Success is about setting the right goals

As the holiday period approaches, the Premier League has some familiar faces in the relegation zone. Southampton, Wolves, Crystal Palace: they have all suffered relegation in recent seasons. What is more remarkable is who is missing from the bottom places.

Nottingham Forest and their manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, have transformed the team’s prospects in a matter of months. From a certain failure, they now dream of a future of European glory.

The key to this change in fortune is simple: goals. I’m not talking about the guy who ends up with a ball in the back of the net; I’m talking about setting big goals over a long period of time and building a system to achieve them. It works for Forest, the same tactic that can take your company from relegation to champion.

A different type of goal setting

According to Michelle Abraham, leadership development consultantGoal setting is a powerful tool for increasing employee motivation, accountability and fulfillment while helping everyone buy into the company’s vision. As a performance coach Akin Akinpelu emphasizes that it is equally important for leadership: “Without clear objectives, our productivity potential remains untapped. »

Goal setting is a well-documented business value-added activity, but most business consultants will recommend one of the standard goal setting frameworksoften OKRs or KPIs.

These are great tools, but I want to suggest a different method here. As an entrepreneur, I have developed a goal setting system for all of my business goals. I have just sold one of my companies to a company whose main investor is City Football Group, owner of thirteen clubs on five continents, I think there is something to be done.

Step 1: Visualize

Visualization is a powerful way to make ambition come true. The key to visualization is to allow yourself to dream big and see yourself achieving that aspiration.

To do this, I use a “what if” exercise. Project yourself five years from now and imagine your dream scenario for your business. What if you could actually expand your operations throughout the Midwest? What if you could overtake the biggest competitor in your industry? What if you could consistently achieve eight-figure revenue every year?

These may seem like huge, unachievable goals, but when you visualize, you don’t worry about them. You’re just trying to dream of where you want your business to go.

Step 2: Plan

You plan for success by working backwards from your dream. Start by going back a few years. Where would your company be in three years to achieve this five-year goal? Set concrete goals to prove that you are where you need to be. From there, determine the goals you need to achieve in one year to be on track for three years.

You can then plan backwards towards monthly, weekly and daily goals. In fact, you can even reduce this to hourly tasks you assign to yourself to achieve your goals each work day.

Once you have defined your goals, you can extend these requirements across your entire organization. Each person has a role to play in the overall goal, and each person’s goals can increase and decrease from an hour to a five-year trajectory.

Step 3: Perform

After formulating these goals, all you have to do is achieve them. In football terms, you just have to perform well on the pitch.

This is what the director of Nottingham Forest himself defends. In a recent match day column Ahead of Forest’s match against Newcastle United, the manager said: “We are happy, proud and determined to meet the challenge we set ourselves at the start of the season… The one thing I expect from the team, is that we were competing today and training the players. the next day in the best possible way.

Once you have your goals – the challenges you set for yourself – all you have to do is do it “the best way possible” to achieve them. This philosophy certainly works for Forest. This worked for me. I think this can work for your organization too.