No matter what business you're in, using measurable targets will allow your company to stay competitive and your employees to stay invested and engaged. But where should you begin?

Performance management tools like the Balanced Scorecard and Benchmarking are two good ways to evaluate how your company is currently doing, highlight problem areas, and set realistic targets that your employees can work together to attain.

Balanced Scorecard
The Balanced Scorecard is a performance management tool that allows you to make strategic decisions around four key areas; financial data, customers' perceptions, internal processes, innovation and learning. Within each of these areas, there are five stages to creating and implementing objectives. First, explain to your employees what the objective is and how they can achieve it; second, decide what to measure; third, make sure the measures will work for your specific objective and then implement the plan; fourth, share the results and use them to implement changes at the company; fifth, review the results and set new challenges.

Benchmarking
Benchmarking establishes standards against which performances can be measured (usually related to time, cost and quality). The four categories of benchmarking are; internal, competitive, industry, and best-in-class. Internal benchmarks are used for internal operations, to make sure your company is always matching or surpassing its current performance and that it has consistent standards.

Competitive benchmarks are an external indicator of growth that compares your performance to your competitors to match or surpass their performance. Industry benchmarks mean that your company is reaching or surpassing industry standards. And best-in-class benchmarks are used to match or surpass the standards of the top companies in any industry, anywhere in the world. Benchmarking makes sure you don't focus too narrowly on one or two issues; you should always be aware of your customers, competitors and the industry at large, and adapt quickly to maintain your competitive edge.

Using Measurable Targets Successfully
Make sure to choose targets that will improve the company and make a measurable difference, but that are also realistic. Everyone at your company needs to understand why and how a particular area is being measured, and their ongoing cooperation and participation is crucial to the company's success. To engage them further, use the Kaizen approach, a forward-focused tool, which encourages employees to constantly be on the lookout for things that can be improved and then to implement those positive changes together.

A YES Business Coach can help you set up realistic short- and long-term goals. Visit yesmontreal.ca to find out how to schedule your FREE consultation.