As 2023 gets underway, it is time for small business owners to implement a plan of action. Business goals you see, whether big or small, serve as a driving force for both the owner and the employees.
The targets keep encouraging you to push forward, brainstorm and perform well to achieve what you set out for at the year’s start. When it comes to business goals planning, many of you may find it a relatively easier task. You may already possess great business knowledge and a futuristic vision.
But when it comes to executing your goals, the task is far from easy. This article will guide you on how to plan and execute your business goals for 2023. Keep reading below!
1: A Thorough Examination
If you already run a business, then you have to run a thorough analysis before you can plan your new business goals for 2023. We recommend using the SWOT analysis approach, which stands for:
- S= Strengths
- W= Weaknesses
- O= Opportunities
- T= Threats
By closely examining these elements of your business, you will discover its strengths and what your company excels at. Next, you will find out the weakness of your business and areas that you need to improve in 2023.
Next, your analysis will include the planning part, starting with recognizing the opportunities that await your business in 2023 and how to take advantage of those. Lastly, your plan should also include a threats-management plan for the obstacles that might pose problems for your business’ success in 2023.
You can compartmentalize the strengths and weaknesses of your business as an internal thing. On the other hand, opportunities and threats are the external factors related to your business. But the external factors deserve more consideration and attention, considering how they’re the most essential criteria in today’s highly competitive marketplace.
Today, small businesses are growing faster than ever; the more robust you are against threatening factors while capitalizing on opportunities, the better for your business.
2: Make Your Goals Actionable
When learning how to plan your business goals, remember that it is essential to make them actionable. If you outline unrealistic goals at the start of the year, your business organization will spend the rest of it struggling to catch up and still falling behind.
This will be a waste of funds, resources, and effort with no progress. Instead, let your business goals be SMART, meaning:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
Now while it is a great thing to structure your business goals for 2023 on the SMART structure, remember to be as meticulous about its execution part. As the saying goes, “It is not the destination but rather about the journey” you should know that the process of achieving goals is equally valuable.
When you’re making your goals actionable, they should be something the entire team can contribute and make work. For instance, if you own an Instagram business page, then instead of earning a million followers for the year, let your goal be posting four times a week to increase engagement.
The result of this action would be that you did not focus on the destination, which was a million followers by year-end. What you focused on was increasing engagement to create a path for a million users at least to be interested in your business page.
3: Consider your Business Vision and Long-Term Plans
Before you start planning and getting to work on executing your business goals, it is good to analyze your business vision. You have to identify your business scope and how it needs to mold itself over a period to achieve the business goals.
When you and your employees are sure of where you’re headed and why the knowledge will serve as the north star of the Magi. When you envision where your business should be headed within a certain timespan, the rest of your business efforts will be channels toward that destination.
4: Flexibility is Key
Flexibility is key to staying relevant and surviving without panicking about the worst. If anything, the pandemic has proved to small and big business owners how flexibility and expecting the unexpected can ensure continuity of goal accomplishment and business operations.
Of course, the idea is to create a plan and stay committed for the rest of the business year. But if new opportunities arise, ones you did not see coming your company’s way, you should respond. If all things align, even if you have to push and readjust things around, do so if it means greater progress for your coming.
Similarly, if you did plan all your goals within a set time and by the time that quarter ended and your goal remained unaccomplished, you need not pressure yourself. Do exert pressure on your employees, especially if you know something unexpected caused a delay in the business goal achievement.
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5: Track Your Progress
Now you may have made incredible business plans, and you may be executing them with firm precision. But how will you know how much progress you have made? Monitoring, you see, is an essential part of planning and executing business goals.
So once you have outlined the big picture for your business in 2023, we recommend installing tracking procedures to stay updated on your progress. In addition to other advantages, tracking your progress will drive your team’s motivation. Otherwise, if there is a flaw in your strategy, you can discover it and alter your business plan to restore progress.
You have heard about KPIs, which have been helping businesses track their business goals and review growth. Considering the volatile market conditions and the constant changes, the more you monitor, the more aware you will be of your business’ health.
Key performance indicators provide you with standard ratios that could give accurate insight into your business performance.
Some ways to measure your business progress in 2023 could include:
- Checking your business’ financial statements regularly, perhaps after every quarterly or month
- Keep monitoring your own expectations from your business and the team
- Stay updated on the market, and try to make contacts who would give authentic intel in record time
- Conduct reviews on the performances of your team and also of yourself as the business owner
- Keep a count of how many new customers you keep gaining on an average
- Stay current on the satisfaction level of your business customers
6: Separate the Micro Goals from the Macro Goals
The micro goals are ones that you will want your business to accomplish in a short span of time, say every quarterly or so. The macro goals will be your broader vision for the business in 2023. For instance, do you wish to launch a new product or service in 2023?
Do you wish to expand your team to 20 more employees in the next year, doubling operations and outcomes? The advantage of doing so is that you can put together a plan by listing your goals for 2023 in order of priority. This would also help you launch the path for the bigger goals to follow in 2023, especially close to when the business year is winding down.
While doing this, remember to set your micro and macro goals using the SMART approach. All of your goals should be:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic
- Timely
If a revenue increasing or expanding your profit line is among one of your business goals for 2023, perhaps you might include seeking financial advice in your business plan too.
7: Hold Meetings Frequently with Your Team
Once the new year begins and the team settles into their responsibilities and roles for the new year, the day-to-day operations can take away the focus from the goals. But as a business owner, you must make it a practice to meet with your team regularly to discuss progress and strategize for improvement.
Moreover, it may be an excellent opportunity to take feedback on the deadlines to encourage accountability and time management among the members.
Final Thoughts
While planning business goals for the New Year and strategizing to implement them are numerous benefits, it helps align the entire organization. By outlining goals at the start of the year. It drives the entire organization toward the targets set collectively for the year.
Moreover, another key benefit of planning and executing clear business goals is that it allows team leaders to recognize the sure tactics that lead them toward success. You can use the simple business goal planning and executing tips mentioned in this article to start the New Year on the right note.
