We all know that goal setting is critical to success. But what happens when you set your goals too low, or too far into the future?

If you make a mistake with a short term goal, its easy to fix or change the following year.

It’s your long-term goals that more problematic.

Before we dive into long term planning, let’s take a quick look at three challenges with annual goal setting.

1. The Cautious Approach

Some companies set their goals too low:

For example, a member of our Leader’s Edge peer groups emailed me last week he had initially set a 5% growth goal after a rocky year in 2023.

He was being overly cautious – and now realizes (after our retreat) that he is shooting too low.

2. The Lazy Way

Some companies look backwards and extrapolate.

Another contractor friend shared with me that he grew 13% this year, so he plans to set his goal for 13% for next year.

That’s not intentional enough to attract the best and brightest to your company.

3. The Unrealistic Goal

Being ambitious is great, it is the American dream.

But setting a high growth goal e.g. of 35%, without having a plan to back it up, is sure to cause unnecessary pain.

As you can see, these scenarios are all over the place and lead to mixed results.

It is the longer-term stretch goals that I find consistently problematic.

We find that most long-term goals are often set too low, meaning, the time frame required to hit them is pushed too far into the future.

When we run a consulting event with a client, one of the first questions we ask is about their BHAG. What is their “big hairy audacious goal?”

Real life examples of BHAG’s

• Double in size in 8 years
• Become employee run in 7 years, so the owner can retire in place.
• Grow maintenance to become equal with design-build in 6 years.
• Build our first branch within 6 years.

In our experience — from consulting hundreds of landscape/tree companies — we have found that most companies are able to hit their big goals within half the time allocated (or less).

Why Do Owners Push Their “Someday” Goals into the Future?

There are many reasons. Mostly, owners don’t know how to achieve their big goal.

This is where we come in.

We help them articulate their dream more clearly, and then determine the kinds of changes they need to make to position themselves for success.

It’s not enough to simply “try harder” or “do more;” rather it’s about a change in focus — and improvements in strategy, organizational structure and roles.

Of course there are other obstacles at play.

Limited self-belief: “We never grew past X, so I could never imagine hitting Y”.

Fear of failure. Owners can be perfectionists and/or try to avoid all risk. But success is about progress, not perfection.

Lack of positive examples. Sometimes it is the norms of the people you hang out with, or even your parents, that puts a bug inside your head to not take chances and believe in yourself.

Lack of vision. Some owners simply like to focus operationally; it’s their comfort zone and it’s how they achieved their first success.

Your Challenge – Help Your Team Dream Bigger.

Overall, I want you to aim higher with your dreams, by shortening the time frame on your BHAG.

Equally important is to help your team stretch their own thinking as well.

Don’t let anyone’s limited beliefs infect the thinking of the team.

“Business as usual” is the place where companies go to die a slow death.

Give yourself permission to dream big, and to make the changes need to achieve those dreams.

You got this!

Regards, Jeffrey Scott!

P.S. Want help articulating and achieving your dream?

Go here for more information on how to start the journey.