Erin Shelby

There is almost no hope for a business if its leaders do not perform their roles well. From the owner of the business to the third-line supervisors, every leader must take their roles and responsibilities seriously if they want the company to grow. However, some of the reasons why leaders fail are because they lose sight of their roles within an organization. Other times, those roles and responsibilities were not clearly outlined for them.

Whether you’re thinking about going for a promotion or if you’re an entrepreneur ready to build your team, you have to ask yourself “do I have what it takes to be a good manager?” There’s more to being a boss than merely telling people what to do. Being a good supervisor means mastering several key responsibilities.  

By understanding the roles and responsibilities of a supervisor, you will be better prepared for leadership positions. And your organization can ensure that they have effective supervisors in place to guide their teams towards success. If you’re a business owner, you’ll want to understand these responsibilities too. When you’re ready to hire your leadership team, you’ll need to be clear on what you are looking for and be able to communicate those expectations to candidates.

In this article, we will explore the roles and responsibilities of a supervisor in detail. 

Assigning Tasks

Knowing the abilities of each team member is important. A supervisor will determine what each team member is capable of and assign the workload accordingly. Each person should be given tasks that are appropriately challenging whenever possible. Tasks should be assigned fairly, so as to not favor a small number at the expense of many others.

New managers may struggle with getting too involved vs. letting each team member handle their respective tasks. It’s important to confront problems when they initially present themselves and create plans to address them. New supervisors may find themselves quickly overwhelmed if they start doing things for the team that each team member should be doing on their own.

Supervisors should track their methods for assigning tasks. This can help you maintain a birds-eye view of the whole team’s work.

 

Training New Employees

What are your new employees experiencing? As they come aboard, are they given adequate training and a message that they’re becoming part of a positive work culture?

Or, are they given a signal that they’ve just joined a sinking ship, and it’s too late to turn back now?

One of the best ways a company can create success – and profit – is by providing great training experiences for their new employees. Great training builds confidence, increases morale, and is time well-spent. This ultimately creates improved sales, better service, and happier customers.

As a supervisor, you may not be the person providing the training, but it is a core responsibility to ensure that every team member is properly trained. You’ll also want to follow up after initial training and confirm for yourself if there are any gaps in your team members’ knowledge. Are some team members “getting it” more than others? Does anyone need extra help? Are some people whizzing past their peers? Keep your eye on the progress of each new hire’s training to ensure that they are acclimating to their roles.

 

Creating and Managing Team Schedule

Good supervisors will manage the team schedule in a way that meets business needs, yet is also fair. 

Being candid with new hires is an important part of this process. Before they accept your job offer, prospective candidates should be informed if they’ll need to work weird hours as part of the job description. Your organization should be transparent if there are crazy seasons when employees have to work 12-hour work days to meet business needs.

Once your team members have said yes to the role, create timeframes for what they can expect in the role for the short-term and the long term. Create expectations for what they can expect weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly, as it pertains to your company or your industry.

No one wants to work for a manager who won’t let them attend their college graduation or take time off for their own wedding. Being able to balance business needs with the important events in your employees’ lives is a skill all supervisors should learn. 

 

Motivating Employees

Although often left out of the job description, motivating employees is a big part of supervisors. In fact, motivating others is crucial for any type of leader. And once you’ve gotten your employees motivated, then the task is to keep them motivated.

Supervisors are in a unique position to motivate their employees. They have a direct influence on the work environment and the tasks their team members perform. Also, supervisors can create a supportive and positive work environment that encourages employees to feel motivated and engaged. Conversely, a negative work environment can demotivate employees and lead to low productivity and turnover.

Supervisors can motivate their employees in several ways. For example, they can provide recognition and rewards for good work. They can also offer opportunities for career development and training, and encourage open communication and feedback. By showing a genuine interest in their employees’ well-being and career development, supervisors can create a sense of purpose and engagement that motivates employees to achieve their goals.

 

Conduct Employee Evaluation

Evaluating employees is one of the most critical responsibilities of a supervisor. But it’s not just evaluation – it’s the overall handling of information that is a test of professionalism for a person in a supervisory position.

Supervisors are exposed to information that their team members do not have access to. They may become aware of the need to make job cuts or the news that the company has missed financial targets. 

