4 reasons why you should set company goals

This morning I was reading Mark Suster’s blog post regarding metrics and goals for startups which resonated with me. So I decided to write my first blog post about importance of goals inside your company and why I think most companies fail at doing so. Below is an extract of Mark’s blog post:

“…And the more public you can make your goals for these key metrics the better. Make them widely available inside the company and share your most important goals with your board. Transparency of goals drives performance because it creates both a commitment and a sense of urgency…[For Example] the surest way to run a marathon is to tell everybody you’re going to do it (transparency). Even better is to tell them which race you’re going to run in the near future (urgency). The best yet is to raise money from them for a good cause – then you’re SURE to run it (commitment). Nobody likes to raise money then look like a loser.”So why is it important to set goals inside the company in all levels from top level broad objectives to low level team-based goals?

• Increased Visibility:
  Having clearly defined goals allows employees to align and relate what they are doing to company goals, which in turn creates synergy, motivation, and sense of purpose. In reality not many companies have goals, or if they do, they are not visible enough which leaves the employees and teams guessing their responsibilities and success metrics.
• Increased Responsibility:
  When everyone in your company understands both the broad corporate objectives and specific team goals, it makes it very easy for them to make decisions, initiate tasks, and work with little supervision. This is like driving your car using GPS; by knowing your broad goal, i.e. your destination, and your specific goals, i.e. turning right on the next intersection, it is very easy to make decisions and correct your action without anyone in the passenger seat to tell you which way to go.

• Achieving Things Faster
  There is no argument when you have goals set in place with deadline, things get done faster. Do you would ever hand in your course assignment in school if there was no deadline? Having set goals with deadlines allows teams to focus on priorities and get things done at the speed of light…just make sure you don’t overstress your team.

• Better Collaboration
  having goals in place units your team to work together to achieve a shared objective. If there is no clear objective in place, people are less likely to share, collaborate, and help each other. Do you think if sports team didn’t have a goal, i.e. to score and win, would work in such harmony together and create such bonds?

Setting goals, making plans to achieve them, and tracking progress is extremely important to your companies success. In my future blog posts, i will be writing about specific techniques to set and track company goals.