5 Easy Ways to Communicate your Business Goals
About the Author:
FRANCES CARLISLE
General Manager at HRtoolkit
Frances is the General Manager of HRtoolkit, a busy HR consultancy practice. HRtoolkit provides onsite and virtual HR services including an online HR document toolkit for businesses throughout NZ.
Do you have your goals for this year clearly defined? Whatever they are, from global domination to spending more time on the water, you need to plan to achieve them.
As a business owner you will understand the importance of clear goals, but will have also learnt that you need the help of your team to be successful. Staff are an essential resource in helping you achieve business success, and there are a few golden rules to convincing your team of the authenticity, importance and relevance of your strategic goals.
One of your most important tasks as an employer is to evaluate, support, motivate and influence the performance of your team.
Below are five approaches that will help you communicate with your team and encourage behaviours that advance your business strategy.
1. Keep it simple
Most businesses have a deeper meaning or purpose to why they exist. This influences strategy and decision-making by employers, but often isn’t communicated effectively to employees. It’s important that your purpose is simple, inspiring and at the core of all your communications, this will help your team understand how their day-to-day activities are linked to the aspiration and success of the company.
2. Communicate your goals
The timing and process you use to communicate your goals are vital. Focus on the people working for your business and make sure you have the right people in place. Consider everyone who’s going to play a part in assisting you, if you have team leaders, get them involved in this process early, ask for constructive feedback and make adjustments to your plan if necessary. Remember to provide managers with easy-to-implement formats for bringing their teams together, with toolkits that include all the materials they will need.
3. Tell a story
If you want your plans to capture the imagination and support of your team, you need to consider the delivery and the audience when announcing your goal. Facts and figures won’t be remembered, so tell a story. Think about the benefits, but once you’ve captured their imagination it’s time to discuss financials. Your team will want to know why the goal is important and how what they do makes a difference to the health of your business.
If you are asking your team to put extra effort into a project, they need to understand why they are doing it. Once your team takes ownership of your business goals, they will get real satisfaction from achieving effective solutions.
If your staff doesn’t have the same level of passion for a project, ask yourself:
Do they have a clear and simple understanding of what’s required of them to sustain the business?
What are they passionate about?
Can you utilise these passions to support your goal?
4. Have a consistent communication framework
Not all messages are created equal, so it’s important to develop a consistent framework for presenting your business goals.
Inspire your team by demonstrating their progress against your business goals, your message will have more impact and create a lasting memory if you energise your team with an inspiring message.
Educate your team by explaining the reasons behind the company's strategic goals, make sure you provide job-specific tools that employees can apply to their day-to-day responsibilities.
Reinforce the connection between the strategy and it’s execution by connecting them with effective performance management tools. This will help you recognise and reward people who come up with smart solutions and positive change.
5. Invest where it counts
As an employer you will understand how important your employees are, they are often your largest expense and they communicate directly with your customers. If you are aiming for shifts in behaviour and performance, you need to decide what you are willing to invest per employee to help them understand your business goals.
Finally, reassess your plan regularly, identify specific business triggers or ‘moments in time’ that would signal the need to review and possibly revise your plan and schedule these into your annual goal- setting workshops.
General Manager
HRtoolkit
0800HRtoolkit
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