Everybody wants to be successful in life. In whatever we do, our primary
aim is to be successful in it. But we realize that often time, our
plans take another turn, in the course of execution, or fail totally to
yield desired results. This is always the case when we fail to put
certain measures in place, or act in ignorance of important steps and
considerations.
Consider when you set goals for the year, and at
the end of the year, it turns out that you are yet to achieve any of the
goals you had set. This exposes a lapse in harmonizing one's personal
discipline and attitude, with goals-both personal and organizational.
In
this article, I will outline 5 important tips for successful goal
setting and entrepreneurship. These tips can help us set viable goals,
and effectively implement courses of action that will lead to the
achievement of such goals.
1. Setting SMART Goals:Goals
define our role and generally challenge us to be better. It also
motivates us to be unwavering and persistent on a particular task.
Therefore, goals that will yield positive results must be
SMART. This means that our goals must be;
a. Specific.
b. Measurable.
c. Relevant.
d. Timely and
e. Attainable.2. Organization:Our
business goals should be broken down into smaller goal sets, with
specified role requirements, and carefully assigned to different people
to carry out.
However, you should ensure people who are
responsible for a particular role, are trained to efficiently and
effectively carry out their task. You should also oversee the processes
to ensure they remain in harmony with set goals.
3. Efficiency:In
carrying out actions that could lead to the achievement of goals, there
is a great need to be efficient and knowledgeable enough in assigned
roles. Hence, regular training and evaluation is required to ensure
utmost efficiency in a goal getting process.
4. Accountability:This is a very vital aspect of our existence. We need to be accountable to ourselves and others too.
The
African Managers Initiative Team suggests that having an Accountability
Partner can address the lapse between our desire to be accountable, and
actually being accountable.
what is an accountability partner?An accountability partner is a person who coaches another person in terms of helping the other person keep a commitment. This
Accountability Partner should be someone you trust and respect-
preferably a senior colleague or a partner. He/she should be one who can
hold you responsible to your goals, and speak up without fear when you
lose focus or go wrong. This latest invention by the African Managers
Initiative has shown high level of practicability and success.
5. Time Management:No
matter where you are or what you do, time is always of essence, and
should be smartly managed for optimum benefits. I will write about time
management in my next article. But it is worthy of mention here, as
everything I have outlined above could fail if time is not properly and
smartly managed and used.
Research shows that every one hour
wasted amounts to a corresponding hourly income loss. This is
essentially true in core areas of our business life, as inputs directly
determine expected output-all other things being equal.
We should
therefore be keen on deploying the best suited time management
technique for our unique goals and roles. This, I believe is the engine
with which every other measures work