Evaluating employees and exercising fairness becomes extremely important. Good supervisors are discreet with sensitive information. They maintain a respectable reputation that helps their team members know that each person’s job performance is being evaluated in a fair and unbiased manner.

A supervisor should not discuss disciplinary information with employees who have no reason to hear this information. 

 

Managing Workflow

Dealing with your own tasks can be challenging as an employee. But, when you become a supervisor, your view becomes much broader. Managing workflow means ensuring that the work assigned to all employees is getting done by their deadlines. This means improving processes and communication with employees. 

While this seems easy, managing workflow can become increasingly difficult as a business or staff grows. However, there are now several workflow management tools that can make the job a little bit easier. Here are just a few:

• Monday.com
• ClickUp
• Smartsheet
• Airtable
• Hive
• Kissflow

 

Resolving Team Conflict

Sometimes cooler heads don’t prevail. And, when it comes to team conflicts, sometimes people don’t work things out by themselves. One important and often overlooked responsibility of a supervisor is to resolve team conflicts. This includes being a mediator when employees are not getting along. It also means bridging the gap between management policies and processes and employees’ needs and objectives.

Supervisors may find themselves determining the best way to help team members resolve team conflicts, or even reminding team members of the appropriate ways to respect others in the workplace. 

 

Interviewing Candidates

Building teams can be a challenging task. Supervisors have the challenging task of determining who is the right fit for each role. Interviewing candidates can be a time-intensive part of this process. Making the right judgment calls to know if a candidate is a right fit for the position can be part of this process. Part of this also involves assessing how a candidate’s experience matches the demands of the position. 

 

Conclusion

Being in charge might sound like fun, but there’s a lot of responsibility behind the title of a supervisor. Many roles are required to perform the job as it’s intended. Good supervisors participate in the interview process, create team schedules, manage workflow, and assign tasks to their teams, all in a day’s work.

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Business Opportunities · Company Culture · featured · Find Your Way · Grow your business · Leadership · Success

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Entrepreneurial Lifestyle · Find Your Way · Grow Your Business · Leading Your Team · Productivity · Your Mindset

Entrepreneurs are often ambitious people. After all, it’s no easy task to start your own business. Only the tough and determined strike out on their own, especially during tough economic times, such as a recession.

Regardless of your business, there’s one thing you need: goals. Creating a business without having goals is like creating a building without a blueprint. How can you create a successful business if you don’t have an idea of what you’re working towards? 

There are several different types of business goals. Here’s an overview of a few types of business goals you can create for your small business.

Financial Goals

Financial goals can be among the most critical when it comes to ensuring your business not only survives but thrives. 

Without a keen eye on the various costs it takes to operate your business, you could be spending money on the wrong things. You might also be overestimating how much profit your business is generating.

If your business doesn’t yet have a budget or a detailed tracking system for monthly expenditures, this should be your first financial priority.

If your business started as a one-person side hustle, you might not have strict controls on how you track your expenses and your profits. But, as you grow, even if you maintain your current business model, it’s critical to analyze your costs and your profits to ensure you don’t miss opportunities to make money. 

Besides having a clear-cut way of tracking expenses, here are some other financial goals:

• Increase cash flow
• Decrease business expenses
• Increase profits
• Increase monthly sales
• Experiment with promotions to drive more sales

Operational Goals

Think of the big businesses you know about. Within these large companies, there are several smaller departments. Although each department contributes to the company’s larger goal, each department has its focus. The sales team isn’t trying to figure out how to provide better customer service. The customer service team isn’t trying to figure out how to market a new product. Each team has its own goals. So, in this way, each team is its own operation.

A goal that is specific to an operation is called an operational goal. Creating operational goals can be especially important when you’re transitioning your business from solopreneur mode into a bigger business. When you’re used to doing everything by yourself – maybe your business started as a side hustle business of one – you’ll need to clearly define how your business will transition as you bring people on. Or, perhaps you’re in growth mode with your business – you’re a locally known company, but you’d like to become regionally known – and to achieve your goals, you need big, operational goals to make this happen.

