How to Achieve Your Big Picture Goals? – When running a business, you have to have big-picture goals. It might be revenue targets, or releasing a certain amount of products over a 5 year period or more. Whatever it is, it’s important that you always have it in mind, even when you are going through the minutiae of your day. This goes for your employees, too. Sometimes the overarching goal can get lost under the weight of the day-to-day routine.

You need to take steps to not just keep yourself focused on the big picture, but your employees as well. When you are focused on the big picture, those mundane daily tasks take on new significance. They are part of a larger whole, and as a team you will all pull together to achieve success. Here are some ways to help think about the big picture.

Share Your Goals

Sometimes, owning a business means getting through every day without drowning in stress and unfinished task lists. Your staff may feel the same way. If you aren’t up-front with them, they can forget why they are there. Yes, they are getting paid, but money alone does not motivate everyone. Make sure that everyone at your company knows the overall vision. Where you are in the present isn’t necessarily where you want to be in one, two, or five years from now. A great vision is inspiring, and your staff will have more motivation to help make those visions come through.

Use a Balanced Approach to Performance Management

One of the best tools for achieving short-term goals while keeping long-term goals in mind is the balanced scorecard. What is a balanced scorecard? It’s a way of managing employee performance. It will help you and your staff choose the best metrics that will indicate success at all levels, from immediate concerns to big picture goals. It is also a way to keep from focusing purely on the financial goals of a company. The overall health, including employee morale and business strategy, are also included on a balanced scorecard.

Don’t be Too Caught Up in the Small Stuff

It’s easy to get caught up in the things that take up our daily lives. When it comes to big-picture goals, though, a misplaced focus on the here and now will be detrimental. Don’t sweat the small stuff that won’t have an impact on your final goal. This includes things like the color of your sticky notes or the exact wording of your voicemail inbox. Get your tasks done to the best of your ability, and move on. Perfection is the enemy of good, and sometimes we will sacrifice too much time to achieve minor goals that do not matter in the long-run.

Provide Value to Your Employees

Make sure that your employees not just understand and feel inspired by your vision, but that they get something out of it, too. Provide incentives and value for reaching goals, both individual and team-based. For instance, if they hit a sales goal for the month, provide bonuses, or even a party of some kind. Whatever the incentive is, your employees will work hard to meet those goals and gain the benefit to the company as well as themselves. As long as those goals correspond to your big picture, you will be moving everything forward.

Take Time to Plan and Think

The other drawback in being caught up in day-to-day tasks is that there is no time left to just sit and think. You need to make time to assess and consider your big-picture goals and how you can achieve them. Every day, take some time to go through your plans and make any necessary tweaks or to jot down new ideas. You can also use this time to make big decisions that you’ve been putting off.

Your business needs to have a long-term vision for you to meet. However, it can be hard to keep your eye on that vision when everything else tends to interfere. By using these strategies, you can achieve everything you need to do in the short-term, while also moving towards your big picture goals.