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STEP THREE: DEVELOP SPECIFIC GOALS

Communicating your business mission is one thing; knowing how you intend to achieve your mission is another. If you are going to build a winning team, you and your employees must know exactly what it takes to win. What are the critical levels of performance that will lead to success in your business?  Most businesses compete in just a few areas, such as the quality of the product or service they provide, their ability to deliver a product or service within a specified time, or service at a certain cost.

You should identify five to ten measurable areas of performance that are critical for achieving your business mission. To identify these areas, do the following:

1.  Review your mission statement. Your mission was derived from what you learned about the needs and wants of your customers. Now break these needs and wants down into specific, measurable areas of performance. For example, if "quality" was a critical customer concern, think about how you can measure the quality of your product or service.

2.  Make a list of your competitors or potential customer.  Regardless of your business, you have competition or the potential for competition. Sure, right now you might be lucky enough to be the only provider of a particular product or service for miles around. But never assume that your "monopoly" will stay that way for long, particularly if your success is due to customer demand. Before long, someone else will recognize that customer demand, and you will find a new competitor just across the street. Before you can set goals you must have your competition clearly in mind.

3. Set long-term goals to beat your competition. With your competitors firmly in mind, decide on the level of performance you need in each of your critical areas in order to beat the competition. You can find out how well your competition is doing by asking around or simply observing them. If you belong to a national business association, check with it to see if it compiles any statistics concerning industry standards in the key areas you have identified. If you don't have any competition right now, or if you have no reliable source for competitive information, you may just have to guess. Regardless, decide upon a level of performance you think you'll need to be the best in your field.  Then comes the crucial step. Consult with your employees and get them help you set a performance goal or target for each area.  

Don't just set the goals yourself in isolation. Share with your employees what you have learned about the performance level you need in order to compete, and ask them what they think they can do to help reach these goals. If the long-term goal you have set seems too difficult, try setting an interim target or short-term goal they can shoot for right away.

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