The importance of setting clear and achievable goals in an organisation

It’s essential for everyone in an organisation — regardless of the industry it’s in — to set goals that are well-defined and actionable to ensure business success. Employees need to learn how to determine their working objectives and how they plan to meet them, and senior managers must understand how to oversee these strategies and make certain that they’re executed efficiently and effectively.

Setting goals helps guarantee that everyone in the organisation is working to meet the same ends, thereby increasing productivity. Without clear aims (and metrics), it’s difficult to measure a worker or team’s progress and whether the organisation is meeting targets on both a macro and micro level. As Positive Psychology explains, goals also give employees a sense of ownership and responsibility for their work which encourages output.

Here, we examine the advantages of goal-setting and how to make sure they’re realistic and attainable. We’ll also give you some tips on creating systems to track and measure progress and success.

Benefits of setting goals

1. Organisational cohesion: Through ascertaining what exactly the organisation is trying to achieve, it’s far more likely to function as a cohesive unit, thereby avoiding the risk of miscommunication and mistakes.
2. Employee motivation:  When workers know what they need to do (and how, and by when), they’ll feel more able to complete their projects successfully which will drive them to focus and produce high-quality work. Feeling inspired is critical for going above and beyond the call of duty.
3. Engagement and positivity: An absence of goals, or unclear or unrealistic expectations, can lead to team members getting frustrated and disillusioned. By contrast, plans that are properly delineated and work that is delegated appropriately help everyone feel optimistic about their work and, therefore, more likely to participate.

Regularly setting goals is crucial for success.

How to set goals well

• Establish their purpose: Before you can decide on the details of your goals, you must understand what you’re trying to accomplish through them. This is where looking at the organisation’s high-level overarching plans and tactics come into play. It’s no use attempting to ascertain individual benchmarks without knowing how they feed into the bigger picture.
• Follow the SMART principle: SMART stands for “specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.” It’s imperative that your objectives are unambiguous, realistic and pertinent to your overall business strategy.Then, choose metrics by which you’ll measure their success (also known as KPIs: key performance indicators), such as sales conversion and customer retention rates. Further, set a time frame in which these tasks are to be completed.
• Involve the whole team: As we’ve mentioned, identifying and listing objectives is crucial for organisation-wide success. BetterUp advises that when you’re setting goals, you should brainstorm as a unit so that everyone is on the same page and individual employees’ aims are congruent with each other.

At ICML, we understand the importance of being able to motivate yourself and work toward your goals: that’s why we offer a self-leadership course designed to teach you how to do just that. For more information, contact ICML today.