It’s that time of year when we review how our business and team has performed and set our objectives for the year ahead. And as the CEO you set the direction of your business, with the input of your team of course!

Even through a time of change, it's important to have clear objectives of what you want to achieve as a business and use those to create tailored objectives for yourself and your team.

I know you have a business plan (written or stored in your head) with short, medium and long terms plans for astronomical growth, but you’ll never achieve your goals if you aren't setting objectives that pave the way.

Start with the end in mind - Stephen Covey

Your business objectives should be the golden thread that runs through every team and individual goal.

“91% of companies who have effective performance management systems, say that employees' goals are linked to business priorities”

Simply put, your team will be more effective if they can see how their individual goals fit into the big picture.

So how do you set those business goals for the year ahead:

Firstly, Review:

What was the best thing that happened in your business in the least 12 months? What one thing you will never do again? What was your biggest learning?

Secondly, Know your numbers; Income, Profit, Customers (new and recurring)

You want to set achievable but stretching objectives, you can’t go from £100,000 to £1,000,000, use last year's data to help you set realistic goals.

Third, Do your research

What are your competitors doing? What do your customers want? What skills or technologies do you need to develop?

Now you are ready to set your business objectives::

Try to set at least at least one objective for each of the four elements and don’t forget to ensure that they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timebound.

Financial - Income and Profit Goal

Customer - Number, Type, Niche

Internal process - What can you make more efficient?

Learning and Growth - What new skills do you need to develop within your organisation?

Setting focused business goals, will make it so much easier to set team and individual goals.

Next week, we will take you through the process of sharing your business objective with your team, decimating them into individual goals, so that you can take them with you on your journey to astronomical business growth.

Need help developing your strategy? Book a HR Strategy session here