Advice

Setting Business Goals

What to keep in mind when setting goals for your business

Clear, actionable business goals are essential for success. Read our guidance to learn more about goal setting, and some strategies and frameworks you can use to find targets suitable to your business.

Before setting business goals

Before setting your business goals, it is a good idea to assess the current state of your business. You can do this by completing a SWOT analysis. The SWOT framework is used to identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for your business. 

We recommend getting internal and external input into this analysis. This can bring insightful perspective. This could include engaging with your employees, business partners/investors, business mentors and advisors.  

Why should you set goals? 

Goals are important to running a successful business. They give you a clear focus, motivate employees and set targets for your business to work towards. 

Goal setting can provide you with a set of criteria to see if your business is succeeding. Having clear, well-defined goals can help you take control of your business’s direction and increase the chances of achieving your larger business targets.

How to set goals? 

We recommend using the SMART framework to set goals. This will help you to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound goals. This will help you focus your efforts and increase the chance of successfully completing them. 

You should be specific about what you want to accomplish. This will mean you have a greater chance of the goal being achieved. You can start by asking yourself: 

  • What do I want to accomplish? 
  • Why is the goal important? 
  • Who is involved? 

You should be able to measure your progress. By assessing your progress, you can keep on track and measure whether you have been successful. Measurement methods can be data based, such as money saved and number of customers served, or they can be based on things like customer feedback or surveys. To make your goals measurable you can ask yourself: 

  • How will I know that I have accomplished the goal? 
  • How many/much? 
  • What sources of information can I use to determine if I have met the goal? 

Your goal should challenge you but should also be attainable. Check that your goal is something that you have the time, money and resources to do. To check, ask yourself: 

  • How is this goal achieved?  
  • What resources are needed to achieve the goal; do I have these resources? 
  • If not, can I attain the resources to do so? 

Ensure your goal is relevant to the direction you want your business to go in. You could ask yourself: 

  • Does this match our other efforts? 
  • Is it the right time to be setting this goal? 
  • Is it worthwhile for our business? 

A date gives your business a timeframe to work towards. A goal that does not have a timeframe can be easily forgotten or pushed to the side. It’s also important to set timeframes for the small goals along the way. You can do this by deciding: 

  • When does the goal need to be completed by? 
  • What can be accomplished within the timeframe? 
  • What can I do within the next six weeks? 
  • What will need a longer time frame, i.e. longer than six weeks? 

Once you have set your goals, you can start working on achieving them

To achieve your goals, you should consider the points below: 

  • What actions do I need to take? Describe the actions you will take to achieve your goal. 
  • What is a reasonable timeframe? Set a deadline for your goals to be achieved. 
  • What resources do I need? Detail your budget, staffing requirements and any supplies you’ll need to accomplish the goal.  
  • How will you keep yourself accountable for the goal? You can keep yourself accountable by telling your staff, your business partners, or a group of people you trust about your goals. This will help to keep you on track.  
  • Why should I review my goals? Reviewing your goals will help you measure your success. Set time aside to regularly review how you are tracking. 

Need more information? Do not hesitate to email us at [email protected] or give our Advice Service a call on 0800 472 472 (or 1800 128 086 from Australia).

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