Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Actual for You - Rules to Setting Business Goals and Objectives: Why and How to be SMART
The purpose of a 1- or 2-hour seminar is to attract potential customers for your product or service. The topic must be provocative enough to attract attendees, without sounding too much like a sales pitch with breakfast thrown in. Topics can be about the latest advances and/or technology in your industry; the impact of the latest political, legislative, or economic changes; increasing profits, reducing costs, avoiding unnecessary expenses, and so on.In an educational/public seminar, the goals of the seminar are to present yourself as an expert in your field-someone who understands and is knowledgeable about the problems and challenges attendees face-and someone who has solutions to those problems and challenges. You may want to bring in other experts, such as your strategic alliance partners, to present with you.When you hold customer appreciation seminars, the client typically arranges for the facility and refreshments as a way to thank his customers for their business and provide added value to their businesses. You benefit b
4. Be RELEVANT!
This notion is a little more difficult to be perceived in its full meaning; therefore we will start explaining it by using an example in the first place.
Imagine yourself going to the IT department and telling them they need to increase the profit to revenue ratio by 5%. They will probably look at you in astonishment and mumble something undistinguished about managers and the way they mess up with people’s minds.
Can you tell what is wrong with the objective above? Of course! The IT department has no idea what you were talking about and there's nothing they can do about it - their job is to develop and maintain your computerized infrastructure, not to understand your economic speech. What you can do it setting an objective that the IT department can have an impact upon, and which will eventually lead to the increase you wanted in the first place. What about asking them to reduce expenditures for hardware and software by 10% monthly and be more cautious with the consumables within their department by not exceeding the allocated budget? They will surely understand what they need to do because the objective is relevant for their group.
Therefore, the quality of an objective to be "relevant" refers to setting appropriate objectives for a given individual or team: you need to think if they can truly do something about it or is it irrelevant for the job they perform.
5. Be TIMELY!
No much to discuss about this as
A few weeks ago we asked several work at home moms a fun question - Would you do something illegal, even if you probably wouldn't be caught?Of course, everyone said "absolutely not!". This is the response you would expect from most anyone in the work at home mom community. We have to set an example for our children, of course.However, it amazes me how often I see others involved in illegal activities or not taking responsibility for their business. No matter if it's using excuses to not deliver products on time or running a business without proper licenses - it's unethical, irresponsible, and sometimes illegal.As they say, ignorance of the law is no excuse. It's true even online, and you could be subject to fines or even lose your business. The following are some examples of illegal or unethical practices you may be faced with, and how to handle them.- Running raffles or illegal contestsEvery state has different laws, and in most states it's very illegal to run a raffle without a permit. In some states, raf
That applies to any kind of plan, whether we're talking business or personal finances, university degrees or NGO programs, website promotion or weight loss.
Setting objectives and milestones is of crucial importance for any planning activity and is the core of its success, or failure. Knowing how to set objectives is not exactly rocket science in terms of complexity, but any strategist should know the basic rules of how to formulate and propose objectives. We will see in this article why objectives play such a major role within a company's planning and strategic activities, how they influence all business processes, and we will review some guidelines of setting objectives.
The Importance of Setting Objectives
One might wonder why we need to establish objectives in the first place, why not let the company or a specific activity just run smoothly into the future and see where it gets. That would be the case only if we really do not care whether the activity in discussion will be successful or not: but then, to use a popular saying, "if something deserves to be performed, then it deserves to be performed well". In other words, if we don't care for the results, we should not proceed with the action at all.
Setting objectives before taking any action is the only right thing to do, for several reasons:
- it gives a target to aim to, therefore all actions and efforts will be focused on attaining the objective instead of being inefficiently used;
- gives participants a sense of direction, a glimpse of where they’re going to;
- motivates the leaders and their teams, since it is quite the custom of establishing some sort of reward once the team successfully completed a project;
- offers the support in evaluating the success of an action or project.
The 5 Rules of Setting Objectives: Be SMART!
I am sure most managers and leaders know what SMART stands for, well, at least when it comes of establishing objectives. However, I have seen some of them who cannot fully explain the five characteristics of a good-established objective – things are somehow blurry and confused in their minds. Since they can't explain in details what SMART objectives really are, it is highly doubtful that they will always be able to formulate such objectives.
It is still unclear from where the confusion comes: perhaps there are too many sources of information, each of them with a slightly different approach upon what a SMART objective really is; or perhaps most people only briefly "heard" about it and they never get to reach the substance behind the packaging.
