Rules To Setting Business Goals And Objectives: Why And How To Be Smart

Written by Otilia Otlacan


We all know that nothing runs without a plan, and a plan cannot run without having its objectives set.

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 isrepparttar core of its success, or failure. Knowing how to set objectives is not exactly rocket science in terms of complexity, but any strategist should knowrepparttar 141441 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 inrepparttar 141442 first place, why not letrepparttar 141443 company or a specific activity just run smoothly intorepparttar 141444 future and see where it gets. That would berepparttar 141445 case only if we really do not care whetherrepparttar 141446 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 forrepparttar 141447 results, we should not proceed withrepparttar 141448 action at all.

Setting objectives before taking any action isrepparttar 141449 only right thing to do, for several reasons:

- it gives a target to aim to, therefore all actions and efforts will be focused on attainingrepparttar 141450 objective instead of being inefficiently used; - gives participants a sense of direction, a glimpse of where they’re going to; - motivatesrepparttar 141451 leaders and their teams, since it is quiterepparttar 141452 custom of establishing some sort of reward oncerepparttar 141453 team successfully completed a project; - offersrepparttar 141454 support in evaluatingrepparttar 141455 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 explainrepparttar 141456 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 whererepparttar 141457 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 reachrepparttar 141458 substance behindrepparttar 141459 packaging.

Either way, let us try to uncoverrepparttar 141460 meaning ofrepparttar 141461 SMART acronym and see how we can formulate efficient objectives. SMART illustratesrepparttar 141462 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 providerepparttar 141463 team with a specific instruction. It is unclear whatrepparttar 141464 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 deliveringrepparttar 141465 desired result.

2. Be MEASURABLE!

When we say that an objective, a goal, must be measurable, we mean there is a stringent need to haverepparttar 141466 possibility to measure, to trackrepparttar 141467 action(s) associated withrepparttar 141468 given objective.

We must set up a distinct system or establish clear procedures of howrepparttar 141469 actions will be monitored, measured and recorded. If an objective andrepparttar 141470 actions pertaining to it cannot be quantified, it is most likely thatrepparttar 141471 objective is wrongly formulated and we should reconsider it.

All Aboard..........Everyone Going Global!

Written by Ryan Hoback


All Aboard..........Everyone Going Global!

www.motivatedentrepreneur.com

Business Plans

All Aboard..........Everyone Going Global!

By Ryan M. Hoback, Motivated Entrepreneur Incuabtion & Consulting

In today’s society we move at an incredibly fast pace and with this fast pace comes a continually evolving environment. When we considerrepparttar wide-spread integration of high level technology globally,repparttar 141440 best may be yet to come. There are numerous reasons why we may want to consider expanding our operations globally; increased sales, access to new resources and markets, and potential productivity cost efficiency improvements. Asrepparttar 141441 world continues to grow, new businesses will continue to be created; these businesses are being created by new breeds of entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs were born into a world of global business, they seerepparttar 141442 opportunities and they are not afraid to step forward.

Let’s talk about how we can move forward, let’s talk about resources for a minute. Companies need certain resources to carry out their business activities, this creates a situation where they must constantly monitor and take into considerationrepparttar 141443 cost of acquiring these needs. In order to keep total product cost levels acceptable, certain built in monitors must be developed. However if there is a more cost efficient and high-quality production option, it should be considered. This is happening aroundrepparttar 141444 world now globally, some throwrepparttar 141445 word “outsourcing” around, and others say they are merging business communities. Regardless, it has created all sorts of new business angles and opportunities for growth and expansion into new markets.

Sincerepparttar 141446 cultures, politics, economics, and laws are notrepparttar 141447 same in all countries, there can be different barriers to entry in certain regions. We must rely on research based uponrepparttar 141448 local demographic & economics ofrepparttar 141449 region, and conduct our analysis accordingly. Some barriers may be modifications of products/services for local preferences. In addition, cultural elements play a large role in determining what products are appealing and accepted amongstrepparttar 141450 local target market.

Government regulations, government stability, and overall corruption are factors that must always be considered when pursuing business in an unfamiliar foreign land, just as it would be domestically. Some governments take a hard line position on new products or forms of commerce being conducted in their country, while other countries are very receptive and offer incentives for doing business in their countries. There are numerous consulting agencies, such as Motivated Entrepreneur Consulting that can assist us in locating individuals who have specific data on any existing as well as emerging markets.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use