Setting business aims and objectives

4. PESTEL – Short for Political, Economic, Social, Technology, Environment, and Legal. Under each heading list factors and developments both recent and potentially happening in the future, then examine how these will effect your business and its future.

Create a list of long-term business goals – 5-8 goals are good for a newly trading business – and express them as statements that you want to achieve over the next few years.

For example, increase revenue by 50% and profit by 20% over five years, or attract and retain the best employees to increase retention by 30% and becoming the number one place to work in your area.

Set short-term business objectives

Short-term business objectives typically apply to the actions and objectives you want the business to achieve in the financial year.

They should work together to help you achieve the longer-term strategic goals.

Objectives focus on what your company will do to get there and are usually described as numbers and targets.

They should be able to be allocated to teams and individuals to carry out, with milestones and targets to achieve.

One of the most useful tools to help set the right objectives is to set SMART objectives, short for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time bound.

• Specific – Objectives should target a defined area, such as customer service or marketing.
• Measurable – What are you trying to change? How do you measure it? Set a target to achieve over the next 12 months.
• Achievable – Make sure the objective is stretching but possible. Too hard an objective is demotivating and can prevent staff from seriously attempting it.
• Relevant – Ensure the objective makes sense to the specific area it is focused on and how it is aligned with your longer term goals.
• Time bound – Make sure the objective has specific time periods or deadlines applied, such as to achieve a target within 12 months or by a certain date.

An example SMART objective for a restaurant chain could be to increase customers by 10% over the next 12 months compared to the previous financial year, with customers increasing spend by 20% to an average of £25 per head.

Collaborate on business goals with employees and stakeholders

Building goals and objectives is a great way to involve your staff, working with them to define the goals and objectives.

Staff who feel they have a say in defining goals and objectives are more willing to own them and work towards achieving them.

They also bring in lots of insights – such as conversations and feedback from customers – that will be useful in setting the right objectives.

Involving your team will also ensure you don’t set objectives that are impossible or alternatively not challenging enough.

Use workshops, meetings, 1-2-1s and team sessions to build objectives.

Start by explaining the broader longer-term goal, then work together to agree the types of actions needed to achieve these goals.

Workshops can also be used to prioritise and allocate objectives between employees or explore things that could get in the way of achieving objectives.

Monitor and measure progress

Once your business objectives have been set, invest time in ensuring they’re regularly monitored and that progress is measured.

At a minimum create a checklist of objectives and regularly review progress against them – though you can use online project management tools such as Basecamp and Teamwork to list all the goals, actions, and targets and who is responsible for them.

Hold regular review meetings for the team to share progress against targets and use the time to discuss actions needed to ensure that the company meets its business objectives.