Typically, operational goals only involve one department. So, if your goal involves more than one department, it probably isn’t an operational goal. Your customer service department might have the operational goal to track customer satisfaction and increase it. Your sales department might have an operational goal of increasing sales. But, these goals are unique to each department, and they are specific to each area of your business operations.

Strategic Goals 

Strategic goals keep your vision in mind and create goals based on your vision of the future for the company. If it can be measured, it can be managed. Without a vision, people will perish.

Take these two principles and combine them, and you have the idea of creating strategic goals.

You can’t create strategic goals for your business if you haven’t already thought about your desired vision for the future. You also can’t create strategic goals if you haven’t given thought to how to measure success. How will you know when your business – or business unit – has become successful? What targets have you set? What does mediocrity or excellence look like?

Strategic goals are those that can be acted on. They require measurable actions. 

Time-Based Goals

As you create your business goals, it might seem intimidating to set a timeframe for action. However, studies have shown that writing down your goals makes it more likely for you to achieve them. While you might be afraid of setting a goal and failing, it’s important to put a timeframe for your goal. This will increase your chance of success.

Cultivating a growth mindset will help you increase your confidence in yourself in spite of any obstacles you’re facing.

The goals you create should always specify a time frame. These goals can be: 

• Long-term: Long-term goals might be to increase employee retention, increase profit margins, or increase customer loyalty.
• Medium-term goals: These are goals you set after you’re able to celebrate being in business for your first year. Many new businesses simply don’t make it past this significant milestone. But, once you get to this point, you can begin to make goals that have a longer time horizon.
• Short-term: These are the goals for the earliest days of your business. As you are creating a product or establishing a business, you’re striving to find your niche, identify your target customer, and focus on a main product that you’ll be known for selling.

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Goals

The numbers don’t lie or quality over quantity. Which statement do you lean more towards?

Quantitative goals rely on numbers. Using math, numbers, or statistics, you can create a goal based on hard data that can’t be disputed. Qualitative goals are much different. They use not-so-easy-to-measure traits that still matter, but that doesn’t rely on numbers. 

Outcome vs. Process-Oriented Goals

Another way to think about goals is to re-frame the purpose of a goal. Many people feel that the reason for creating a goal is to achieve a certain accomplishment. This is where an outcome-based goal comes into play. For example, in January, many people make a goal to lose weight but quickly find that obstacles face them in the new year. They create an outcome-based goal, but the reality of obstacles interferes with their success.

For this reason, process-oriented goals are often easier for many people to achieve. A process-oriented goal creates several milestones for success, and success is found in the process, not in the final destination. So, for the person striving for weight loss in a new year, this person would instead create mini-habits that are likely to cause them to lose weight. Their process-oriented goals might be to eat a salad three times a week or to enjoy flavored water instead of a regular soda. Each time the person achieves one of these mini-goals, they are succeeding in the process.

A similar process can be used in business. Small mini-goals can be created that are geared towards the outcome that is desired. However, missing a goal doesn’t mean failure. It simply means that the plan can continue, and success can eventually be found later on, by trying the process again.

Conclusion

Creating goals is a fundamental process of finding success in any business venture. There are various styles of goal setting, based on the desired outcome. Planning takes an idea, puts it into motion, and is the first step of turning dreams into reality.

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Business Opportunities · featured · Find Your Way · Grow your business · Leadership · Your Mindset

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Finance · Find Your Way · Grow Your Business · Leading Your Team · Your Mindset

 

Whether on a desktop, a laptop, or a mobile device, the average person is immersed in tech, and often bombarded by ads. This means that your small business needs to be tactical, smart, and strategic when trying to get the average person’s attention. After all, you’re not the only person trying to do so!

It takes strategy and thought to stand out above the competition. Part of this strategy is knowing what kind of marketing will give you the best chance at meeting your goals. Mobile marketing and email marketing are two types of marketing that are among your options.

How many hours a day do you spend on your cell phone?

How many hours a day do you spend on your email?

Mobile marketing and email marketing are two of the most powerful digital marketing strategies in today’s business landscape. As more and more people use their mobile devices to browse the internet and make purchasing decisions, it’s crucial for businesses to adapt their marketing strategies to reach customers where they are.

