3 Tips for More Meaningful FEC Goal Setting

Set the right goals for your FEC with these tips and resources.

You’ve taken the first steps by beginning your year-end analysis and deciding how to streamline your system so that you can work more efficiently. Now it’s time to make the plan for 2021 by setting meaningful goals. American historian and poet, Bill Copeland said, “The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.” Read on for three tips and many additional resource links to help you get well on your way to planning for, and more importantly, scoring success in the new year.

No. 1: Set SMART goals.

Long-time FEC operator and our Director of Training, Rosie Salas, shared a few steps to help you create SMART goals in the recent CenterEdge Ops Blog: Smart Goals With Sticking Power. She says:
“SMART goals are very focused, and they’re defined as:

Specific – Your goal is direct, detailed, and meaningful.
Measurable – Your goal is quantifiable to track progress or success.
Attainable – Your goal is realistic and you have the tools and/or resources to attain it.
Relevant – Your goal aligns with growing your company (or reducing costs or whatever other key objectives you desire for your business).
Time-Based – Your goal has a deadline.

For example, you might set a specific goal of adding 1,000 guests to your loyalty program. It sets a specific number of new members to gain and is measurable because you can track the number on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. Now, is it attainable? It’s easy to say we want to add 1,000 guests to our loyalty program. But if last year we only added 300, it might not be realistic to say that we could add 1,000 in a year without some major initiatives, so you’d have to take that into consideration when setting the goal or developing the action plan. The goal would be relevant, though, because it aligns with growing your company. And then finally, you have to set your deadline. Do you want to accomplish it in a month? A quarter? A year? It just has to have a deadline for when you want to accomplish it.”

For more information on what specific areas you should set goals for, tips, and a list of useful CenterEdge Software reports to help, log in to your CenterEdge Help Center and get the full Ops Blog here.*

No. 2: Use data for setting and tracking your goals.

Data is at the heart of effective goal setting. Use your business intelligence insights, existing CenterEdge reports, or create your own ad hoc reports to help you understand your FEC’s current state and trends so that you can set the most relevant goals.

CenterEdge Trainer Tip: Be sure to right-click and “favorite” any report for easy access, and set up notifications to regularly email you reports to help you track your progress.

As you begin tracking success against your goals, it’s also a good idea to capture the data visually with a “scorecard,” a spreadsheet that depicts weekly metrics against goals that can be consistently reviewed in management meetings. This allows you to always have a finger on the pulse of your business that clearly shows how you’re doing. Check out the Ops Blog for Rosie’s scorecard example and steps for creating notifications.

No. 3: Share the vision and the action plan.

So many teams never reach their goals but it’s not because teams are lazy or incompetent. Most often, this happens when goals aren’t communicated clearly (or at all), they’re not realistic and therefore teams don’t buy into achieving them, or they’re not tracked consistently. Don’t let any of these pitfalls happen to you! Work with your management team to set clear goals, who’s responsible for achieving and reporting on them, and then create a roll-out plan. Offsite meetings can be a great way for your managers to focus on this type of planning. For the most productive work sessions, try these key tips.

Once set, roll-out to team members can take place at a company-wide kickoff meeting where an owner also (re)shares company values, service vision, or “why message,” in smaller departmental meetings, or both. Bottom line, great communication doesn’t happen by chance, but by intention.

No matter what your goals are, remember that it’s not just about the numbers. Stay connected to your company’s mission and let your values guide you in planning for a meaningful, profitable future that makes a difference.

What are you doing to set the stage for a bright 2021? Share with us in the comments or on Twitter.

*for current CenterEdge clients