If you lead or manage in Finance or other support functions, chances are you are really busy.
It just seems to be the way it is in my experience.
Of course busy doesn’t necessarily mean productive or efficient.
You may well have at some point thought about team goals.
Or maybe you haven’t.
You might wonder what’s the benefits. They include in my experience:
- Clear focus
- People doing work that matters
- Making the best use of the resources at your disposal.
So how do you set goals that make your team more productive and efficient?
Ask yourself why the team exists
This might feel like a bit of an abstract question.
But if you think about it, answering this question will get your purpose crystal clear.
Speak to your clients
Now you might think that you don’t have clients if you are an in-house Finance function.
You do. They just happen to be internal clients.
Speak to them. Survey them. Find out what they really value from your function and what’s missing in terms of service.
Think in terms of outcomes
What outcomes will you deliver for the business?
Being clear about your outcomes will assist you in setting sub-goals to meet those outcomes.
Make sure that your goals are measurable
Vague goals result in vague results.
Find a way of creating goals that will be able to be measured.
Not just in terms of outcomes but also in terms of progress towards goals.
An added benefit is that it allows you to change your approach if what you are doing right now isn’t delivering what you had anticipated.
The Bottom Line: Having clear goals helps you and your team focus, do work that matters and makes best use of the resources at your disposal.