Expert Panel: Setting & Achieving Annual Goals

A smart CEO understands the value of creating New Year’s Resolutions not only for their personal lives, but in regards to their business as well. As you look back on 2021, consider what’s worked for your business and areas that need improvement. Analyzing past performance is a great way to start planning for the future!

From industry and business consultant experts, here are some tips to help you stay on track with your annual goals this year.

“In many circles, New Year’s Resolutions have become a punchline as much as a practice. Why? Because, the percentage of fulfillment is abysmally low. Of all the studies I’ve looked into, the highest completion rate was 11%. However, businesses only grow to the degree that their business leaders grow. In almost every case, the CEO is the bottleneck and if they grow the company grows with them. As a result, resolutions and reinvention have to become common practice and we need to hit a much higher success rate than 11%. If you are leading a company that is trying to grow, personal growth is absolutely required. No exceptions. By aligning change with your passion, identifying simple changes and doing the mental work, you will undoubtedly be able to beat the 11% odds.”

– Dan Ralphs, CEO/Founder of Dream Leadership Consulting

“I have not always been a quote-lover or quote memorizer, but one particular quote has stuck with me and guided me throughout my professional and personal life. And the funny thing is, I don’t even recall who said it. The quote is this…’Life is about making progressive, positive, changes until perfect.’ And I added this phrase to the end…’and enjoy the climb!” To me this involves setting goals to help me become my best self, and having fun with it! In particular, I set annual goals in the following areas–Physical, Intellectual, Social, and Spiritual. These goals are then broken down into bite size chunks (monthly goals). Most of us have heard of the acronym “S.M.A.R.T.” goals, which stand for Specific, Measurable, Aligned, Reachable and Time-bound. I also added an “S” to the end, which stands for Stretch. S.M.A.R.T. goals should also be a bit of a stretch to obtain and cause us to get out of our comfort zone a bit.”

– Shane Campbell, Human Resources Consultant

“Setting goals is a critical part of my year end planning. The past couple of years that whole process for me, has started at a conference for restorers, on an island, and far away from my office. It has been an opportunity to sit with some very like minded people, and really look at my company from 30,000 feet, to see what needs to be done in the coming year to either keep the company on track, or to adjust and make some changes.

For 2022, I am looking to do a couple of things, #1 – I would like to increase the amount of everyday residential water losses we are receiving. Goal #2 is to become more efficient operationally with regards to how all of our water damage projects are set up, monitored, documented, closed out, invoiced, and finally paid out. Goal #3 is getting better management tools for our leadership, starting with key performance indicators (KPI’s) for staff members.

The key to all of these is having good data from previous years. If you have a good accounting program, or a good project management platform, you likely have some, if not all of the information you need to take a look under the hood of your own company. You’ll be able to see if you’re on the path you would like to be on, or if you see some changes need to be made!”

– Kevin Hussey, Owner of United Fire & Water

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