Our approach
We believe that a solution that encompasses our five pillars (goals, tasks, results, recognising success, and managing failure) as well as maintaining communication throughout this process, will allow for the greatest success and we will partner with you every step of the way, giving you access to the full spectrum of human incentives all on one accessible online platform. However, you may feel that your business would benefit from some assistance regarding goals and here’s how we can help you.
Names for ‘goal’
One person’s goal is another person’s objective. At *sparkfolios we use the term ‘goal’ as something to work towards, but we understand that your business might prefer the term target, objective, aim, etc. Our client-centered approach means that we will tailor our products to suit your needs and your terminology!
Why set goals?
Setting goals for your business is important, and they don’t just have to relate to increasing your revenue. You might want to set goals relating to staff retention, better service delivery for your clients, or greater innovation and creativity within your company. Goals help you to think about and define what it is you’re wanting to achieve. They help you to measure the success of your business. Goals can be big and long-term, but you also require smaller, short-term goals along to way to work towards the larger aim – they are stepping stones to help you achieve ultimate success.
How to set goals
Goals are important, but how do you set them? In order to be successful, goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time sensitive. Read our resource on SMART goals, to learn more about this. They also need to be broken into relevant, manageable smaller goals or goal-related tasks, in line with Franklin Covey’s 4DX (4 Disciplines of Execution) model.
Aligning and publishing your goals
You know you want a goal and you know how to set it. The sky’s the limit! Not quite. Having an unrealistic goal or one that isn’t strategically related to your business can be counterproductive. Aligning your goals with your business strategy and with the expectations of your stakeholders will give you the best opportunity to make a success of your business. You then need to communicate your goals as this facilitates your management team with being on the same page and will inform important decisions that they make. It also highlights the impact that decisions can have when they are in line with or go against your business’ goals. Publishing your business goals throughout your company may also reduce redundancy and increase support between departments and will allow everyone (managers and employees) to work together towards the same objectives.
Tracking and measuring your goals
While all of the above is important, it does not mean that just because you have set goals you will succeed. Perhaps of most importance is to consistently track your goals, both short- and long-term, to check that you’re still on the right path, that you’re making progress, and to objectively measure their ultimate success, or failure. Receiving positive feedback about your progress also provides you with additional motivation to continue to work towards your goal.
How we can help…
As you can see, and from experience you might know that, setting goals can be easier said than done, particularly when fulfilling all the important aspects of goal setting outlined above. *sparkfolios can assist you with the process of setting specific goals that are right for your business. Our team of analysts can examine your historical data and give you realistic and achievable projections in order to set appropriate goals. Our software then enables you to publish these goals so that your managers and employees can help you to work towards achieving them. It then tracks the progress your company makes towards achieving your goals, and we provide you with specific goal-related feedback.
Taking it one step further, in our holistic approach, we can also build in a task tracker to assist you in attaining your goal. We can track your progress on these tasks. And, once the tasks have come to an end, or your goals have been reached (or not reached) we can assist you in celebrating success through recognition or managing failure and motivating your staff towards getting back on track.