Any inefficiencies in the system will drag down the top-level results, making it harder to hit your target.
To set, and meet a challenging top-level target such as increasing company profits, other targets must be met, right across the delivery chain, from customer satisfaction to product quality to staff engagement. If your top-level targets are not supported throughout the delivery process, you will be unlikely to achieve them. sales/profits) or operational – such as ensuring the quality of your products during manufacture. Support top-level targets with lower level targets Clement Stone, while remaining realistic, is a big part of what makes a good target-setter! The balancing act required here, in order to meet the lofty expectations set out by W. But setting targets which can’t (or are highly unlikely to) be achieved at current capacity and without willingness for extra investment in capacity will lead to failure. That isn’t to say that capacity can’t be increased – in fact hitting a vital target could be a very good reason to increase capacity, by investing in more workers and equipment or by improving the way things are done. You can look to your competitors or industry benchmarks for guidance, but always be aware of your own capacity. Your targets should always be stretching, and challenging – but not so far that they seem hopeless, as that will just be demoralising.īeing realistic means taking into account what is and isn’t possible. You, and anyone working with or for you, know what your capacity is, and what is or isn’t achievable. Setting unrealistic targets is a recipe for disaster. Setting a specific target (which must also be realistic – see my next point) removes ambiguity and means everyone knows what they are trying to achieve when they get to work in the morning. customer service or quality related targets. Would “Increase sales by as much as possible” not be a better target? No! That implies that maximum sales must be achieved at all costs – regardless of the detrimental effect it could have on other targets, e.g. For example, “To increase sales by 5% over the next 12 months” would be a far better target than “To increase sales”.īeing as specific as possible sets a very clear picture of what you are aiming for and focuses attention on hitting goals. The more specifically defined your target is, the clearer you will be about what you are trying to achieve, to everyone involved. But how should you set targets? Well, aiming high is always a good start, but here are some other tips to consider: You need to have a target in order to judge whether you are making improvements. But targets don’t just tell us what we are aiming for – they let us measure the distance by which we fall short, and the amount of work we need to do to make it up. In business terms, a target is a goal that the company is aiming to reach. It says a lot about why targets are important to every company and individual – and why it’s important to push yourself to aim high. If you miss, you may hit a star.” A famous quote by self-help business guru W.
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