Do you ever find that your employees are not motivated? It is natural to feel work burnout. How do you push through those times? How do you keep your employees motivated to keep giving their all?
You are heading into the back-to-school time, a huge rush for most bookstores. Add the fact that the nation aims to return to in-person learning to the back-to-school rush, and you know you are in for some busy times ahead. One way to keep employees motivated and focused is to set goals. Now is the time to start setting goals for your employees. Many campus bookstores furloughed or laid off some of their employees last year. Now it’s time to bring your staff back and it’s best to have a plan in place when you do bring them back. Whether you’re bringing employees back that previously worked for your store, or you are bringing on new employees, it is best to be ahead of the game with goals for your employees to focus on.
Why should you do goal setting in your store?
- Goal setting is an essential part of small business.
Your employees may look at your store and think this is a well-oiled machine that can operate on its’ own. Great job if your store is perceived this way. Store owners and managers worked hard to get it that way. But this doesn’t just happen. Every business uses goal setting to stay focused on where you want your business to go. Without goals, your store is left without direction. - It tells employees what they need to focus on.
Refer to the first point here. Having goals for your store will keep your staff focused. - Having goals keeps employees motivated.
As your store is preparing for the return to normal you are bound to see waves of busy periods. - Setting goals promotes teamwork.
“Teamwork makes the dream work.” How many times have you heard that phrase? There is a lot of truth behind it. When you all work together, not only do you increase your chances of reaching your goals, but you’ll often surpass them. - Having goals gives you a way to measure your success.
How can you say if the work you are doing is successful if you don’t measure it somehow? Setting goals gives you the basis to go from.
Now that you’ve learned why goal setting is important you can take a look at how you can implement goal setting in your retail store.
Goal Setting Pro Tips to Follow:
- Break down your plan by steps.
Write out the actions that you are going to take to reach your goal. - Make the goal attainable.
Goals should be challenging, but also attainable. This one is very important, and it is easy to overlook. If you set your goal too high you risk an overall feeling of disappointment if you don’t meet your goal. - Be specific about your goals.
It is good to have a general goal of wanting to increase your revenue. But a better way to approach a goal of increasing your revenue is to identify how much you want to increase it. Also, identify your timeline. - Be flexible.
You cannot always predict what the future will hold. When your plans are not going the way you intended, take a step back and try another approach. It is ok to change directions in your plans. - Learn from your goals.
If you hit your goal, great—that’s a successful start. Do not view your actions as a failure if you don’t meet your goal though. This is a good learning experience if you don’t meet your goal because it informs you of where you can improve your efforts. Both outcomes will provide you with valuable data on how to move forward. - Reward success.
When your team accomplishes the goal you set, reward them. This can be as simple as providing praise for a job well done, an email to the team to share the praise, a lunch party, etc. Recognizing employees’ successes will keep them motivated to keep working hard for you.
Sources: edkentmedia.com, thebalancesmb.com, blog.bizsugar.com
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