The first part of goal setting covered four basic components: 1) Take enough time, 2) Link goals to your vision; 3) Put your goals in writing and 4) Make your goals CC:SMART. This post will go beyond the basics to integrating your goals into a systematic process or a strategic plan. Goals that are intentionally linked into a process are more likely to be achieved.
The system that I developed and use is call the Integrated Business Strategic Plan. It’s a comprehensive planning process designed to achieve your vision for all your roles from a yearly, monthly and weekly perspective. It consists of three parts:
- CC:SMART Yearly Goals
- Monthly Plan
- Weekly Tasks
1. CC:SMART Yearly Goals. For each role in your business, you should list 3-5 crystal-clear SMART goals that you want to accomplish for the year. These goals are completed yearly and reviewed quarterly. To do so, go back to your draft SMART goals to select and revise the goals that you want for each role for that year. They should be stretch goals to help push you to grow and take risks to accomplish them.
2. Monthly Plan. Based on your yearly goals break down each goal and develop a monthly plan for all the tactical steps that need to be completed to achieve that goal. This plan is completed yearly and monthly and reviewed weekly. This plan will give you a good approach for what needs to be accomplished that month.
3. Weekly Tasks. The last part is listing out the weekly tasks under each role. This is completed weekly and reviewed daily. While the amount of tasks for each role might shift, a good rule of thumb is to list 1-3 tasks per role. This weekly task sheet should replace your daily to-do list. At the start of each week, I plan the week for my business around each of the major roles. It allows me flexibility and ensures that I’m making progress in all areas of my business. Before I plan for the upcoming week, I review the previous week to evaluate my progress. Compared to a daily to-do list, I find myself rarely needing to carry anything over from the previous week.
Utilizing an integrated system like the one I described above is invaluable for taking your goals and making them part of a planning process that works. In the next post, I’ll share ways to measure and track your goals.
Janae Bower of Finding IT – Inspirational speaker, award-winning author, training consultant
p.s. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to take advantage of my free gift to you around developing your personal mission, vision and values at www.findingIT.com.
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