“The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.
–Denis Watley
Welcome to 2011! As we kick off the New Year and prepare for the challenges and opportunities awaiting us, the key to success is the development, clarity, and communication of your goals. You need:
- Goals that support the vision and mission of your organization
- Goals that support the vision and mission of your business partners and customers (whether internal or external)
- Goals, that even when cascaded several layers, are clearly understood and actionable
- Goals with targeted start and completion dates
- Goals that can be tracked and measured
Ownership of each task that supports a goal (the owner is not the only one to action the goals but rather their role is to regularly monitor the progress and communicate successes and obstacles)
Goals at both an organizational and individual level that will dictate performance levels and rewards
Goals that build on existing strengths and successes
Goals that grow the bottom line and the organization’s value
Goals that support development planning for individual and organizational growth and enrichment
Goals that support employee retention and build depth to the employee talent pool
If members of your organization were asked if they had written goals with plans to support them and target dates to complete them could they respond “yes”?