Either way, let us try to uncover the meaning of the SMART acronym and see how we can formulate efficient objectives. SMART illustrates the 5 characteristics of an efficient objective; it stands for Specific – Measurable – Attainable – Relevant – Timely.
1. Be SPECIFIC!
When it comes of business planning, "specific" illustrates a situation that is easily identified and understood. It is usually linked to some mathematical determinant that imprints a specific character to a given action: most common determinants are numbers, ratios and fractions, percentages, frequencies. In this case, being "specific" means being "precise".
Example: when you tell your team "I need this report in several copies", you did not provide the team with a specific instruction. It is unclear what the determinant "several" means: for some it can be three, for some can be a hundred. A much better instruction would sound like "I need this report in 5 copies" – your team will know exactly what you expect and will have less chances to fail in delivering the desired result.
2. Be MEASURABLE!
When we say that an objective, a goal, must be measurable, we mean there is a stringent need to have the possibility to measure, to track the action(s) associated with the given objective.
We must set up a distinct system or establish clear procedures of how the actions will be monitored, measured and recorded. If an objective and the actions pertaining to it cannot be quantified, it is most likely that the objective is wrongly formulated and we should reconsider it.
Example: "our business must grow" is an obscure, non-measurable objective. What exactly should we measure in order to find out if the objective was met? But if we change it to "our business must grow in sales volume with 20%", we've got one measurable objective: the measure being the percentage sales rise from present moment to the given moment in the future. We can calculate this very easy, based on the recorded sales figures.
3. Be ATTAINABLE!
Some use the term "achievable" instead of "attainable", which you will see it is merely a synonym and we should not get stuck in analyzing which one is correct. Both are.
It is understood that each leader will want his company / unit to give outstanding performances; this is the spirit of competition and such thinking is much needed. However, when setting objectives, one should deeply analyze first the factors determining the success or failure of these objectives. Think of your team, of your capacities, of motivation: are they sufficient in order for the objectives to be met? Do you have the means and capabilities to achieve them?
Think it through and be honest and realistic to yourself: are you really capable of attaining the goals you've set or are you most likely headed to disappointment? Always set objectives that have a fair chance to be met: of course, they don't need to be "easily" attained, you're entitled to set difficult ones as long as they're realistic and not futile.
Example: you own a newborn movers company and you set the objective of "becoming no. 1 movers within the state". The problem is you only have 3 trucks available, while all your competitors have 10 and up. Your goal is not attainable; try instead a more realistic one, such as "reaching the Top 5 fastest growing movers company in the state".
4. Be RELEVANT!
This notion is a little more difficult to be perceived in its full meaning; therefore we will start explaining it by using an example in the first place.
Imagine yourself going to the IT department and telling them they need to increase the profit to revenue ratio by 5%. They will probably look at you in astonishment and mumble something undistinguished about managers and the way they mess up with people’s minds.
Can you tell what is wrong with the objective above? Of course! The IT department has no idea what you were talking about and there's nothing they can do about it - their job is to develop and maintain your computerized infrastructure, not to understand your economic speech. What you can do it setting an objective that the IT department can have an impact upon, and which will eventually lead to the increase you wanted in the first place. What about asking them to reduce expenditures for hardware and software by 10% monthly and be more cautious with the consumables within their department by not exceeding the allocated budget? They will surely understand what they need to do because the objective is relevant for their group.
Therefore, the quality of an objective to be "relevant" refers to setting appropriate objectives for a given individual or team: you need to think if they can truly do something about it or is it irrelevant for the job they perform.
5. Be TIMELY!
No much to discuss about this asp
Make friends with the gatekeeper! 10 ideas for getting through on the phone and leaving your competition out in the cold…Are gatekeepers the bane of your life? You know you have a great product that will definitely add value to your prospect, make him or her money, save time, you name it - if only you could just get through!!Having just spent the best part of a whole morning phoning my prospect list, I became aware of many of the in-built strategies I employ when approaching gatekeepers, that I feel have given me the edge, so I thought, why not share a few?The first thing to remember is that although you are unique and have a unique proposition, your prospect is probably getting tens if not hundreds of inbound calls a day. It would be entirely possible for some managers within organisations to answer sales calls and do nothing else whatsoever.You appreciate these people need protecting. We live in the days of CTPS, (Corporate Telephone Preference Service) it may be called something else where you live. Essential
- gives participants a sense of direction, a glimpse of where they’re going to;
- motivates the leaders and their teams, since it is quite the custom of establishing some sort of reward once the team successfully completed a project;
- offers the support in evaluating the success of an action or project.
The 5 Rules of Setting Objectives: Be SMART!
