It starts at the top! What is your definition of accountability? Do employees know your company’s Mission Statement and do you review it with them regularly? Do you know details such as their names, goals, fears, talents, needs and concerns about your employees? Do you ask co-workers, your boss, employees and/or customers for comments and feedback? Do your employees have clearly defined goals and tasks? Can they measure how they are progressing and their accountability? Are rewards and recognition part of your well organized strategic plan? How do you celebrate when someone is doing a great job? Is your company well known as an exceptionally good place to work? This could help to decrease a current high turnover rate. Institute weekly meetings with employees to find out their ideas. Implement a 90-day training program for new hires. Develop uniform-rental, shoe-cleaning or restoration businesses at your company. Perhaps your goal is to add one to two more dry stores to your business operation. Advertise pick-up and delivery availability with apps. Your goals could include: wanting to resolve all customer complaints within a certain time period, insuring that all customers receive a return email/phone call by the end of the business day, hiring more employees for your customer-service department by end of year, and increase on-time clothes ready performance. Make sure your company has a Mission Statement that everyone understands. Objectives to attain for example, the goal of increasing annual sales by 15% could be to acquire 5 new route accounts each quarter. Everyone wants to run a profitable business. If not, here are some ideas and questions to help you get started: You may already have your goals in mind for 2020. Whether you want to increase revenue by 10% or add 2 new routes, specify when the result will be achieved. Time-based – goals cannot be chronologically open-ended.Relevant – state what results make sense given the available resources and current conditions of your industry.Include a plan that breaks down the overall goal into smaller, more manageable action steps. Attainable – don’t set a goal that is out of reach or not realistic.A measurable goal should include milestones and targets. Measurable – you need to be able to quantify an indicator of progress.Goal should be defined, focused and stated clearly. Specific – target a specific area for improvement.method is often referred to and associated with Peter Drucker’s popular Management by Objectives concept. Way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives, published in the November 1981 issue of Management Review. Doran first proposed this method in an article entitled There’s a S.M.A.R.T. technique is one of the most popular and simplest to implement. There are many ways to set goals, but the S.M.A.R.T. < A creative marketing plan to assure profitable annual sales increases.” < Search for new business opportunities, sites, services and products < A skilled, motivated and loyal workforce < Exceed our targeted customers expectations Use the following Critical Success Factors when deciding your goals: We end up just pressing clothes instead of managing and leading the business < We keep inferior performers and experience excessive turnover. < We don’t exceed customers’ expectations – quality is not up to par, clothes are late, buttons missing, etc., etc. < There may be a painful gulf between the goals we set and what we actually achieve Wonderful goals, but are they realistic or are they fantasies? Is it possible that: < We HOPE for sales increases of 20-30% for the year < We WANT to maximize our profits and make 20-30% on sales or 30% ROI < We want to develop a work-force that is loyal, motivated, highly productive, technically proficient and has very, very little turnover < We want to exceed our customers’ expectations “As business people, what can be our biggest frustration? We set up powerful images in our heads about what we want to be: founder Sid Tuchman entitled Goal-Setting: Fantasy or Reality. The following is from the files of industry legend and T.A.G. Annual goals should always support your company’s mission statement and guiding principles. At our February meeting we will delineate our main goals and stretch goals.
With the arrival of the New Year, the Tuchman Advisory Group begins the process of setting goals for 2020 and evaluating how we fared in accomplishing our 2019 goals.