Introduction:
Time has a habit of changing things. The business landscape evolves, markets shift, and competition changes. Your internal capability may be a lot better or a lot worse than you bargained on. Regulators may have made specific business segments more complex or new technology breakthroughs may make previously lucrative opportunities obsolete.
As a result, it is important to regularly evaluate whether your short, medium and long terms business goals remain relevant and aligned with your current business situation and with your business vision.
Why should business goals stay relevant?
Our business goals are like a compass that helps guide our business towards the overarching vision we have set. But just like a compass, our goals need to be updated and recalibrated periodically to ensure that we’re still on the right course.
Pursuing goals that are no longer aligned with the company’s vision and mission or that are no longer relevant to the current state of the business and the market may result in:
- Wasting valuable resources, including time, money, and manpower
- Wasted effort and loss of productivity
- A lack of motivation and morale among team members
- Missed opportunities
- Loss of focus on long-term objectives, and
- Degradation of the company’s culture and performance.
Signs your goals have become irrelevant
To determine if your goals are still relevant, ask yourself these questions:
- Are market conditions unchanged since we established our goals?
- Are we meeting our customers’ needs with our current products or services?
- Are our competitors still the same as when we established our goals?
- Have our competitors moved some or all of their focus to other opportunities?
- Have we achieved any significant milestones since setting our goals?
- Have we adapted to any new technologies that have emerged?
- Are we still able to allocate the necessary resources to achieve our goals?
- Are our goals still inspiring and motivating for our team members?
If you did not confidently answer “Yes” to most of these questions, then you may have goals that have lost relevance. The next section helps you with some practical steps to determine the truth.
Making sure business goals remain relevant
Determining whether your goals are still relevant is a straightforward process that involves re-evaluating your current situation, market conditions, and competition. Here are some steps you can follow:
Revisit your original goals:
Take the time to review your original goals and assess whether they’re still the right goals for your business.
For example, perhaps your original goal was to increase revenue by 20% in the next year, but your business has since pivoted to focus on improving customer satisfaction. In this case, it may be necessary to adjust your goals to ensure they align with your new business priorities. By regularly reviewing and adjusting your goals, you can ensure that you’re always working towards the most important objectives for your business.
Assess your current situation:
As your business grows and changes, it’s important to periodically reassess your goals and ensure they still align with your current situation. This requires taking a step back and evaluating your financial situation, market conditions, and competition.
For example, if you set a goal to increase your market share but a new competitor has entered the market, it may be necessary to adjust your goal or strategy. By regularly reviewing your goals in light of changing circumstances, you can ensure that you stay on track and continue to make progress towards your vision. Remember, flexibility and adaptability are key to achieving success in a rapidly evolving business environment.
Consider your future expectations:
To ensure your business stays on track to success, it’s important to regularly evaluate whether your goals still align with your long-term vision. Consider the changes that have occurred in the market and in technology and think about how these changes may impact your business. Are there new opportunities you should be pursuing? Are there new challenges you need to address? It’s important to take a future-oriented approach and ensure your goals reflect your desired business outcomes, rather than simply being a continuation of what you’ve done in the past.
By keeping an eye on the future and aligning your goals accordingly, you can position your business for success and growth in the years to come.
Ask for outside perspective:
It can be helpful to seek input from others, including business advisors, industry experts, or even members of your team, to assess whether your goals are still relevant and achievable. These individuals can provide valuable perspectives based on their own experiences and insights, helping to identify blind spots and potential pitfalls that may have been overlooked.
For example, a marketing expert could help evaluate whether your current marketing goals are still in line with the latest trends and best practices, and a financial advisor could help assess whether your financial goals are realistic given current market conditions. Seeking input from trusted sources can ensure that your goals remain relevant and aligned with your overall vision for the business.