In this article, we will explore the similarities and differences between mobile marketing and email marketing, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of each strategy. 

 

Mobile Marketing

 Mobile marketing refers to any marketing effort that targets consumers on their mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. This can include mobile-friendly websites, mobile apps, SMS and MMS marketing, and mobile advertising.

Cell phones are so commonplace that a company that doesn’t use mobile marketing isn’t just behind the times; they’re actively disadvantaging themselves from the mainstream.

There are a number of ways mobile marketing can become part of your overall marketing strategy. 

First, before implementing mobile marketing, know that there are privacy issues associated with this. You’ll need to have a clearly defined data protection policy before you proceed. You must consider how you will store consumer data. Consider the laws of the jurisdictions that may apply to you.

Next, think about if an app might be applicable to your business. Is an app suitable for promoting your product or your services? Could an app help you reach a wider audience, or to become more efficient? Apps can often reduce the number of labor costs.

Primarily, though, consider how you will use the mobile function. Will you send text message notifications? Will you send reminders to your existing customers? Using location-based technology, will you try to target potential customers to drive sales? Finally, consider what your site looks like using a mobile device. Ensure that it is equally appealing as it would be to a desktop user. These are just a few possibilities for mobile marketing.

 

Email Marketing

Email can be a pleasure or it can be torture, depending on your perspective. At work, many of us are required to use email. In our personal lives, email can help us keep in touch with friends or with family members. It can also help us stay updated about causes we care about. But as a marketing tool, email can be a powerful tool.

Email marketing involves sending promotional messages, advertisements, or newsletters via email to a list of subscribers. Currently, it is one of the most effective ways to reach out to potential customers and build relationships with existing ones. Emails sent can include a variety of content, such as product announcements, company news, blog posts, special offers, and more.

One of the main reasons email marketing is so effective is that it allows businesses to target specific audiences with personalized messages. Marketers can create campaigns that are segmented based on demographics, behavior, location, and other criteria. This ensures that each subscriber receives content that is relevant to their interests and needs. This is one of the reasons why using email marketing can increase customer conversions.

Here are some times when you would want to implement email marketing:

• If you’re a new businesses that want to build interest by keeping prospective customers updated. 
• Established businesses that want to build a customer newsletter.
• Businesses with a customer database who want to reward these customers with exclusive promo codes, coupon codes, or special promotions. 
• Before and during a new product launch. 

These are just a few ways that email marketing can work for businesses, with minimal effort.

Once prospective or current customers opt-in to your emails, make sure your emails are high-quality. Don’t spam those on your list, and make sure to offer an easy way to opt out. 

 

The Difference Between Mobile Marketing and Email Marketing

While there are some similarities between mobile marketing and email marketing, there are some differences.

Mobile marketing can be tailored based on the person’s location and other specifications. So, it can be considered more personal. This more personal nature is also because customers using mobile devices are said to be more serious about their intention to purchase. Mobile marketing is done with the intention to convert someone into making a purchase. It can be a powerful tool for creating sales. It should be noted that mobile platforms typically have limitations that desktop platforms do not. Some functions that can be seen on a desktop or laptop may not be visible in a mobile app, so it’s important to keep this in mind. 

Email marketing is a more general or passive way of marketing. After the customer opts into your emails, you will send them content. But their content is the same content that everyone receives. Email marketing, while it might not immediately cause someone to make a purchase, contributes to the good reputation of the brand. Email marketing also reminds people of the brand and of its value to the consumer.

It is important to note that some mobile marketing strategies perform better than email marketing when it comes to engagement. SMS text open rates are an amazing 98% compared to just 20% of emails. However, in terms of ROI, email still a leading money maker. Email marketing generates $42 for every $1 spent in ROI, and is 40x more effective in new customer acquisition than any other popular current marketing channels such as social media paid ads.

 

Conclusion 

As you create a marketing plan for your business, marketing options abound. Understanding the differences between mobile marketing and email marketing can help you choose the best strategy for your business. Based on your own experience alone, you know that the modern world is full of technology. By incorporating the best of both worlds, you can maintain the good name of your business and create sales in the process.

