From goals to growth reality

Transforming your goals from dreams to reality requires action that involves planning, measuring and accountability. So, let’s look at these three areas and how they form the bridge between a concept and a reality.

Planning

Once you have set a goal, you need to identify the steps required to enact it. That might entail hiring additional staff, sourcing additional products, or investment in extra equipment.

But the aim is to clearly identify exactly what you are looking to achieve and then work backwards, outlining all the small steps you need to take to make that goal happen.

This forms the road map and checklist of each individual action you need to take to enact that goal.

Checklists

The path from goal to reality is paved with checklists and at this point they are your best friend. Say for example, you have identified you wish to increase production of a product…

Your checklist might include

1. Obtain quotes on additional equipment required
2. Investigate costs of equipment installation
3. Source a business loan or draw on available equity
4. Set timeframe for equipment installation
5. Prepare worksite for addition of equipment
6. Create enough product to see you through site downtime during installation
7. Hire additional staff for increased output
8. Distribute marketing to alert customers of increased product availabilit
   

Ultimately checklists with set timeframes ensure you hold yourself accountable.

Measuring

In addition to establishing checklists, as a business you also need to measure what you’re doing, and this usually takes the form of KPIs (key performance indicators). KPIs hep you answer the questions of business and identify when the time has come to take action.

In other words, they often act as triggers.

For example, what metric do you need to reach to know when you actually need to increase production of a product?

KPI’s also help you measure success. So, when you implement that new equipment, the KPIs you reach ensure you understand that the investment in new equipment for increased production is paying off.

Like checklists, KPIs ensure you stay accountable. If you are not reaching your target figures it’s an indicator something is not working and either the goal needs to be revised or the way you seek to achieve it needs to be changed.

Accountability

We’ve already talked a lot about accountability, but there are also other ways in business to hold yourself accountable to your aims.

These include writing things down, incorporating them into your business plan, and openly sharing what you are looking to achieve.

You can also ensure you remain accountable by setting aside time each week to work on a specific goal. The allocated time doesn’t have to be huge but is designed to allow you to progressively achieve your aim.