Individual and Team Goals - How They Work Together
There are so many online articles about goal setting and no matter where the research comes from, one thing is for sure- it all leads back to the efficacy and positive impact of writing down your intentions.
Having documented goals and a plan, complete or not, will yield better results than an idea and a hope that it happens. If we operate on the idea that all the studies agree, the Wedding Industry Report shares that only 8 to 10% of people who set a goal achieve it and that less than 50% of people even set a goal, we are getting down to a mere 5%.
According to IBISWorld Wedding Industry Report, the industry employs 965,046 people in 336,296 Companies. We are a relatively tight-knit group of individuals in an industry that does not know the meaning of 9 to 5. Because we are at the mercy of the economy, the weather, and our clients’ needs in setting our schedules, it is more important than ever to sync our personal goals with our team goals to be sure we are all working toward the same end.
Starting the process
For the New Year and a new start, ask everyone on your team to put together their own goals and objectives for what they would like to achieve for the coming year and their future lives. Make sure their plans cover themselves personally and what they would like to accomplish in their career. Knowing where your staff wants to be or where they see themselves is key to your future as an owner and, if you are an employee, it will be vital in understanding how you fit into the company's landscape for the future.
When we take our individual goals and come together as a team to set our "Team Goals," we will be more in tune with our individuals' needs and automatically become better equipped in achieving success. It would be easy to demand that each team member follow the Team Goal as part of the job, but the buy-in is critical. When we achieve buy-in of the team, working towards our goals, we will assure that each member is working to accomplish the work to bring the team success.
How do we create goals for team buy-in?
To create Team Goals that everyone can get on board with, we need to follow the SMART framework. Your goals will need to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely.
· Specific Goals will lay-out precisely what we want to achieve. It will state what we want to accomplish and not deal in generalities.
· Measurable Goals will have high water marks that tell us if we are achieving progressively. We can lay out in steps or client counts or dollars, but it needs to have a specific measure to know we are achieving success.
· Achievable means that we are reasonably sure that we will achieve our goal if we follow the steps and progress measures. Buy-in will mean that each team member has looked at the destination and feels reasonably sure that we will achieve them.
· Relevancy or reasonableness of the goal will also increase the buy-in and expand the view of the goal's achievability. A relevant goal has meaning for the company and its members (if the company is successful, the individuals will be successful).
· Timeliness of a time-based goal will ensure that the goal is perceived as time-sensitive and create a sense of urgency for execution. When our team buys-in to the plan, they agree to the timeline and achievable in the time given.
Creating our Team Goals
When we come to the table to set team goals, with our personal goals in hand, we understand our goals and, in turn, our limitations, and our buy-in to the team goals will mean that we know we can accomplish them. Isn't this precisely what we want, not a blind follower who may or may not help us achieve what we need, but preferably someone invested in our team's success?
We need to keep in mind that we need to remain flexible and willing to alter our goal if we find that it is not working the way we want. Perhaps we did not foresee an obstacle or an inaccurate timeline for completion because we missed a step, such as a permit process, postponement, or budget cut by the client. Being unwilling to alter the team goal will cause the team to lose focus or cause them to stop believing in the plan's achievability or relevance and defeats our purpose.
Lisa Krumm Anhaiser, CPCE, and graduate of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, is the founder and owner of Creating the Map for Success. She shares her knowledge with other businesses by educating via one-on-one consultations and speaking engagements. Lisa is also the founder of LBL Event Rentals in Houston, Texas, providing quality linen and event rentals to the area for over 20 years.