I am sure most managers and leaders know what SMART stands for, well, at least when it comes of establishing objectives. However, I have seen some of them who cannot fully explain the five characteristics of a good-established objective – things are somehow blurry and confused in their minds. Since they can't explain in details what SMART objectives really are, it is highly doubtful that they will always be able to formulate such objectives.
It is still unclear from where the confusion comes: perhaps there are too many sources of information, each of them with a slightly different approach upon what a SMART objective really is; or perhaps most people only briefly "heard" about it and they never get to reach the substance behind the packaging.
Either way, let us try to uncover the meaning of the SMART acronym and see how we can formulate efficient objectives. SMART illustrates the 5 characteristics of an efficient objective; it stands for Specific – Measurable – Attainable – Relevant – Timely.
1. Be SPECIFIC!
When it comes of business planning, "specific" illustrates a situation that is easily identified and understood. It is usually linked to some mathematical determinant that imprints a specific character to a given action: most common determinants are numbers, ratios and fractions, percentages, frequencies. In this case, being "specific" means being "precise".
Example: when you tell your team "I need this report in several copies", you did not provide the team with a specific instruction. It is unclear what the determinant "several" means: for some it can be three, for some can be a hundred. A much better instruction would sound like "I need this report in 5 copies" – your team will know exactly what you expect and will have less chances to fail in delivering the desired result.
2. Be MEASURABLE!
When we say that an objective, a goal, must be measurable, we mean there is a stringent need to have the possibility to measure, to track the action(s) associated with the given objective.
We must set up a distinct system or establish clear procedures of how the actions will be monitored, measured and recorded. If an objective and the actions pertaining to it cannot be quantified, it is most likely that the objective is wrongly formulated and we should reconsider it.
Example: "our business must grow" is an obscure, non-measurable objective. What exactly should we measure in order to find out if the objective was met? But if we change it to "our business must grow in sales volume with 20%", we've got one measurable objective: the measure being the percentage sales rise from present moment to the given moment in the future. We can calculate this very easy, based on the recorded sales figures.
3. Be ATTAINABLE!
Some use the term "achievable" instead of "attainable", which you will see it is merely a synonym and we should not get stuck in analyzing which one is correct. Both are.
It is understood that each leader will want his company / unit to give outstanding performances; this is the spirit of competition and such thinking is much needed. However, when setting objectives, one should deeply analyze first the factors determining the success or failure of these objectives. Think of your team, of your capacities, of motivation: are they sufficient in order for the objectives to be met? Do you have the means and capabilities to achieve them?
Think it through and be honest and realistic to yourself: are you really capable of attaining the goals you've set or are you most likely headed to disappointment? Always set objectives that have a fair chance to be met: of course, they don't need to be "easily" attained, you're entitled to set difficult ones as long as they're realistic and not futile.
Example: you own a newborn movers company and you set the objective of "becoming no. 1 movers within the state". The problem is you only have 3 trucks available, while all your competitors have 10 and up. Your goal is not attainable; try instead a more realistic one, such as "reaching the Top 5 fastest growing movers company in the state".
4. Be RELEVANT!
This notion is a little more difficult to be perceived in its full meaning; therefore we will start explaining it by using an example in the first place.
Imagine yourself going to the IT department and telling them they need to increase the profit to revenue ratio by 5%. They will probably look at you in astonishment and mumble something undistinguished about managers and the way they mess up with people’s minds.
Can you tell what is wrong with the objective above? Of course! The IT department has no idea what you were talking about and there's nothing they can do about it - their job is to develop and maintain your computerized infrastructure, not to understand your economic speech. What you can do it setting an objective that the IT department can have an impact upon, and which will eventually lead to the increase you wanted in the first place. What about asking them to reduce expenditures for hardware and software by 10% monthly and be more cautious with the consumables within their department by not exceeding the allocated budget? They will surely understand what they need to do because the objective is relevant for their group.
Therefore, the quality of an objective to be "relevant" refers to setting appropriate objectives for a given individual or team: you need to think if they can truly do something about it or is it irrelevant for the job they perform.
