Those who fall short of their goals probably skip this step

Goals are tricky. They often seem elusive and unattainable, yet all we want is to make them real.

How can you do that?

Share your goals.

Don’t keep them hidden in your notebook in your desk drawer. Give your goals to your immediate team, your leadership team, and maybe even, when appropriate, share them with some of your family and friends. All of these groups can hold you accountable by checking in on your progress from time to time.

If you think of your year as a bowling lane, with all your goals as pins at the end, these accountability groups serve as bumpers on each side. When day-to-day situations and deadlines threaten to keep you from knocking those pins down, your colleagues and supervisors can help keep you moving straight ahead in the right direction.

Though your goals once seemed unrealistic, having a support system makes them much more attainable. Your team at work provides professional counsel and people to lean on, and your personal support, outside of work, can help you get back in there, day after day, to make it happen.

Your likelihood of success will drastically increase when you take these steps. Share your goals, and open yourself up to accountability.

The rewards will be huge.

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Bring these things front & center to boost your success rate

Today’s step to Re-envision your goals might be an unexpected one. Some might think it is completely unnecessary others consider it the key to their success. When it comes to realizing your goals, this piece is crucial:

Visualization

When setting goals, it is easy to write them down in a notebook — and shut the book, leaving it untouched on a shelf for the rest of the year. That notebook, and the goals inside it, are usually forgotten.

Instead, why not display your plans front and center?

Visual representations of your goals are key to reaching them. Seeing a daily reminder of your plans will keep you steadfast in your discipline to get there. If you have an in-house design department, ask for their creative input. They can assist you in creating visualizations of what your goals will look like when they are accomplished. This is a subtle way to keep your team encouraged and working towards the final product.

Offer small, desk-sized versions of your goals for employees, and display them in high-traffic areas of the office. Don’t hold your design team back in creation. Outlandish and outside-the-box, in this case, is your best bet. The more attention your goals get from you team, the stronger the reminder to keep working towards them!

Are your company’s goals visually represented at the office? If so, how?

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What does the rest of 2013 look like for your company?

For the past few weeks, we have taken stock of this year. You have thought about the status of your company through the lens of its history and values, and you have thought about where you stand in terms of reaching goals set back in January.

We took week one to Revisit, week two to Reset, and this week, we will Re-envision.

Not losing sight of the exploration that took place over the past two weeks, think about the months that lie ahead. What big events or hurdles are approaching? They can be better tackled with the deeper knowledge you have gained about your business. Big upcoming pitches will be more successful when re-framed by this process – and industry events or conferences you attend will become more useful.

As you think about the months to come and how to jump those hurdles while working toward your overarching business goals, don’t be afraid to think big. Your freshly revisited understanding of your company’s direction has put you in the perfect position to make plans that are audacious and intimidating, yet attainable.

While making those plans, pay attention to patterns that have surfaced in your analysis. After all the work you have put in to re-examine what has taken place since January, you should be able to predict difficult business situations before they arise. Your company probably has some trends and habits that present themselves more often than you’d like, getting in the way of reaching your goals.

By predicting bumps in the road, you can be better prepared to step over them and move on.

What patterns threaten or boost your goals for the end of the year?

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What’s your BHAG?

As we continue our series on Goals — Review, reset, re-envision, realize — we would like to discuss big thinking.

Leadership expert Jim Collins has famously asked managers to define their Big Hairy Audacious Goal, commonly referred to as the BHAG. As a professional just trying to take your company from Point A to Point B, you might wonder why this is necessary. The BHAG is crucial, however, because it forces you to think big. In fact, it forces everyone to think big. Your staff needs it, too. BHAGs are important this week, because after spending the past few days diving deep into your company’s history, it’s time to look ahead.

Collins teaches that a successful business is facilitated by the presence of the BHAG, a shining beacon of light towards which a company is always striving. The knowledge of such a goal, though it seems unattainable, encourages a group of people to crack down in the present to start making it happen. A feeling of urgency, in this case, is a good thing. It makes people work smarter and with more productivity. It gives them something bigger than their supervisor to work for.

Second-tier marketing BHAGs have a place in every company, as well. They should align themselves with the company’s grand vision and serve as a path to get it there. When you consider your company’s grand, Big Hairy Audacious Goal and the marketing strategies you have crafted to go along with it, are you thinking big enough?

If the answer is yes, your mindset for the rest of our goal-setting month is perfect. Lofty goals and big schemes will help you tackle the next phases of the series effectively: goal implementation and long-term company vision.

So, what’s your BHAG?

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Who do you have to be to make it happen?

After our Revisit phase of goal evaluation last week, we are pressing the Reset button. When you take stock of where you stand at this point in the year, in terms of reaching goals, it is easy to be disappointed. Often, January’s lofty aims are harder to bring to fruition than we realized in the wake of resolutions and new beginnings. It is not uncommon for a formerly exciting goal to hit a disheartening and frustrating dead end.

