Having clear goals is key to the success of an SME. This ensures that a company’s actions actively contribute to its vision and promotes a targeted approach to using resources. Clear goals also help you to focus on the most important things for the business. Goals provide direction, establish accountability and help you to measure success. It is all the more important to review the company’s goals on a regular basis and formulate them appropriately. But how do you actually do this?

Set SMART goals

A common approach is the SMART method, which helps you to align your goals to five suitable criteria:

• Specific: describe your goal in as much detail as you can. Precise instructions are crucial.
• Measurable: include criteria which you can use to measure the progress of your goal – both for quantitative and qualitative goals.
• Attractive: frame your goals in an inspiring way so that everyone involved wants to get behind it. In this way, the goal will also be accepted. Visualizing your goals can also help with this.
• Realistic: set realistic goals that are neither too big nor too small. Your goals should be challenging but not cause a lack of motivation as everyone knows from the beginning that they cannot be met. They must be achievable.
• Scheduled: make sure each goal has a beginning and an end so that everyone knows when the goal should be achieved.