5. Be TIMELY!
No much to discuss about this as
Are you dreading about clearing the accounting and bookkeeping work which has piled up in your desk in view of the approaching tax season? Simply opt for accounting outsourcing to deal with the issue with ease and perfection. This is the simplest way for accounting firms and CPAs to deal with heavy workload to meet customer demand during the peak tax season. Simply undertaking accounting outsourcing will not serve your purpose, until you have proper knowledge about all the aspects of outsourcing.Imagine you are going to give out your entire business process to be handled by another organization. I am sure you will want to know all you can about this particular aspect. You will surely not want to be caught unaware; if goes wrong with the entire process. Research and more research is the answer for you to meet such eventualities.Choose the right outsourcing company to do your accounting outsourcing work. Numerous outsourcing come up with attractive and lucrative offers to do the work for accounting firms like yours. Find out care
Example: when you tell your team "I need this report in several copies", you did not provide the team with a specific instruction. It is unclear what the determinant "several" means: for some it can be three, for some can be a hundred. A much better instruction would sound like "I need this report in 5 copies" – your team will know exactly what you expect and will have less chances to fail in delivering the desired result.
2. Be MEASURABLE!
When we say that an objective, a goal, must be measurable, we mean there is a stringent need to have the possibility to measure, to track the action(s) associated with the given objective.
We must set up a distinct system or establish clear procedures of how the actions will be monitored, measured and recorded. If an objective and the actions pertaining to it cannot be quantified, it is most likely that the objective is wrongly formulated and we should reconsider it.
Example: "our business must grow" is an obscure, non-measurable objective. What exactly should we measure in order to find out if the objective was met? But if we change it to "our business must grow in sales volume with 20%", we've got one measurable objective: the measure being the percentage sales rise from present moment to the given moment in the future. We can calculate this very easy, based on the recorded sales figures.
3. Be ATTAINABLE!
Some use the term "achievable" instead of "attainable", which you will see it is merely a synonym and we should not get stuck in analyzing which one is correct. Both are.
It is understood that each leader will want his company / unit to give outstanding performances; this is the spirit of competition and such thinking is much needed. However, when setting objectives, one should deeply analyze first the factors determining the success or failure of these objectives. Think of your team, of your capacities, of motivation: are they sufficient in order for the objectives to be met? Do you have the means and capabilities to achieve them?
Think it through and be honest and realistic to yourself: are you really capable of attaining the goals you've set or are you most likely headed to disappointment? Always set objectives that have a fair chance to be met: of course, they don't need to be "easily" attained, you're entitled to set difficult ones as long as they're realistic and not futile.
Example: you own a newborn movers company and you set the objective of "becoming no. 1 movers within the state". The problem is you only have 3 trucks available, while all your competitors have 10 and up. Your goal is not attainable; try instead a more realistic one, such as "reaching the Top 5 fastest growing movers company in the state".
4. Be RELEVANT!
This notion is a little more difficult to be perceived in its full meaning; therefore we will start explaining it by using an example in the first place.
Imagine yourself going to the IT department and telling them they need to increase the profit to revenue ratio by 5%. They will probably look at you in astonishment and mumble something undistinguished about managers and the way they mess up with people’s minds.
Can you tell what is wrong with the objective above? Of course! The IT department has no idea what you were talking about and there's nothing they can do about it - their job is to develop and maintain your computerized infrastructure, not to understand your economic speech. What you can do it setting an objective that the IT department can have an impact upon, and which will eventually lead to the increase you wanted in the first place. What about asking them to reduce expenditures for hardware and software by 10% monthly and be more cautious with the consumables within their department by not exceeding the allocated budget? They will surely understand what they need to do because the objective is relevant for their group.
Therefore, the quality of an objective to be "relevant" refers to setting appropriate objectives for a given individual or team: you need to think if they can truly do something about it or is it irrelevant for the job they perform.
5. Be TIMELY!
No much to discuss about this as
It’s a real shame. If you open most any newspaper in the country you’ll find at least one story you know really didn’t need to be there. It just isn’t that relevant or interesting. But somehow it made it in.You can’t help but wonder if it just happened to be one of those days when absolutely nothing worth mentioning happened to any one of the 6 billion inhabitants of this planet. And you know that isn’t true either.Nothing made it to the news because tons of people around the world made the first, worst mistake in announcing a news story.They didn’t.They had information that people around their community, across their country or around the world would love to know. They came up with an idea that could revolutionize an industry, but gave up because the mainstream assured them the only way the press would listen would be through the very expensive advertising department. But that’s far from true.Where advertising might cost you money, news typically costs the newspaper, radio or television
3. Be ATTAINABLE!
Some use the term "achievable" instead of "attainable", which you will see it is merely a synonym and we should not get stuck in analyzing which one is correct. Both are.
It is understood that each leader will want his company / unit to give outstanding performances; this is the spirit of competition and such thinking is much needed. However, when setting objectives, one should deeply analyze first the factors determining the success or failure of these objectives. Think of your team, of your capacities, of motivation: are they sufficient in order for the objectives to be met? Do you have the means and capabilities to achieve them?