But here’s a question. Rather than abandoning the goal entirely, or worse, continuing to face it with the constant dread and anxiety of failure, why not reframe it: Who do you have to be to make it happen?

As Inc recently explored, sometimes all a stale goal needs is to be Reset. Ask yourself who you have to become, or enlist, to make your “failed” goal a reality. Seek counsel and teammates who can help you complete your vision. When you open your mind to new means of reaching a goal, things start to feel a lot more successful.

As you start to look at your business goals with this in mind, it will become easy to see which ones are a natural fit for your company’s direction, and which ones might be forced. Asking how to make it happen, while remaining mindful of the vision at hand (link Monday’s post), makes the goals that belong stand out with a clear path to execution.

If the answer to “Who do you have to be to make it happen?” is not in line with your company values or your role as lead marketer, feel free to pass it on to a more appropriate department or let it retire completely. Being open to this transition makes it easier to peacefully release the goals that may have been misguided in the first place.

Now, you are free to look ahead to the objectives that truly align themselves with your ultimate vision.

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These two things are crucial to your company’s long-term success

This month, Get There is dedicated to business goals – their importance, their challenges, and ways to master them with success. Last week, we explored the Review portion of the process, and today, we begin the second phase. We Reset.

Recently, as we invited you to revisit goals that were likely formulated at the start of the year, we discussed how understanding your brand story (link 8/9 post) assists in the goal evaluation process. This week, we want to take you one step further. Let’s dive even deeper into brand knowledge and discover how it relates to smart business goals.

The most important question for you, as your company’s lead marketer, is this: what are your brand’s mission and vision? As an employee of the business, chances are that you have a general knowledge of these items. Effective leadership in marketing, however, calls for an intimate knowledge of a company’s mission and the vision that is intended to fulfill it. If you aren’t crystal clear on this crucial piece, we suspect that it is hard to guide your marketing department, and therefore your company, to success.

If you find yourself in this position, or if you think your understanding of the company’s vision could be deepened by revisiting it with executive leadership, it is time to press Reset. This is the perfect time of year to pause, take stock of where you stand, and develop the company knowledge you need to excel. Soon, the rush of the end of the year will be upon us, followed by the busy onset of a new one — usually not the best time to ask questions of your brand’s senior leadership. Exploring this topic now will benefit both you and your team members.

A full, working understanding of your company’s purpose is the key to marketing success. It holds the answers to customer engagement, relationship building and better sales. Mission and vision, for the marketer, translate to an increased bottom line. And when your CEO hears that, he will be thankful you took the time to reexamine your company knowledge, preparing yourself to set more effective goals, now and later.

How often do you revisit your brand’s vision? 

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Have you fit your goals into your company story?

We are working together towards setting better, more attainable goals, and we are still exploring the Review portion of the process.  As you continue to asses your current goals, take a step back. It is common practice to revisit your mission when goal-setting, but today, we are going to keep looking back at the start of the year. In fact, we are going to take it a step further and look back at the start of the company itself.

This is our recommended micro and macro piece of the review process. Consider your brand story, the emotional, compelling culture you have created to engage customers. It is likely that along with the story, the conception of your company comes to mind. This story – your company’s purpose and beginnings – is an essential piece of the puzzle. It should never be forgotten, even when it comes to business goals.

Your company’s visionary goals should run parallel to the story told day in and day out by your brand. Ask yourself how this year’s goals align themselves with your company story.

Perhaps even more telling is this question: how is your company story told through your current goals? Hopefully, the answer will be easy, painless and on target.

If you find your goals are telling a different story, one that has veered from the course, it might be time to re-examine and start anew. That does not mean your goals or story are wrong, but it might mean that it is time for you to examine the point at which they diverged. Consider your history, and realign your brand story or goals, if necessary, to reflect the different future you envision for the company.

Long-term and short-term goals should maintain a close connection to the principles the company was founded upon. The values that lie at the core of the business, the ones that made it first come to life, should always be present in the goal-setting process. They serve as an important guide, a reminder of where you came from and where you want to go.

If the goals set for your company stay relevant to the story, adhere themselves to its original values, they have a higher likelihood of being adapted naturally within the business. Employees are likely to feel a greater connection to the company if they sense that its core principles never waver. Their work will have more meaning, and though it may seem unlikely, this type of value will make its way to the customer base and probably result in a sales increase. Authenticity is noticeable, and today’s consumers like it.

With some thought and intention, it is not hard to align your goals with your brand story, and doing so will mean greater impact, both internal and external. Good luck!

