GOALS & OBJECTIVES

From Mission to Objectives

Tie Goals to the Mission Key phrases in the mission statement lead to major goals, which lead to specific business objectives. The connections between goals and the mission are more easily visualized in the flowchart. Key phrases in the mission statement lead to major goals, which lead to specific business objectives. If the mission statement doesn’t suggest a list of goals, it may be necessary to reevaluate it to see whether it really captures what the business is all about.

GOAL SETTING “A.C.E.S.” Most goals define positive outcomes that the business wants to achieve. However, there may be occasions when you may also want to construct goals to avoid pitfalls and/or to eliminate a weakness. To help develop goals that deal with possible pitfalls and/or weaknesses, the following may be helpful: ACHIEVE: What do you want to attain in the future? CONSERVE: What do you want to “hang on to?” ELIMINATE: What do you want to get rid of? STEER CLEAR: What do you want to avoid?

Business Objectives Objectives quantify Goals: Objectives become the subsets of a business organizations main goal. Objectives provide the basis for measures to determine whether a Goal is being achieved. Objectives differ from Goals in that Objectives should always be time-targeted and measurable. Compared to a Goal, an Objective tends to be short term, quantitative (rather than qualitative), specific (rather than general), and not continuing beyond its timeframe (which might be cyclical). Objectives should be: Specific Achievable & Realistic Measurable. Time-targeted.

OBJECTIVES SHOULD BE “S.M.A.R.T.” After deciding on your list, fine-tune each Objective, using S.M.A.R.T., as a guideline: SPECIFIC: Specific goals let people know exactly what is expected of them with no room for interpretation. Specific goals should be able to answer the following: Who is responsible? When must this be done? What is to be accomplished? Which requirements/constraints are involved? Where is this to be completed? Why is this important or beneficial? MEASURABLE: When setting goals, you must also set specific criteria for measuring progress against those goals. This provides the organization’s staff a way to stay on track, aim for target dates, and reach milestones that will serve as ongoing motivation.

S.M.A.R.T. OBJECTIVES An Objective must be: ACTION-ORIENTED/ATTAINABLE: Setting overly lofty objectives that are truly unattainable serve to demotivate rather than motivate staff. By setting ambitious, yet realistic objectives, staff will be inspired to fully use their talents and all available opportunities in order to achieve them. REALISTIC/RELEVANT: Staff must be able to see how a specific objective is relevant to them and the work they perform every day. Plus by keeping objectives relevant, staff will have a better understanding of their connection to the organization’s objectives and the strategic important of their individual objectives. TIME-BOUND/TIMELY: To be most effective, objectives must be structured around a specific timeframe to provide a sense of urgency. This serves to motivate individuals to begin working on their objectives as soon as possible.

Another Way to Objectives An additional way to think about business objectives is to consider each of the following into which most objectives fall: Day-to-day work objectives are directed at increasing the business’s everyday effectiveness. They may involve things like office management, or member follow-up. As a start, name at least one change that you can make in day-to-day operations that will make a difference in your overall effectiveness. Write it down in the form of a business objective. Problem-solving objectives address specific challenges that confront the business, such as low employee morale or quality of service issues. List the two biggest problems that face the organization, and then write objectives that can solve them. Development objectives encourage the acquisition of new skills and expertise, whether for staff, committees or the board. So, formulate at least one development objective for yourself or for the business. Innovation objectives help you find new ways to improve the following: the products or services that the association offers, how you market the business, and how you deliver what the organization sells its services. Can you identify any innovative approaches that could make the business more effective in the future? If so, formulate an appropriate objective. Profitability objectives set your sights on where you want your bottom line to be. For not-for-profit organizations, this objective may take the form of how many taka in dues you plan to raise or a objective for increasing the association’s non-dues (fee-for-service) income.