Setting short term goals
Setting short term goals
The COVID-19 pandemic has made us all re-think our goals. The original goals we set for this year are no longer valid.
In this video, I explain how my clients have set short term goals to move forward to achieve their long term goals.
(We apologise for the footage quality mid-way through this video. This was caused by broadband lag)
It is an intriguing time, to put it slightly, undiplomatically, because now there is a sense that we are back to normal for some, but then for others there is not.
I understand that the whole way of approaching what you might call forecasting for a business has changed a bit.
What is your view on planning for a business, let’s say, on into the future?
What have you done for your clients to make sure that they adhere to your advice?
(FD) So as we know, the plans that people made at the end of 2019 for 2020 have gone. Covid happened and everything changed.
Looking too far ahead, I think, at the moment is not what people are comfortable with because you just don’t know what is going to happen.
I am getting clients to focus on up to one year ahead, looking at what I call short term goals.
They could be anything from one day to one year, deciding what sort of things they want to achieve in this time and then helping them effectively plan.
It is all about planning because you could have a goal but unless you actually structure the steps of how to get there it is not going to happen.
For example, one client wants to improve their sales figures by 50% in the next year. That is great, but how are they going to do it?
Basically, I have suggested that they really break down all those activities of how they achieve that.
So one of the things that I suggest is
- to look at the strategies of how you are going to get some good leads properly
- whether you test and measure the quality of those leads
- and then make sure you know what is your next step to convert those leads into customers.
Because unless you have very detailed laser-focused targets, goals are not reached.
With one client, we started working on that process.
Another client wants to have three new consultants in the business over the next year because that is their growth model.
There are many steps to these things.
- What sort of person is going to fit with the rest of the employees?
- How are you going to make sure that the job description is exactly as you want?
- How are you going to start looking for this person?
- Is it going to be word of mouth?
- Is it going to be through a recruitment agency?
- How is that going to happen?
I find that sometimes business owners won’t think through the detail.
As boring as that might sound if it is done in a properly structured way, which is why they have me helping them out, they don’t miss steps and you don’t try and jump steps just to quicken the process.
Because if you try and do that, you are going to miss something, and you might have to go back and you might get the wrong person and that has happened.
It is really looking at what do you want to do in the next 3, 6, 12 months and then really planning.
I call these goals confidence builders because once you start achieving them, you can really see that you are getting somewhere.
(JK) One thing I find personally for my business, sometimes quite difficult, is understanding actually what strategy means.
Do you find with your clients that they also sometimes get a bit confused as what they are actually doing and what they want to do, as opposed to more about the “why” and the “hows”, and they get a bit confused between those particular things?
(FD) It is about keeping things simple. I think sometimes you hear the word strategy and you think it’s some big complicated thing that you are meant to be doing.
You don’t have to call it a strategy, you can call it a method.
It is how do I get from where I am, to where I want to get to.
It is not going to happen in one swoop. You are going to have to plan it.
You are going to have to break it down, and then you are going to have to just take each step at a time and see what progress you are making.
Along the way monitor, test and measure, whatever you want to call it.
Whether what you are doing at the moment is working or not. There is no point carrying on with something when you are trying to reach a goal, but it is actually not working.
Test and measure, monitor it and see whether it is something that is going to be successful, but the key is don’t complicate matters.
Does this resonate with you? If you would like to book a complimentary, no-obligation, coaching session to discuss this further, please email me at falgunidesai@actioncoach.com
