Breaking it down and making it easier

As important as it is to set goals, they can be a little overwhelming. Of course we want to increase sales, run a major event or upgrade our systems, but how to do it and where to start? 

All big tasks are made up of many little ones, and the trick is in tackling them one by one. Start by making a list of what's involved, however minor it may seem:

• It makes it less likely that anything will be missed;
• It allows you to prioritise tasks, which is especially important when the start of one is dependent upon the completion of another;
• It encourages you to delegate.

Once you've made the list, you're better able to assess your resources and how you're going to use them. Set time limits and allocate responsibilities. In this way, what once seemed overwhelming is now manageable - you have created an action plan.

If we apply this to our previous SMART goal - to increase sales for the month of July by 10% on the previous year - the action plan might be as follows:

HOW	WHO	BY WHEN
Asking for every sale	All staff	Ongoing
Dedicated floor walkers during busy periods	Rosters up daily	All through July
Relaying fiction and new titles sections	Bob	3 July
Changing the staff recommendations display weekly	Gordon	Every Thursday in July

The action plan has three components:

• How These are the specific actions which have an impact on the outcome
• Who If it's everybody's responsibility then it's nobody's
• By when There's no point reaching the due date and finding that key elements haven't been done in a timely manner

The actions required will vary depending upon the type of goal set. Increasing sales has a different set of requirements to designing and printing a catalogue, and the task list will reflect that. However, the principles are the same: what is involved in achieving the desired outcome and how best to manage that process.

Some of the benefits of this approach:

• Utilising time and resources constructively;
• Being able to review successes and failures and learn from them;
• You're creating a template for how to execute a successful project;
• A useful training tool for developing staff skills;
• Minimises stress.

Remember the 5Ps and involve your staff in the planning stage if you can. No-one has a monopoly on insight or good ideas, so your action plan will probably be the richer for it. 

Breaking a goal down into smaller component tasks makes it much less stressful and more easily achieved. Less stress, better results - what's not to like about that?