeling at the end of the year I want to provide you with my own personal recipe on how to set a vision and goals for the team to make sure you know exactly where you are at the end of the year.
Referring back to Maui’s quote, it’s not just about putting things on paper and expecting to magically be successful. First, you must know where you have been. Start off by answering the following questions:
What were the team’s three most prominent wins last year?
Which of these successes can be built upon this year?
What were the team’s three biggest blunders last year?
Why did these mistakes happen? (No communication? Lack of organization? Too many goals?)
What can be done to prevent comparable slips next year?
Knowing this history of what you did well and what you can improve is key to setting great goals for the new year. The insight obtained can help you map out the milestones needed to crystallize your vision and create a path for success.
After doing a retrospective the CEO needs to voice the single most important item of that year and define what success looks like. This is important because according to Harvard Business Review, only 29% of employees can recognize their company’s plan from among six options. The CEO must define the north star that everyone in the company can look towards to know if they are headed in the right direction. What is the company going to be known for? Once it is clear and can be measured, it can become the team’s rally cry. Everyone can get behind one mission and move forward together as a team.
Next comes the hard part: setting SMART goals for the company. SMART goals seem easy to do but it takes a lot of discipline to keep up with them. As an article from Kaplan and Norton explains, only 7% of employees know the company’s strategy and what is expected to meet their goals. That is a surprisingly low number! To avoid this pitfall, SMART goals need to be implemented in every department and reviewed on a weekly basis.
Here is the formula for a SMART goal:
S - Specific
Keep your goal simple and specific. It does not need to be complicated.
M - Measurable
The best goals are quantifiable; put a number to it. It can be x amount of leads or visitors to the website. Whatever it is, it must be measured.
A - Attainable
Make sure that you can reach that goal. If it is part of a larger goal, break it down into smaller, achievable pieces.
R - Relevant
The goal needs to be relevant to the rallying cry or the company’s overall ambitions.
T - Time-Bound
Put a time limit on it. If you do not, there will never be a sense of urgency. Usually, three months is a perfect amount of time to achieve a goal.
Some questions you might ask yourself when setting goals are:
How should we measure this goal?
If we meet this goal, does it help the company reach its overarching objective?
Why are we choosing this goal?
Remember to start small with three to five goals per department and work your way up to more goals, but every goal should be aligned to helping the company achieve its vision.
Lastly, track your goals on a weekly basis. Get together with your team and discuss what is going well and what is going badly. It is important to be transparent and explain why things are good and ask for help when things are going bad. Do not wait until the end of the quarter to try to ask for help--it will be too late. The sooner the team member asks for help, the easier it will be to correct the problem.
Creating a vision that the team can get behind is the first step to success. After that is creating the road map or milestones so that the team knows they are heading towards success, or more importantly, that they are going in the wrong direction. As time passes, more discipline will be needed to stay on top of the goals and make sure you are achieving them. If SMART goals are kept up with, the team will start seeing a change in how the company operates. There will be more insight into how the group operates, problems will be addressed earlier, cross-departmental teams will be aligned, and productivity will increase. Lastly, the team will be more accountable and trust will be built. Follow the example of Maui and know where you are going by knowing where you have been.