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Business Opportunities · featured · Find Your Way · Grow your business · marketing · Sales · Technology

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Find Your Way · Grow Your Business · Marketing · Technology · Your Mindset

Entrepreneurs, small business owners, and anyone in a leadership position understand the challenges of supervising a team. We’ve all heard stories of horrible bosses. Chances are, you’ve got a horror story of your own. However, a great boss makes a big difference within any company. This supervisor will inspire the team to work together, respect each other, and share ideas. A positive attitude will spread.

Whether you’re learning how to succeed as a new manager or you’re striving to improve your management skills, you can make a difference. Several key skills are necessary if you want to succeed as a supervisor. Here are some tips on how to be a good supervisor.

 

Adjust Your Managerial Perspective

If you’re already a supervisor and unable to overcome some of the typical challenges supervisors face, it may be time to change your perspective. Changing your managerial perspective means switching your approach and seeing your position in a new way. It also means viewing your team through a new lens. This shift in your perspective will help change your mindset and, ultimately, the way you lead.

The first step to changing your perspective is to identify and understand your current perspective. What are your beliefs, assumptions, and biases about management? What are your goals and priorities as a manager? Once you have identified your current perspective, challenge your assumptions.

 Ask yourself if your assumptions are based on facts or if they are simply your own beliefs. Look for evidence that supports or contradicts your assumptions. Then speak with your peers about your findings. Begin to create a picture of the type of supervisor you want to become.

 

Develop Strong Communication Skills

Whether it’s on a phone call, in a meeting, or an email, setting the right tone is important. Regardless of how you communicate, it’s critical to maintain a professional tone and demeanor, even in situations that may be filled with tension or conflict. Treating employees with respect at all times is imperative.

Part of being a good communicator is managing the demands on your time. Email alone can be overwhelming, and it can become a huge distraction from the most important parts of your job. However, if left unresponded to, unanswered emails can leave an impression that you are unresponsive or unengaged.

Designating a certain time of day to respond to routine emails will help you from becoming overwhelmed. This will allow you to protect your time and maintain a reputation as a good communicator.

Another aspect of clear communication is adapting your message to different audiences. This can come into play if you’re hiring new staff or training them to do your jobs. 

Part of being a good supervisor is being able to explain company or department policy, break down what is unclear, and clarify the difficult parts.

Your new employees may have different work experiences, and they may have different backgrounds. As you speak with them – individually or in groups – it’s important to look for cues that they understand or do not understand what you are saying. Body language can offer clues that they understand what is being said. Do not assume that your message is being understood. Assumptions are often wrong. 

 

Learn to Delegate Well

Delegating is just one of several qualities of a good supervisor. It can be a difficult task if you’re used to doing everything by yourself. Very often, delegating becomes an exercise in trust. This can involve building strong business relationships, following up on the status of projects, and managing multiple projects. Delegating means placing trust in other people so that they can handle something just as well as you can. This involves teamwork, and it can allow other people to show their expertise.

This is crucial as it allows you to distribute tasks effectively and efficiently. Doing this will free up your own time to focus on higher-level responsibilities. Here are some tips to help you learn to delegate better:

• Identify tasks that can be delegated- Look for tasks that can be done by others on your team. These may be tasks that are routine or require less expertise than your own.
• Choose the right people- When delegating tasks, choose team members who have the skills and expertise to complete them successfully. Consider their strengths, interests, and development needs when assigning tasks.
• Provide support and resources- Ensure that team members have the resources they need to complete the task successfully. This could include training, tools, or access to information.
• Trust your team- Trust that your team members will complete the task successfully.
• Monitor progress- Check in with your team members periodically to ensure that the task is progressing as expected. However, be sure to void micromanaging or over-controlling the process.

 

Provide Coaching and Guidance

Coaching and guidance from a supervisor can help employees excel in their jobs. This can be an important piece of turning a job into a career. An employee may be curious about their future with the company, and a supervisor who takes an interest in their professional development can quickly turn into a mentor. 

Seeing the positive potential in your employees before they see it themselves is part of what makes you a leader, not just a boss. 

You can be a great coach by providing guidance for employees that are ready for more responsibilities. Great supervisors empower employees to move towards these opportunities, even if it means losing them to a different team within the organization. 

Great supervisors empower their teams to aspire to excellence.

