Well! It’s that time of year again: the vacations are winding down, kids are back in school and there’s basically two and a half months left in the year to complete the current year’s company goals, given it’ll be difficult to implement corporate initiatives once the holiday season is upon us.  If your strategic goals became a bit neglected over the summer months, try these tips to jump start and finish them up before the Thanksgiving Day parade.

Reconnect With the Goal’s Value

Sometimes, especially when the goal development lasts several months, it’s easy to lose sight as to what exactly the company is gaining as a result of the goal’s deliverables.  When teams lose their way in this space, we encourage them to go back to the beginning, and review presentations, business cases or just have a very specific conversation around opportunities/issues that drove the goal onto the list in the first place and as importantly how the goal will impact either clients, customers or employees in meaningful ways.

How Will the Goal Be Celebrated?

One way to motivate all involved is to identify how the team will celebrate the success that will be gained as a result of implementing a goal.  These moments recognize both that the goal has been achieved as well as acknowledge the likely extra effort the employees responsible for the goal put into its development.  There are so many ways, from simple to extraordinary to create these moments; what’s most vital is the celebration be authentic and inclusionary.  We’ve seen equal success from a breakfast by the boss event to going to a MLB game; as long as everyone experiences true appreciation for their contribution.

Be Open to Goal Flexibility

It’s not uncommon when planning goals to over commit.  While we always recommend no more than 3 company or team goals, sometimes enthusiasm can drive that number to north of 7.  Then life happens: unexpected location openings, turn over, opportunity to enter new markets, new verticals, etc., can all, understandably so, affect goals set at the beginning of the year.  For teams who find themselves in this place, we always encourage them to re-jig their priorities to reflect the reality of imperatives in front of them with a caveat: that those goals they choose to defer are revisited during the upcoming year’s planning session to see if they’re still relevant to driving the business forward.