Achieving Your Goals For The Year

Goals, Plans, Massive Action!  The route to success.

So, you’ve had your strategic planning session and you’ve set your goals. Now it’s time to figure out how to reach them with a solid plan and then put the plan into action. 

Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.

Pablo Picasso

As you’re developing that plan, the first step is to break the goal down into monthly and then daily goals.  Small, easy to chew bites.  Depending on the goal, that might be as simple as a math problem, for example, dividing up the number of total accounts to be gained in the year among the branches and then by the number of people contributing. Or it might be as complicated as a full analysis of the prerequisite pieces that must be put into place first, like developing a new product, which would require competitive analysis, product pricing, systems confirmation and development, a marketing campaign, and staff training.  Each of these is a sub goal in your plan. 

No matter what the goal, once the plan is developed, tasks must be assigned for each step in the plan.  Who’s going to take the action? Is it an individual or team? When will the task begin / end? Do they have the needed skills to be successful?  Or is an upgrade in skills needed?  People achieve goals, “the bank” does not.  Each person is an important piece of the puzzle. 

Do you feel each member of  your staff, no matter what their roll, understands how they can affect the goals of the bank?  If not, why not?  In order to contribute, everyone must know what their role is in the bank’s success.  They need to understand their importance and they need to feel important.  They need clear expectations of their results.  It’s not about just going through the motions to check it off the list, it’s about the result of the action.  Taking action is very important of course, because thinking about it doesn’t make it happen, action does; but when it comes to reaching goals, the action must be the right one, done the right way, at the right time, leading to results.  Each individual must contribute.

THAT is what gets “the bank” to the strategically planned goals.

Contact The James Paul Group to explore how empowering your people with the right skills, attitude and level of engagement can help your bank accomplish your goals for the year!