 

Be Approachable

As an employee, you probably developed relationships with your peers by smiling, saying hello, and asking them how their weekend was. As a manager, being approachable takes on a whole new meaning. Your job title adds a layer of intimidation to those who report to you. 

Consider this: Have you ever asked your team for their thoughts on something, and heard nothing but silence? Chances are, there were ideas, but there was something in the room: fear of what might happen if those ideas were communicated.

It takes time and trust for a manager to be seen as approachable. Your employees will take cues from you as to whether or not you are truly approachable. You communicate approachability by how you treat employees and how you respond to employee feedback. This contributes to an overall impression in each employee’s mind as to how candid they can be with you, and how approachable you are. Employees need to know that it’s “safe” to offer ideas, or else they will remain silent.

 

Reward and Recognize Good Performance

Everybody’s working for the weekend, but recognition and rewards can build morale. Good supervisors do their best to offer rewards and recognition. This can be in the form of monetary bonuses and regular verbal or written praise that the employee is doing a good job.

When employees are recognized and rewarded for their good performance, it motivates them to continue performing well. It also helps employees feel valued and appreciated in their roles. One of the reasons for low employee engagement is the lack of recognition in their jobs. 

Lack of recognition can also hurt employee retention. Good employees often quit their positions if they are performing well but are not recognized for their efforts.

 

Provide Constructive Feedback

Another way to be a good supervisor is to provide constructive feedback consistently. When constructive, quality feedback is missing, this can be a huge barrier to a team’s performance. However, effective supervisors know that they can coach their team members toward high performance. 

Part of this requires setting clear expectations for each employee. This also means that when a team member doesn’t meet those expectations, feedback is given. Great supervisors give clear, fair, constructive feedback that is intended to guide every employee toward success.

 

Ask for Feedback

Although an important part of your job is to provide feedback, if you want to improve as a supervisor it is also important to gather feedback about your job performance. By soliciting feedback from your team, you can identify areas where you may need to develop your skills, knowledge, or approach. When supervisors ask for feedback, it demonstrates that they are committed to improving their performance and are open to input from their employees. This can increase employee engagement and satisfaction, as it shows that their opinions are valued.

Also, supervisors who seek feedback from their employees are more likely to make informed decisions. This is because they have a more complete understanding of the impact of their decisions on their team and organization. Too often, a decision is made by a leader with good intentions. But some well-meaning supervisors often overlook how a decision that benefits one employee, makes the job of another employee more difficult.

Asking for feedback about your own performance can insure that you are not ignorant of your shortcomings. It will ultimately show that you are dedicated to becoming the best supervisor you can be.

 

Conclusion 

Many employees don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses. Being a great supervisor can make all the difference. Learning how to be a good supervisor requires developing several skills, and this takes time. Trust is one of the most critical elements to inspiring and developing a team. Over time, managers can become leaders, inspiring confidence in their teams to achieve more than they thought they could.

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Company Culture · Entrepreneurial Lifestyle · featured · Find Your Way · Grow your business · Leadership · Mindset

Article Categories:

Find Your Way · Grow Your Business · Leading Your Team · Your Mindset

 

As a business owner, profit may be at the top of your mind. However, planning should be too. Often, you can achieve what you want, if you simply create the goals that will get you there.

Goal-setting might seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. There are some easy, simple ways you can set goals for your small business. Here are five ways to get started. One of the reasons businesses fail to reach their goals is that they didn’t set goals the right way.

Setting goals is essential for measuring progress and evaluating the success of your business. By setting measurable goals and tracking progress towards achieving them, businesses can identify areas where they are excelling and areas where they need to improve. This enables them to make informed decisions about how to adjust their strategies and tactics in order to achieve better results.

Whether you are a single-person business, a small startup, or a large multinational corporation, having clear and well-defined goals can help you to achieve your objectives. In this article, we will outline a few ways to set business goals.

Create a Mission Statement

What’s the reason for your business? What should people remember about it? If you don’t have a mission statement, now’s the time to create one. If you’re not a fan of mission statements, you might want to re-think how you perceive them. Consider your small business mission statement as the goal that your company will never stop working towards.

In only one sentence, how would you describe what you do? Why does your company exist? Don’t try to be catchy; be honest and accurate. 

