Tag Archives: SMART

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Play By the Rules But Be Ferocious

“Play by the rules but be ferocious” is the advice given by Phil Knight, co-founder and past chairman of Nike. I believe that all of us need to take this to heart and make some adjustments in how we lead and run our businesses!

There is no need to be ruthless, dishonest, nefarious, or unscrupulous in any way. However, if we want to grow our businesses we need a “fire in our belly” . . . we need to be ferocious!

Can you imagine if your favorite professional sports team was not driven to succeed? I know we always complain about the overall performance of our teams (like the Calgary Flames!) but when you watch them play, they do play the game ferociously. Anything less would be pathetic!

What if this season they decide they are going to play a non-contact style of hockey? Or what if their leadership fails to create and communicate a strategic plan for the season? What if they fail to assign team members to positions or to clearly define the roles each team member is to play? What if they don’t build a sales and marketing plan and fail to reach the sales targets they need to remain viable?

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How to Get Employees to Crush Your Business Goals!

How many times have you seen corporate goals or objectives rolled out to an organization in a company-wide meeting? At first, the employees are all fired up, they clap exuberantly, and then they forget about them within 24 hours!

In another situation, the goals are presented in a vaguely worded poster attached to a company wide email. The employees speed read the email and promptly “file” it to the deleted bin . . . along with any memory of the goals.

Not setting business goals properly is a big mistake that renders them almost useless! Furthermore, when you do not properly communicate them, no matter how well you define them, they are doomed to failure!

I have seen this quite a few times over my career . . . The corporate poster gets rolled out with tons of flashy graphics, bullet points and 9-point font. It is an amazing work of art but there is no organizational buy-in and no accountability. In fact, the goals are usually “dumbed” down so that they look and sound good on the poster but they really mean nothing.

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How to Use Powerful Goals to Ignite Your Business

12 Steps to Business Transformation – Step 5

Over the last four weeks, I introduced my Ebook 12 Steps to Business Transformation and I defined the first 4 of the 12 transformational steps. This week we are going to talk about Goals.

Defining the Goals for your business is step 5 in my new Ebook “12 Steps to Business Transformation.”

Goals take the business strategy and break it down into digestible steps. Clearly defined Goals allow the organization to focus on the most important aspects of the company strategy at the most important points in time.

By establishing and achieving SMART Goals, you are executing the strategy which will move you closer to your mission and ultimately your vision. Powerful goals aligned with your strategy will ignite your business!

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What Are SMART Goals and Why Should You Care?

Business goals that are well worded, feel-good platitudes are useless. Properly defined SMART goals that your staff understand and contribute to, will align your organization and drive it towards your mission and vision!

Everyone has been talking about setting SMART goals for years so I am amazed at times when I see corporate goals that are really just a high level objective statement. Business leaders must set SMART goals if they want their organizations to be aligned and motivated towards goal achievement.

I have seen many examples over the years of how powerful SMART goals can be. I have seen: