Business Perspective : Setting goals in business

I read in a certain business magazine about a successful business owner who was guided daily by the goals he set for himself and followed them religiously even after recording success in his business for over two three decades. Goal setting is a skill that is so often overlooked by small business owners. Unfortunately, it is a vitally important skill when beginning your business. If you don’t have goals then you really have no idea where your business is going. But that isn’t even the main reason you need goals. Goal setting is one of the most important skills you can cultivate as a business owner. It is advised that when setting your goals, make a list of long and short-term goals. Write the list down then, make a list of the things you need to be doing in your business in order to achieve these goals. Be specific and be aggressive when setting your goals and determining what action is required on your part in order to achieve these goals. Start by distinguishing your long-term goals from your short-term ones. Your long-term goals should have a timeline of about three to five years, says Maria Marshall an associate professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette Indiana, who has conducted research on small and family-owned businesses. And short time goals should be achieved at least every quarter of the year. It is clear that many business owners fail to follow their goals because they became too tied up with the day to day running of the business and do not spend enough time thinking about where they want the business to go. One of the most powerful lessons that can be learned from those that follow their goals is that they increase their profits and their business will move in the direction they wish them to go. From a broad perspective, these goals must all connect to the core values of the entrepreneur. These values, which are given form via an entrepreneur’s mission statement provide the guidance and drive for the attainment of goals. Importantly, by connecting your goals to these values, you reduce the chances of falling into one of the worst things you can do as an entrepreneur: engaging in random acts of improvement. An important additional step in setting goals is to be certain that, as Jim Collins says in his fine book Good to Great, you confront the brutal truth without losing faith that you will succeed. Any business is both full of challenges and full of opportunity. When setting goals, you must be certain to examine both the challenges and opportunities. Too often business owners see the opportunity, but fail to accurately assess the challenges. Don’t fall into this category. Instead, be sure to create goals in a manner where you face your challenges head-on. Again, as with avoiding random acts of improvement, facing the truth and developing strategies will enable a business man to maximize opportunity filters and focus on his goals. kayitesius@yahoo.com