Business goals are an essential part of business success. Without goals, we cannot measure the effectiveness of our businesses.
But it’s also important that the goals we set are realistic. Our teams need achievable goals to motivate them and maintain good levels of productivity.
In this blog, we take a closer look at the importance of realistic goals and how to set them.
Why do realistic goals matter?
When you’re the leader of a large tech organisation, it can be surprisingly easy to find yourself left out of the goal-setting process. This particularly happens when goals come from shareholders, stakeholders and trustees. While these people make a valuable contribution to your organisation, they are not part of its day-to-day operation. For this reason, they often lack the data needed to set realistic goals, such as whether the budget exists to increase the productivity of the sales team.
Unrealistic goals can create problems for the whole organisation. For example, if the goal is to triple the number of sales in the upcoming year, you might be faced with the cost of employing more sales staff. And if you can’t make that financial commitment, you might see productivity drop within your existing sales team, as they lose interest in a job where they cannot possibly succeed.
On the other hand, a realistic goal creates positivity within your organisation, as well as giving leaders a means to measure success. When middle leaders see that their teams are expected to achieve something within their grasp, it’s a real motivator to try hard and focus time and resources in the right direction.
For these reasons, it’s a good idea to keep communication two-way and strive for a constructive dialogue between you and the board members, especially when working to set realistic goals.
How do I set a realistic goal?
Remember that goals are a way of helping your organisation improve, increase and grow. For this reason, a goal set at an ambitious but achievable level is the ideal.
Consider bringing middle leaders into the goal-setting exercise too. They can give their perspective, as well as explaining the barriers to growth that they are trying to overcome every day. These aren’t necessarily financial issues – it might be that the steps of a process are not working smoothly, or there is a skills gap within a particular team.
When you set goals, it’s important to think about what capacity you currently have and how you need to upscale to help reach those goals. Think about the budget, time and effort you can afford to inject. With this information, you can calculate what your business needs in order to grow.
Start by setting a realistic baseline and then gradually build up to more ambitious goals, while making sure to track progress along the way.
It’s also important to build in flexibility to account for any changes or new developments that may arise.
Achieve your business goals with support from Digital Clarity
If you’re struggling to unpick processes and focus your efforts strategically, Digital Clarity can help. Our strategic approach to marketing helps medium and large tech organisations to set goals and deliver them effectively. With a clear strategy and action plan, you’ll find your organisation working towards a realistic goal, driving growth at a healthy, sustainable rate.
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