13 Key Ways to Stay on Track to Achieve Your Business Goals

As the first quarter starts to come to a close, companies are starting to see whether their plans for the new year work as well in practice as they do during the planning phase. This offers organizations a chance to course correct, adjusting goals and procedures before things become too set.

Clarifying your yearly benchmarks takes some initiative and effort, but is a worthy way to ensure your company follows the correct course. To establish what people are planning to do this year, we asked 13 entrepreneurs in the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

“What goals and benchmarks are you setting for your business in 2018 and how do you plan on achieving them?”

Your Business Goals: Ways to Stay On Track

Here is what YEC community members had to say:

1. Break Down the Goals and Benchmarks

Breaking down business goals and benchmarks to team level accelerates the progress. The development team knows what they need to do to take the company to the set benchmarks and so does the sales team and all other teams. Also, encouraging employees with instant rewards is something we are planning to do in the coming year. This will keep them motivated and on track to achieve the goals. – Liam Martin, TimeDoctor.com

2. Give Ownership to Your Team

No single person can do it. Show your senior team members how to lead, and show your entire staff how to be passionate about what they do. Allow them to have full ownership of their projects, and give them the freedom to make decisions. Learning to navigate mistakes will make them more efficient with less oversight in the future, and will make them more valuable to your overall vision. – Ali Mahvan, Sharebert

3. Ensure More Flexibility

Setting goals, while absolutely necessary, can be restricting, as well. In 2018, our team’s primary goal is to stay nimble and adaptive. The pace of change across all industries is rapid, and the best operations will work toward traditional goals while at the same time preparing to jump at unforeseen opportunities. – Ryan Bradley, Koester & Bradley, LLP

4. Eliminate Projects and Services That Don’t Sell

All products and services are not going to be best sellers and when something does not sell, it’s easy to get frustrated and give up. To keep myself and my team on track this new year, we’ve decided to eliminate the one product that has not been selling (after trying to market it three different ways to various audiences). It’s time to trash it and move on! – Kristin Marquet, Creative Development Agency, LLC

5. Set and Surpass Reasonable Goals

The most effective strategy I’ve discovered when it comes to setting up New Year’s resolutions is to start with a modest goal and work to surpass it as much as possible. This same approach has served me well in business — I set a goal which will require some work, but is reasonable to accomplish within a quarter or so. From there, I encourage my team to greatly surpass this modest goal. – Bryce Welker, CPA Exam Guy

6. Set a Number-Based Goal

Last quarter, we had each employee set a specific number-based goal. Jessica will drive 1,200 new users a month to our site with Facebook, or Keith will increase our conversion rate at checkout by 1 percent this quarter. The results were amazing when each employee had a tangible goal that they were working to achieve. In 2018, we will take it even further by doing this once per quarter. – Scott Baxter, PlayYourCourse

7. Embrace Controlled Chaos

In 2018, managing our collective psyche and being comfortable being uncomfortable is what’s most important. When there are countless things that we want and need to do, or to continue to improve, it can become difficult to prioritize what gets done and avoid becoming overwhelmed. We need to find calm in the chaos, and we need to embrace and enjoy the process. – Brett Maloley, ladder.fit

8. Reconfirm That the Team Is Sold on Your Vision

I am a big believer in the fact that money should never be the incentive to get someone to perform at their peak level. I always hire people who I know for a fact believe in my vision for the company as strongly as I do. I have noticed, time and time again, when an employee chases money, it always tends to run out. They will always want more of it. You will always have to come up with more of it. – Rafi Chowdury, gannett.com

9. Create KPIs for Employees

One thing that I’m working on is setting up key performance indicators for all of my employees. As our company has grown, we’ve done a good job setting up KPIs for new employees, but now have to circle back with earlier employees to make sure that everyone has measurable goals in the new year. – Syed Balkhi, OptinMonster

10. Create a Culture of Ideation

I’ve noticed that some of our best product features have come from our customers or team members. So my new approach for 2018 is to ask the team for more ideas and accelerate the culture of ideation within the organization. If we can work to execute the best ideas, 2018 will be the best year yet! – Jared Atchison, WPForms

11. Seek Perspectives on the Technical Side

As a company leader, it’s my job to set goals, but I want as much input as possible from my team about the best way to achieve them. We employ people who are experts in a specific technical domain. They’re an incredible resource, so I make sure their voice is heard as we make plans for the coming year. – Justin Blanchard, ServerMania Inc.

12. Focus Our Focus

It’s easy to go into the new year excited and ready to tackle every goal you can imagine. I am going in and reminding my team that the year is not a sprint, but a marathon. We need to be diligent and work steadily-hard to accomplish our goals. I don’t want anyone to burn out. So, although I enjoy the enthusiasm, I am going into 2018 calmly, ready to help focus my teams focus. – Ben Landis, Fanbase

13. Find and Hire Experts

We knew early on that we wanted 2018 to be a strong year for us, both in growth and quality content. In light of that, we sought the expertise of business coaches and hired more people for leadership roles. By making these changes, we have created an opportunity for growth and success in the upcoming year. – Shawn Rubel, Eezy