Ray Titus, CEO of United Franchise Group, shares insights from four decades of business experience regarding the necessity of goal setting, particularly during times of economic uncertainty. He argues that leaders who avoid setting goals due to fear or lack of process are discarding their roadmap exactly when they need it most.
The Core Methodology: Focus and Ambition
Effective goal setting requires a balance of simplicity and ambition. The article outlines a specific framework for maintaining focus:
- Limit Priorities: Companies should maintain a one-year and a three-year plan, revisiting them mid-year. Crucially, plans should be limited to no more than three primary goals to ensure strategy does not devolve into a cluttered to-do list.
- Adopt BHAGs: Goals should be Big, Hairy, and Audacious. Setting challenging, specific, and measurable targets forces the organization to stretch. Even if the absolute target is missed, the progress made by aiming high is superior to playing it safe.
Execution: Ownership and Measurement
Titus emphasizes that a goal is useless without organizational buy-in and a plan for execution:
- Involve the Whole Team: Engagement creates ownership. Leaders should survey teams and gather ideas to define critical priorities. Furthermore, success benchmarks should be tailored to the maturity of the specific business unit rather than applying a one-size-fits-all metric.
- Define Lead Measures: It is not enough to set a revenue target; leaders must identify “lead measures”—the specific daily or weekly actions (such as calls made or milestones met) that drive the result. Success comes from executing these repeatable actions, not just staring at the final number.
Conclusion
Real business progress is achieved by focusing on daily execution rather than just end-of-year numbers. Optimism for the future is not derived from hope, but from the discipline and clarity provided by a well-structured roadmap.
Mentoring question
Do your current goals rely solely on tracking end results, or have you identified the specific daily ‘lead measures’ and actions required to actually drive those outcomes?