Here’s some inspiration that shows how a mission statement captures the essence of a company:

• Patagonia is “in business to save our home planet.”
• Google wants “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
• Primal Kitchen’s mission is “to change the way the world eats.”

So, create a mission statement for your company that shows why your company is special and what you aspire to do.

 

Decide on the Type of Goals You Want to Set

Not all business goals are the same. During your goals-setting process, it is a good idea to clearly identify the type of business goals you think are important to your business. Knowing the type of goals you want to set will help you stay focused on the vital aspects that will sustain the health of your company.

One type of goal that you may want to set are strategic goals. These are long-term goals that align with the company’s mission, vision, and values. They focus on achieving growth, market leadership, and sustainability. You may also want to set financial goals as well as non-financial goals for your business. Having a mix of the two will ensure that you do not neglect some areas of your business while pursuing a profit.

Finally, you’ll also want to identify the goal term. Are you setting short-term goals, medium-term goals, or long-term goals? If you are a brand new business, some important first-year business goals may need to be set. The same is true if you’ve been in business for a few years. 

 

Assess Your Challenges & Strengths

Once you have a mission statement that succinctly identifies what you want your company to do, assess where you are today. Make a list of challenges and strengths related to that goal.

What has to change? What’s going well? Let this be a freeform list of whatever comes to mind.

For example, if your mission is to be the leading seller of ladies’ fashion in your neighborhood, you’ll need to evaluate your competition. Here are some questions that could come to mind:

• What can we do well that our competitors aren’t? 
• Are we offering clothing that is on-trend and in-season? 
• Can we meet customer needs in ways that our competitors can’t? 
• How can we create a marketing plan that will make women want to shop here?

As you evaluate the current state of your business, you may find that you need to make some adjustments along the way.

 

Create Some Micro Goals

While you may not have plans for world domination, your mission statement gives you a general idea of where you want to go. It’s the smaller goals you’ll set that will get you to that big-picture future. This is done by setting a few micro goals

Micro goals allow you to break down your larger business objectives into manageable tasks. By doing this, you can avoid feeling overwhelmed. This also helps ensure that you are making steady progress toward your ultimate goal. These types of goals also help you identify potential roadblocks and make necessary adjustments along the way.

Additionally, micro goals provide a sense of accomplishment and motivation as you achieve each one. There is nothing better than celebrating small victories while on the road to your ultimate goals. This sense of achievement and progress can help keep you and your team motivated and energized.

Setting micro-goals can keep your business on track and ensure that you are making steady progress toward your larger objectives. It allows you to focus on the details instead of getting overly fixated on the big-picture.

 

Evaluate Your Results

As you create your goals, remember that your goals exist to serve you, not the other way around. If you find that your goals are too ambitious for where you are now, you can revise them. That’s what long-term goals are for: the distant future.

The short-term goals are for where your business is positioned now. Enough success at these goals will allow you to ace your goals, and you’ll be amazed at your progress. Success builds upon success.

So, evaluate your short-term goal-setting and the results. What went well? What didn’t go well? Did you learn something in the process that you didn’t anticipate learning? Keep notes or a journal of your observations. It might be useful later.

 

Repeat the Goal-Setting Process

Evaluating the goals you’ve already set is an important part of the goal-setting process. With the notes or journal you’re keeping, you’ll have a record of things you’ve learned. What went well and what didn’t go well? What should be done differently next time? These are all things that will help each time you set new goals.

Once you’ve completed some rounds of setting short-term goals, you’ll want to create some long-term goals. Set a general vision of where you’d like your business to be a couple of years from now. 

Some examples of long-term business goals include:

• Selling our items at trade shows and festivals
• Increasing demand so high that we need a second location
• Selling our products in-person and online
• Maintain great customer reviews 
• Profits of a certain amount

 

Conclusion

In his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey suggests to those who want to achieve success should “begin with the end in mind.” This is a great way to think about how to set goals for your business. Envisioning where you want your business to be in the future might seem difficult, but it’s crucial for your success. Creating small goals based on where you are now will provide an appropriate challenge for your business. Achieving several cycles of success on small goals will create large wins for your business. 

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