Entrepreneur Success Factor #3 – Develop a process for setting and monitoring goals
From: Beyond the Numbers: 5 Key Success Factors that Impact an Entrepreneur’s Success
When you read biographies of successful people or business success stories, you discover that the people portrayed share certain common characteristics. For example, when asked why they believe they‘ve been successful, they often cite the same attributes. They talk about perseverance, the will to keep going when others would give up. They relate how they had an unshakable belief in what they were doing and almost all had specific, measurable goals. They may not describe a formal goal setting process, but they can tell you what their financial, size, time, and personal goals were.
Everyone has goals. We call them “bucket lists,” to-do lists, short and long-term goals. To-do’s usually are short-term tasks, goals nonetheless. Easy enough to jot down and manage. However, for short and long-term goals that require multiple tasks, time to accomplish, and a measurable outcome, you need to have a process. Don’t just “wing it.”
Any process involves more than just verbalizing a general objective, such as stating a yearly revenue target or “we intend to launch the new product by year-end.” Formal goal setting implies a process is in place to define and monitor the steps required to reach the stated objective. How formal you make it is up to you, but it has to be more than a list. It has to include some sort of structure and monitoring mechanism. A formal process also makes it much easier to reset or revise a goal when necessary.
You can find many goal setting methods described online or in books (including my book: Beyond the Numbers: 5 Key Success Factors that Impact an Entrepreneur’s Success). Whatever you choose, goal setting invariably includes five rules: goals need to be written, have specific outcomes, be realistic, have time parameters, and must be stated in positive terms.
Let’s face it; most of us think going through a written exercise around goal setting is too tedious. It’s not that we don’t have goals; we just aren’t very good at fleshing out the details or defining time parameters. We’re afraid of the pass/fail aspect of being specific, i.e. not making the goal as stated or the “deadline” we put on it. Most of us have some semi-formal process for our to-do and bucket lists. We carry tasks over from one week’s to-do list to the next. We redefine and reschedule projects. Short-term goals are tracked on pieces of paper or calendar tools. Long-term goals (e.g. your bucket list) are probably just on a list until some planning and a date gets set.
If you’re one of the many who avoid a formal goal setting process, your avoidance may simply be a result of how you define goal setting and how you envision the time and effort involved to define and manage the goals. For this introduction, log these two ideas in your conscious and subconscious minds. One, goals are simply the expected or desired end result of some activity or process. They’re not a “do or die” proposition. If you don’t reach the goal (as originally defined), you adjust the goal and move on. Secondly, a process does not have to be overwhelming. There are simple processes that work quite well (yes, that’s another hint about my book).
More to come on this topic in future blogs; next blog is an introduction to Entrepreneur Success Factor #4 (hint: think Simon Sinek). Check it out. See you next time.
Send me your questions or comments. Always good to hear from folks. 😀