Goal Setting & Planning

In today's fast-paced business environment, planning is crucial. Due diligence is key. The amount of time needed to create a plan and complete due diligence varies, but if this step is skipped or only partially done, the result can be detrimental to the business.

Engaging key stakeholders, decision-makers, and subject-matter experts is critical. Understanding the market and competition and knowing rules of engagement are also important, particularly for setting goals and metrics.

To effectively fund and prioritize new programs, a detailed plan that outlines a timeline and return on investment is needed. Goals must be specific and measurable. This is true whether you seek budget approval from others or control the budget yourself.

Strong leaders resist the temptation to set generic, subjective or unrealistic goals. For example, "increase revenue" is not specific. A more specific and measurable goal is "increase revenue by 10% before the end of this quarter".

Effective leaders also document assumptions and required resources that are critical to attainment of the goal. For example, "in order to increase revenue by 10% before the end of this quarter, our new product must be launched on time, and we must add two new salespeople."

Similarly, when competing with horses, short-term and long-term goal setting and planning is crucial. For example, a new goal with one of my horses was to compete in cattle events – something I had never done before. Cattle events are fast, require athleticism and add the unpredictability of cows to the competition.

While confident in my riding abilities, I needed a specific plan that included:

• Becoming familiar with competition rules, observing competitions & practicing at smaller competitions.

• Budget and actions to incorporate new program into an already full schedule.

• Working with a specialized trainer and local expert.

The plan gave me confidence, and cattle events are now a major aspect of my program!

My lifelong partnership and journey with horses is the inspiration for “Straight from the Horse’s Mouth”. Lessons from the stable to the workplace.