3 Ways to Set Goals with Employees

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Get Ahead in the Pet Franchise

A great teacher–Mike Schmoker author and former school administrator–said that, “Collaboration allows teachers to capture each other’s fund of collective intelligence.”

Taking this expression from the realm of teaching and using it for business is applicable. It takes teamwork, the fund of collective intelligence to make success. Especially in the pet franchise industry where employee synergy is essential.

Franchisees and managers strategy for setting goals plays a vital role in this collective fund– the instrument of financial success. No entrepreneur stumbles upon profit. Watching your business grow is not a passive act. It takes an immense amount of work. The starting point of that work is to set goals, not only for yourself, but for your employees too.

The Dominican University of California Study surveyed 149 participants in networking from a variety of industrialized countries like the U.S., Japan, Belgium, and India. Participants were surveyed on their success and means of goal setting. 70 percent of participants who sent weekly updates to friends reported successful goal achievement. The other side of that number reported differently. Those who kept goals to themselves or did not write them down surveyed less achievement.

Goal setting takes a tactical approach. This includes identifying common goals of the company on a holistic level. Then an action plan must be formulated. Once these steps are taken all levels of the company begin to start making objectives.  

Use the SMART Method

A  well respected and useful method of achieving financial success, both company wide, and personally is SMART. The acronym stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. This formula helps make the process of goal setting less abstract.

Specificity–the first tactic–acts like a map. Goals with specific intention helps make realizing goals less vague and more practical. A goal moves from, ‘I want to make six figures this year.’  Then becomes ‘I want to boost sales by merchandising my store in my pet franchise.’ The difference is specificity, and the means of actually making the goal happen.

Setting specific goals help entrepreneurs see the path they are on.

Practical goal setting is also measurable. Without tangible results, one cannot see whether their efforts are working, or tactics need to be changed. Measurability also helps employees from becoming overwhelmed or taking on frustrating workloads. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.  

Goals that can be measured, can be achieved. In the pet franchise, achievement might be motivating your groomers to find the threshold of dogs that can be groomed within a business day.

Give your employees deadlines and concrete numbers to work with. This provides a sense of urgency. When your staff knows what they can achieve within a time frame, what the expectations are, productivity naturally increases. Incentivization as a process can only happen when results are as tangible as the means and rewards.

Following these steps helps companies and small businesses accomplish things on time.

Write Goals Down

Ambition has a habit of waning when goals are not written down. When you write a goal down it becomes more concrete. There is no room for interpretation. The goal becomes a solidified destination point within a person’s mind.  

This process is called “self-authoring” and was coined by Jordan Peterson professor at the University of Toronto. A study performed by Prof. Peterson showed that students that took the time to write down goals saw significant academic improvement in performance. Students were able to visualize any potential obstacles when writing goals down. They could view the tactics to overcome them.

This again, translates into the business realm.

Using goal setting practices allows for a growth mindset. Employees can see their strengths and abilities improve with time and effort. In the pet franchise, writing down an overarching goal could be, ‘I want to adopt a more streamlined POS system.’ The sub-goals to actualize this goal would be ‘Research various POS systems that will help my business, or find a pet franchise that will assist.’

Sub-goals are important because they help outline your day-to-day operations and tasks. A goal for employees might be ‘turn off the phone at work, use meditation practices, or set reminders for deadlines.

When writing goals down, try to avoid negativity and use active voice over passive voice. An employee example is this, ‘I don’t want to be unproductive at work today.’ Versus, ‘Today I will be productive by focusing and meeting my deadline.’

Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

Visualize Goal Attainment

When an Olympic athlete trains, they visualize the finish line. An athlete won’t visualize themselves falling over a hurdle, or coming across last. The mental image resonating in their mind is one of them winning. Athletes don’t waste time focusing on negative outcomes.

Positivism trumps obstacles that challenge entrepreneurs.

A common meditation technique employers use is conjuring a successful image that relies on the five senses. This can be done alone, or in a group setting.

Close your eyes. Imagine a goal.

Maybe it’s a sales figure.  Maybe it’s a positive interaction your employees are having with customers. Employees will be immersed in the sensations of this mental experience. The mental image stimulates employees five senses to make them feel as if it’s actually happening. Staff become mental agents of their moment–their goal being achieved. Visually imagining this makes goals seem less far away, and makes the reward of success richer in our minds.

This needs to be more than just wishful thinking for companies to expand. Employees in the pet franchise need to execute the steps of goal setting. Staff need to follow through daily to tactfully outline goals by writing them down,  then visualizing them.

The next steps is bringing them to fruition.

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