One thing every company has in common is the aim to be successful. But the big question is how? Once you have a high-quality product or service and your business is all set up and ready to go, it is important to set goals for the company and for every individual department or employee, says Rieta de Soet, CEO of De Soet Consulting in Switzerland.
When setting your goals you have to be “smart”. This word will help you keep in mind how to set goals properly. To demonstrate the process, learning a new language is used as an example in the following paragraph.
S – specific. Think about what it is exactly that you want to achieve. Just wanting to be successful will not work. Choose a language, for example french.
M – measurable. You want to see that you are making progress. Facts and figures always help. You can for example say you want to learn a certain amount of new words each day.
A – achievable. Progress often happens very slowly and you need time for it. Let’s say you practice 30 min a day. A day only has 24 hours and our everyday lives are often already very busy.
R – realistic. This one is similar to being achievable. Don’t have too high expectations, otherwise you will just be disappointed. For example, you want to be able to hold a basic conversation in french in 6 months. It would be impossible after just a day. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, the company or your employees.
T – timebound. You should set yourself a deadline for achieving your goal. It may be very longterm and that’s okay. Just make sure you have different steps or little goals laid out in between to help you stay focused. Returning to our example, you could say you want to be fluent in french after 3 years.
This plan will help you achieve your goals and not forget about it. It’s always good to write it down and put it somewhere you can regularly see it as a reminder. This system can be used for company goals as well as personal goals.
Rieta de Soet has helped many customers at De Soet Consulting Business Centers achieve their goals. The “Smart”-system sounds very simple, yet it is very effective.