Setting goals for the business is one thing, but in order to succeed, you need to set smart objectives for your team.

Any good business will have a set of goals that have been agreed upon by the management team. However, to achieve those goals, they need to cascade, throughout the business. For example, if you want to grow sales by 10%, each of your sales team should have an objective to achieve revenue that is 10% higher than last year. If you want your people to move in the same direction towards a common goal, you need to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives for each member of the team.

Biting off more than you can chew can be demotivating. Therefore, the best way to set realistic objectives for your team is to start small. For example, rather than asking your customer-facing team to sign up 120 new clients this year, break that goal down into smaller monthly chunks and set an objective to sign up 10 new clients per month.

Laying out the small, attainable stepping-stones each month can have a much more positive effect on motivation.

Ensure that you and your team write down your objectives. This helps commit them to memory. Objectives should be revisited regularly and keeping them visible can help to keep them top of mind. If a goal is staring you in the face because it is on your computer desktop, you will be much more likely to do something about it.

Ensure that you set measurable objectives for your team members. Agree on metrics at the start of the year and ensure that a monthly reporting system is in place. Whether you measure – sales, headcount, revenue, or production levels, will depend on the objective – the key is being able to measure progress on a regular basis.

Putting the right reward structure in place can motivate your team to drive forward and achieve their objectives. Consider what sort of incentive structure would work well in your firm.