I am sure a large number of you will have used a combination of December 90 day planning, post Christmas thinking time and New Year resolution time to set some goals for you and your business for the next 3-5 years and then chunked these down to annual strategies and goals and possibly quarter 1 tactics, plans and actions.

If you have not done this then I suggest you break from reading this and do exactly that. If you do not set pro-active goals for the year then you are already facing 2020 in a reactive way.

If you have done so then well done, step one of the goal setting task is completed. This article is about task two – leadership through setting the direction for your team, creating a common goal and engaging with your team so they understand what they have to achieve and how that achievement will mean you achieve your business goals.

As Martyn Newman says, a leader should think of themselves as the “chief story telling officer”.  It is the leaders task to tell the story to your team that gets them inspired and enrolled on the journey you are taking them on.

So, to truly lead there are two key components – first you have to set a direction (if you lead and others follow there has to be a journey and a destination) and then you have to inspire and enrol so they follow you on the journey you take together.

In the annual planning and goal setting cycle the first part is the plan you set. I suggest you engage them on this by following a three stage process –

  • – Turn your goal into a common goal.

Engage with your team and spend time explaining the annual business goal to them – this can be done in a group format (preferable as a kick off at least) or in one to one sessions. The latter is more time consuming mand misses the opportunity for cross fertilisation and public buy in so should only bne done if the group setting is not [possible or feasible.

The outcome of the session is to get them to understand what it means to the business and to get them to believe it is relevant, significant and achievable.

  • – Get the team to chunk this goal down to the part each and every one of your team should play in this

This can be done as separate one to one sessions or in break out / table discussions in a group forum. The outcome of this is that the main goal gets broken down into individual or team sub-goals. Once these are in place get everyone together and share how they fit together.

  • – Set a performance review and management process

This is the critical bit that will turn the goal into actual results. Before you end the goal setting phase agree with all how you will monitor and review progress. Where possible set milestones and set review sessions. Then set Key performance indicators and a project plan so you can performance review on a monthly basis, review progress on a weekly basis, and get daily updates and task allocation sessions to keep all involved and to enable blockers to be cleared as efficiently and effectively as possible.

I hope this has helped you to build a deliverable plan for your business and shown how leadership is only achieved when the team follow the direction you set.

Please email me on rogerpemberton@actioncoach.com or call 07511969690 to discuss how to make this work in your business.