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 141210 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 141211 first place, why not letrepparttar 141212 company or a specific activity just run smoothly intorepparttar 141213 future and see where it gets. That would berepparttar 141214 case only if we really do not care whetherrepparttar 141215 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 141216 results, we should not proceed withrepparttar 141217 action at all.

Setting objectives before taking any action isrepparttar 141218 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 141219 objective instead of being inefficiently used; - gives participants a sense of direction, a glimpse of where they’re going to; - motivatesrepparttar 141220 leaders and their teams, since it is quiterepparttar 141221 custom of establishing some sort of reward oncerepparttar 141222 team successfully completed a project; - offersrepparttar 141223 support in evaluatingrepparttar 141224 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 141225 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 141226 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 141227 substance behindrepparttar 141228 packaging.

Either way, let us try to uncoverrepparttar 141229 meaning ofrepparttar 141230 SMART acronym and see how we can formulate efficient objectives. SMART illustratesrepparttar 141231 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 141232 team with a specific instruction. It is unclear whatrepparttar 141233 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 141234 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 141235 possibility to measure, to trackrepparttar 141236 action(s) associated withrepparttar 141237 given objective.

We must set up a distinct system or establish clear procedures of howrepparttar 141238 actions will be monitored, measured and recorded. If an objective andrepparttar 141239 actions pertaining to it cannot be quantified, it is most likely thatrepparttar 141240 objective is wrongly formulated and we should reconsider it.

Marketing Students: 5 Guidelines For Your Final Paper

Written by Otilia Otlacan


Get motivated! ("Why do I write this paper?")

This is a basic question with a not-so-basic answer. In order for a job to be done well – and your dissertation paper is, in fact, a job to be performed – you should give yourself time to figure out why you will do it and get yourself motivated. No motivation – no job quality, any professional can confirm that. Here are some possible answers torepparttar motivational question:

- Because it is a must – if you do not do it, you do not graduate;

- Because, if done with responsibility, it is an excellent opportunity to stand out fromrepparttar 141209 crowd and your peers –repparttar 141210 Marketing job market gets busier with every day;

- Because you can practice your research skills while being directed and supervised by professionals (eg. your university professors);

- Because it could be a starting point for your career.

We all knowrepparttar 141211 more you think about it,repparttar 141212 more answers you can find. Once you have your motivational level raised, you will surely want to start your paper right away.

Choose your subject ("What should I write about?")

Allow yourself plenty of time to think what subject you would like to pick for your paper. In some cases, your professors already have a list of subjects from where you can choose one but sometimes they would happily accept your own subject, providing it is of interest and you convince them of your reasons. Considerrepparttar 141213 following, before you go for a subject or another:

- "Marketing" is a broad field – which of its aspects do you feel more interested into, and more comfortable discussing about? Do you recall any particular course / chapter / subject that raised your interest at a time?

- Why would your subject be of importance and who would be your auditorium?

- Is your subject researchable? Is there any academic literature base onrepparttar 141214 subject?

- Do you think you can come up with a personal contribution torepparttar 141215 subject?

- Do you see yourself developing that topic further on?

- Can you name at least a couple of persons who can guide you? Would they be willing to do that for you?

Documentation, documentation and... documentation

"Documentation" is a magic key for any successful paper. Student or acknowledged professional, once you made up your mind aboutrepparttar 141216 subject ofrepparttar 141217 paper, most of your efforts will be directed (or should be directed) towards documentation. Depending on your subject, on your knowledge and your search capabilities, you might want to start with this even 1 – 2 years prior to raduation date, in order to have enough time to collect and review as much information as possible.

Major information resources: libraries, bookshops, internet, newspapers and magazines (consider subscribing to main specialized magazines in your field!), university printings, company exhibitions and presentations.

Build your paper

You do not have to reviewrepparttar 141218 whole documentation before you start to layrepparttar 141219 bricks of your paper. Usually, such works are done usingrepparttar 141220 "top-down" strategy, meaning you start withrepparttar 141221 major lines and then you developrepparttar 141222 minor ones. You can compare this strategy withrepparttar 141223 action of drawing a tree: you might want first to drawrepparttar 141224 tree trunk, thenrepparttar 141225 major branches, you will draw then some smaller branches growing fromrepparttar 141226 big ones, and atrepparttar 141227 end you drawrepparttar 141228 leaves and flowers.

Therefore, once you are clear withrepparttar 141229 subject andrepparttar 141230 basics of your paper –repparttar 141231 trunk ofrepparttar 141232 tree, you can start organizing your chapters –repparttar 141233 major branches. Generally, you wont have less than 3 main chapters and more than 6 – 7: remember your paper has to offer a valuable content but inrepparttar 141234 same time it has some space limits (for example you could be told not to exceed 70 pages includingrepparttar 141235 appendix and graphics).

As you go on with your documentation, you will probably feelrepparttar 141236 need to reorganizerepparttar 141237 chapters and subchapters several times – this isrepparttar 141238 way of any good writing, so don't be afraid of doing it as long as you stick to your subject and your chapters are part of a whole, "flowing" one from each other. Consult with you supervisor for any major changes, and ask directions if you feelrepparttar 141239 documentation is overwhelming, it becomes difficult to discern fromrepparttar 141240 large amount of information and you feel like losing your coherency.

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