Clear and oriented business goals provide direction to the company and contribute to the company’s growth. Furthermore, it builds trust in the company’s leadership, helps define priorities, and keeps employees engaged. Taking the example from some of the seasoned practices used by the best UI UX design agency India, the following article summarises a couple of methods we used to set the company objectives.

Identifying the company’s goals and objectives 

Like every business or company, there is a mission that drives Onething Design Studio. This mission guides our work and our work is to thrive under this mission. 

Well, it’s not all talk and no action. To achieve growth and to let the mission thrive, you need a plan. 

It’s always a good thing to narrow in on your goals. For instance, if the company’s goal is to increase growth, the possible questions to zero in on would be;

• In which area do we want to achieve growth? The number of users, revenue, or some other business area?
• What level of growth are we expecting to achieve this year?
• How do we intend to achieve it?  By increasing brand awareness or the number of staff?

The more you narrow in on your company’s objectives and mission, the closer you get to figuring out your highest-level goals. Having a growth target for the year is a good place to start with. These are typically shared via email or a meeting at the start of the year. Besides, every objective needs to be clear, feasible and of course attainable.

Keeping a track of goals

Identifying a company’s goals and objectives is only the starting point.  While everyone seems to be driven and motivated in the beginning, over the course of months, the targets begin to fade in the background as newer demands take over. Remember, ‘out of sight, out of mind?’ Project management tools are useful to keep a track of the goals. 

Showcasing the track record in a visible place for all employees is even better. On a notice board in the common area, perhaps? This way, everyone can have access to the progress. Furthermore, the process becomes transparent and less intimidating for the employees. Other benefits of displaying the goal progress are—

• It is a gentle yet motivating reminder 
• It is an example of transparency and trust 
• It showcases leadership direction
• It encourages everyone to do more and better as the results are for everyone to see.  

Adding employee names to the progress record and placing emojis or stickers against their photo makes the track record even more attractive. It is also a great way to keep up the team’s productivity. 

Working on milestones

Ok, so the objectives, the highest-level goals are defined, and the track record is displayed in a common place to which all employees have access. What next? 

Identifying clear milestones. Yes, this step is an integral part of the company’s action plan and also an important step to conquer. Milestones need be to—

• Specific: They have to be measurable, like a number, or a percentage. The more specific the metric, the more attainable the milestone gets. 
• Well-timed: A good milestone needs to be achieved within a target time or a deadline, say within the first quarter or the second quarter. 
• Guided: The milestone won’t be achieved on its own. Assigning a team and a team leader with definite responsibilities marks the progress and ensures that the milestone is achieved. Using task management tools is a good idea at this step. 

For instance, if the company’s objective is to increase brand awareness in the market, accelerating web traffic by 10% in the first quarter would be a milestone to achieve. 

After the milestone has been identified, there needs to be an action plan and a deadline. 

Celebrating Success

This is perhaps the most rewarding step in the entire process. Sharing updates about the success and congratulating employees for the work done is the culture of Onething Design Studio. Celebrating success after conquering a milestone is a great way to boost the team’s morale. 

When a design campaign goes viral and helps you achieve that 10% web traffic target for Q1, the success of the milestone cannot just be placed on the notice board with a star pinned against the team leader’s name. This calls for a bigger celebration. Celebration is a great way to keep employees engaged and of course, everyone deserves a pat on the back once in a while. 

Sometimes milestones are missed and things don’t work according to the plan. The shortcomings also need to be relayed to the employees. This is also helpful to prioritise work before it’s too late.

Learning from the past

This is the final stage which can be used as a reference for future projects. It is easier to take an example of past learnings because everything is recorded. There is a record of identifying the goals, and a progress track record of their achievement. Using these records as a template for future projects helps to analyse the process, its strengths, and shortcomings. It can also be used to outline newer or improved company objectives. You can optimise the process by asking questions like ‘Was this really the best decision?’ ‘Could there be a better, smarter way to achieve this target?’ 

Bottomline

In your success journey, company goals are the destination you want to reach, the objectives are your road map and your GPS, the milestones are the signs on the road that tell you are in the right direction, and your company projects are the roads that help you reach the destination.

Of course, every company should have its own methods, but experimenting with a couple of the above-mentioned best practices will help you figure out what works best for you.