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Your company’s livelihood depends on this one thing

Now that you’ve started your Review, you have had some time to assess where you stand in reaching your short-term goals for this year. It is the perfect time to think about what the rest of the year might look like. To start the process, ask these two simple but expansive questions:

• What did you think August would look like when you started this year?
• How does that differ from where the company stands?

Be thinking about the answers; they will be useful in the next several steps of our goal setting series: Review. Reset. Re-envision. Realize.

Before we dissect the goal setting process any further, let’s take a moment to consider how marketing goals fit in with larger company goals. The most successful companies ensure that their marketing goals are created with overarching business goals in mind. This requires some planning, collaboration and communication.

Simple marketing goals such as increased site traffic or larger subscriber lists need a bit more development. Company goals can guide the answers to the questions these goals raise –  how many site visitors, or how many additional subscribers, for example, are necessary to make sure conversion goals are met. More strategy and details are required in the planning, and the marketing plan then becomes a successful part of a cohesive whole.

The marketing plan should be a series of well-defined initiatives that will take the company to the next level, as outlined by its leadership. Increasing Twitter followers, to cite another common, yet limited goal will do nothing to contribute to the overarching business vision without a plan in place.

As outlined effectively in this article, effective marketing goals must be made by considering how much revenue efforts must generate, how many sales are needed to reach that revenue, how many leads are necessary to make those sales and how much traffic is needed for that many leads. This is a start. Further considerations include quarterly benchmarks and how to utilize the marketing plan to meet them, along with a clearly defined budget that aligns itself with company goals.

In an ideal world, the CEO and CMO might work together to develop a united vision that takes the company to another level, with short-term goals to get it there. If you’re serving as both, and executing your own marketing plan, as a small business owner, consider sharing your goals with an advisor or team members for constructive feedback and accountability.

On Friday, we’ll continue to Review.

How do your marketing goals align with your company’s vision?

Image credit: Dave Bezaire & Susi Havens-Bezaire

80% of small business owners DON’T do this. Does your company?

A recent survey of small business owners reflected that an alarming percentage, 80%, do not keep track of their business goals. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, 77% of them reported that they have not achieved their vision for their company. We are taking August to discuss the goal setting process and how to do it successfully. The first step is to Review.

The goal review is crucial, especially at this time of year, which is for many, the start of a new fiscal cycle. Even for others, it is important to reexamine goals that might have been set in January, seven long months ago. A lot can change in that amount of time.

First, evaluate the short-term goals that you had hoped to accomplish by this point in the year.

• How did they go?
• Can you pinpoint a week or month where the accomplishment of each goal took off?
• Likewise, can you pinpoint a specific time at which a certain goal took a nosedive?
• Does meeting your remaining goals still feel attainable by the end of the year?

Next, invite your team to participate in the process.

• How do they feel about the progress made towards company goals this year?
• How does each feel about their contributions to the process?
• How do they feel about their personal goals within the framework of the company goals?

Finally, share your opinions on where the company’s short-term goals stand. Your team will appreciate your openness, learn from your guidance and, hopefully, feel compelled to work collaboratively to help you progress towards the end of the year. If you share with them how the short-term goals contribute to the long-term vision for the company, they will feel like valuable members of a team working towards a greater whole, and productivity might even accelerate.

Short-term goals should generally be attainable in a three-month framework, and they should be set with success in mind. For example, several smaller goals can be reached more quickly and effectively, creating feelings of achievement and victory among employees. This positivity creates better company culture and helps all parties involved do better work and actually enjoy the process.

There is a lot to be learned by pushing the pause button and asking everyone to take stock of progress. It’s time to Review.

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The truth about business goals

Goal is a word that is more intimidating than it should be. If you’ve noticed this, you might have wondered why. Goals are positive and well-intentioned, so why do they induce such anxiety? Here’s the thing that everyone knows but not many admit: everyone sets goals, but very few achieve them.

With that knowledge, we understand that goals are scary to set because in many ways, we relate them to failure. Many executives, business leaders and marketers for example, find themselves asking why goals seem to so often result in failure. The answer, we believe, lies in the fact that goals are determined once, shared infrequently and seldom revisited.

Last month marked the beginning of a new fiscal year for many companies, and for others, it began the second half of 2013. Both present a natural opportunity to revisit goals, checking in on progress and reevaluating when necessary. It is hard to believe August is upon us, with January seeming to have just passed, bright and shiny with its new goals and lofty ambitions.

This month, we plan to walk you through the process of successfully setting and achieving goals for business. We will help you check in on goals you might have set earlier this year, and together, we will examine how they are working for you and whether or not they are leading your company to success. In the end, we hope you will have a better understanding of how to make the goal setting process more useful for everyone involved.

Next week, we will take a look at the first step towards effective goal setting: Review.

Have you been checking in on your company’s 2013 goals?

Image credit: Swen-Peter Ekkebus