Business goals are usually created using the information you have at a particular point in time.
You consider where the business is, what you want to accomplish, the resources available to you, and what seems realistic based on what you know.
Then you begin doing the work.
As that work unfolds, you learn more. A project may take longer than expected. A new opportunity may emerge. Your capacity may change. Something that seemed important at the beginning of the year may become less important, while another area of the business begins requiring more attention.
Reviewing your goals gives you an opportunity to consider that new information and make sure the direction you are working toward still makes sense.
Experience Gives You Information Planning Cannot
Planning requires assumptions.
You can estimate how long something will take, anticipate what resources you will need, and think through the steps involved. But some information only becomes available once you begin.
Working toward a goal can reveal where a process is more complicated than expected, where additional support is needed, or where an idea works differently in practice than it did on paper.
That experience becomes useful information for future decisions.
Regularly reviewing a goal allows you to bring what you have learned back into the way you think about the work ahead.
A Goal Can Stay Relevant While the Path Changes
Changes in the business do not always mean the larger goal needs to change.
You may still want the same result while needing a different timeline, a different approach, or a different sequence of work to reach it.
For example, a business may still want to improve its client onboarding experience but discover that documenting the current process needs to happen before new systems or resources can be introduced.
The direction remains useful. The path becomes clearer as the business learns more.
This is one reason reviewing goals over time can be valuable. It creates space to consider whether the current plan still reflects the reality of the business.
Regular Review Keeps Goals Connected to the Business
A goal that made sense several months ago may still be exactly where the business needs to focus.
It may also need to evolve.
Without periodically looking at the goal again, it is easy to continue following an earlier plan simply because it already exists.
Review creates an opportunity to reconnect the goal with what is happening in the business today.
That can help you make decisions with a clearer understanding of both where you originally wanted to go and what you have learned since you started.
Putting This Into Practice
Inside the 52-Week Goal Setting Series, the course helps members pause after the first quarter and consider what their experience has taught them about the goals they are working toward.
The course takes members deeper into reviewing their progress, considering what may need to change, and using what they have learned to prepare for the next quarter.
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