Setting targets and goals is key to growing your business through better performance. Deciding on a rhythm to set targets and monitor progress is one of the first decisions to make.
Depending on what type of business you are in, what your goals are, and who will be executing your plan you’ll need to find a rhythm specific enough for you to manage actual results against expectations and make course corrections if necessary.
Strategic target setting doesn’t have to be on a monthly & annual basis, although most accounting tools will report in this way.
- You can make five year targets for your business, which are the big lofty goals of where the business is going in the medium to long term.
- You can make annual targets for your business, based around the calendar year or financial year.
- You can make seasonal targets, based on a three, four or six monthly period if this makes sense for your business.
- You can make monthly targets, which are most common in accounting.
- You can make weekly or daily targets to help monitor progress on a day to day level and to help motivate staff.
One way to begin would be to sit down with an advisor and look through your books to see how your business works. You can then trial one way of setting targets and reassess after a few periods to see if its working for you.