Think it through and be honest and realistic to yourself: are you really capable of attaining the goals you've set or are you most likely headed to disappointment? Always set objectives that have a fair chance to be met: of course, they don't need to be "easily" attained, you're entitled to set difficult ones as long as they're realistic and not futile.
Example: you own a newborn movers company and you set the objective of "becoming no. 1 movers within the state". The problem is you only have 3 trucks available, while all your competitors have 10 and up. Your goal is not attainable; try instead a more realistic one, such as "reaching the Top 5 fastest growing movers company in the state".
4. Be RELEVANT!
This notion is a little more difficult to be perceived in its full meaning; therefore we will start explaining it by using an example in the first place.
Imagine yourself going to the IT department and telling them they need to increase the profit to revenue ratio by 5%. They will probably look at you in astonishment and mumble something undistinguished about managers and the way they mess up with people’s minds.
Can you tell what is wrong with the objective above? Of course! The IT department has no idea what you were talking about and there's nothing they can do about it - their job is to develop and maintain your computerized infrastructure, not to understand your economic speech. What you can do it setting an objective that the IT department can have an impact upon, and which will eventually lead to the increase you wanted in the first place. What about asking them to reduce expenditures for hardware and software by 10% monthly and be more cautious with the consumables within their department by not exceeding the allocated budget? They will surely understand what they need to do because the objective is relevant for their group.
Therefore, the quality of an objective to be "relevant" refers to setting appropriate objectives for a given individual or team: you need to think if they can truly do something about it or is it irrelevant for the job they perform.
5. Be TIMELY!
No much to discuss about this as
There are many benefits to use RSS feeds. RSS tools and feeds can also have tremendous benefits in your internet business, particularly in the field of internet marketing.RSS tools and feeds provide Internet users with a free (or cheap) and easy advertising or online marketing opportunity for their businesses.Below are some of the RSS features that provide your internet marketing strategies more effective. Ease in content distribution services.With RSS, your business can be captured and displayed by virtually any external site, giving you an easy way to 'spread out' and advertise them.Ease in regular content updates. With RSS, web contents concerning your business can now be automatically updated on a daily basis and even hourly. Internet users will be able to experience 'real time' updates as information in your own file (such as new products and other business-related releases) is changed and modified simultaneously with that of the RSS feeds that people are subscribed to.
4. Be RELEVANT!
This notion is a little more difficult to be perceived in its full meaning; therefore we will start explaining it by using an example in the first place.
Imagine yourself going to the IT department and telling them they need to increase the profit to revenue ratio by 5%. They will probably look at you in astonishment and mumble something undistinguished about managers and the way they mess up with people’s minds.
Can you tell what is wrong with the objective above? Of course! The IT department has no idea what you were talking about and there's nothing they can do about it - their job is to develop and maintain your computerized infrastructure, not to understand your economic speech. What you can do it setting an objective that the IT department can have an impact upon, and which will eventually lead to the increase you wanted in the first place. What about asking them to reduce expenditures for hardware and software by 10% monthly and be more cautious with the consumables within their department by not exceeding the allocated budget? They will surely understand what they need to do because the objective is relevant for their group.
Therefore, the quality of an objective to be "relevant" refers to setting appropriate objectives for a given individual or team: you need to think if they can truly do something about it or is it irrelevant for the job they perform.
5. Be TIMELY!
No much to discuss about this aspect, since it is probably the easiest to be understood and applied.
Any usable and performable objective must have a clear timeframe of when it should start and/or when it should end. Without having a timeframe specified, it is practically impossible to say if the objective is met or not.
For example, if you just say "we need to raise profit by 500000 units", you will never be able to tell if the objective was achieved or not, one can always say "well, we’ll do it next year". Instead, if you say "we need to raise profit by 500000 units within 6 months from now", anyone can see in 6 months if the goal was attained or not. Without a clear, distinct timeframe, no objective is any good.
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.actual4u.com/article/45319/actual4u-Rules-to-Setting-Business-Goals-and-Objectives-Why-and-How-to-be-SMART.html">Rules to Setting Business Goals and Objectives: Why and How to be SMART</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.actual4u.com/article/45319/actual4u-Rules-to-Setting-Business-Goals-and-Objectives-Why-and-How-to-be-SMART.html]Rules to Setting Business Goals and Objectives: Why and How to be SMART[/url]
Related Articles:
Performance Evaluations - Preparing for Difficult Conversations
Bookmark it:
|