All You Need to Know About Goals

  1. What are Goals?
  2. Why are Goals Important?
  3. How to Set Up Effective Goals?
1. What are Goals?

A goal is something you want to achieve within a finite time by setting deadlines. Goals are related to people's life and career plans or the goals of a company or organization.

Goal Setting

Goal setting is a process of thinking about your ideal future and motivating yourself to turn your vision of the future into reality.

The goal-setting procedure must have the SMART criteria aligned, that is:

  • S for specific
  • M for measurable
  • A for attainable
  • R for relevant
  • T for time-bound
2. Why are Goals Important?

By setting realistic goals, organizations establish a distinguished path to success and realize their vision. The following are the key factors that make goal setting a must-have process for any organization.

  1. Goal setting boosts performance, drives profitability and scalability, and promotes growth.
  2. Goals give you purpose and clarity at work and help you stay dedicated to your tasks.
  3. Goals help you acquire knowledge and organize your time and resources.
  4. Goals raise self-confidence as you recognize your ability and competence to achieve goals.
  5. Goals give you an overall perspective that shapes all other aspects of your decision-making.
  6. Goals help you review your plans and improve the quality and reality of your goal setting.
  7. Goals help you set boundaries that guide you away from unnecessary distractions.
  8. Goals improve concentration and allow you to apply focus and direction in your everyday course.
  9. Goals enhance the quality of one's life by making one work toward their fullest potential.
  10. Goals help you put in your best efforts and grow professionally and personally. Without goals, your efforts may become haphazard and often confusing.

Setting goals is necessary if you want to succeed and sustain the momentum of progress in your life. Therefore, every individual, whether working or non-working, can use goals to enhance their progress toward achievement.

3. How to Set up Effective Goals?

Here are some best practices that help you set quantifiable goals and achieve the desired outcome.

a. Set attainable, challenging, and effective goals

Your goals must be clear, specific, attainable, and effective. You can develop the important skills, talents, and abilities necessary to function well in your career and advance within your organization.

b. Involve employees in the goal-setting process

Employee participation in goal-setting is important from an organizational standpoint. It creates an open, honest, and insightful conversation between employees and managers. Additionally, the manager can work with the employee to develop a plan of action to accomplish the goals once the employee's goals align with the company's objectives.

c. Align employee goals with the overall organizational objectives

It's important to align employee goals with team goals and team goals with business goals. Aligned goals create an atmosphere of familiarity where everyone in the organization works together towards a shared goal. Therefore, by aligning goals, the employees' priorities are cleared, and the employees get a sense of how their contributions are building toward team and organizational goals.

d. Set SMART goals

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. This approach eliminates guesswork and provides a clear timeline to track progress and stay on the course. 

  • Specific: Vague goals don't yield results. Specific goals give people a purpose and can help people spring into action. 
  • Measurable: Your goals must be measurable to show your development. Quantifying your goals by incorporating measurable, trackable benchmarks will enable you to re-evaluate and course-correct when needed. 
  • Achievable: Goals should be realistic and achievable. An achievable goal will help you answer questions such as how I can accomplish this goal, whether I have sufficient resources to achieve my goal or not, how realistic the goal is, and other goal-related constraints.
  • Relevant: For effective goal setting, an individual must also ensure that their goal is relevant. Relevant goals are those that you are willing to put your efforts into and accomplish the set goals by improvising on your existing routines.
  • Time-bound: Setting a clear time frame to achieve your goal is essential to success. Set a realistic deadline for yourself to complete your task. If you don't achieve your goal within the set timeframe, then it's time for you to re-evaluate and re-assess.