As Thomas Carlyle said:
A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.
Similarly, a business without goals is aimless, wandering, and unable to determine a course of action that will lead to growth and profit.
Having objectives gets you moving in a desirable direction. This does not mean that your goals must be perfect, or even achievable in the timeframe you set for yourself. If they are creating forward-momentum in your business, that’s what counts.
Clearly defined goals inform your actions. When you know what you’re after, you spend less time thinking about next steps. You don’t waste precious time, energy, and resources constantly re-thinking the path ahead.
Your hotel needs goals. But there are also some common pitfalls that need to be avoided while you’re in the process of goal-setting. Here are some tips on how to put together your hotel strategy.
People tend to overestimate what they can do in a short amount of time (such as a day or a week), and underestimate what they can achieve in a longer amount of time (such as a month or a year). This should tell you that your goals need to be realistic.
Goal-setting is often an exciting process, but people sometimes get carried away. They’ll make a laundry list of every item they ever want to achieve in their lifetime. On the surface, this seems like a good idea. But it makes prioritization very difficult. And some goals or action items may not contribute to your success as much as you think they will.
Therefore, you need to keep your goals simple. Anyone should be able to look at your written statements and immediately decipher exactly what you’re looking to accomplish. Goals should not cause confusion (for your sake, and for the sake of your team members), and the action that follows should also be as uncomplicated as it can possibly be.
This article via Setupmyhotel.com addresses how to define your hotel missions in goals. They describe how to form your mission statement around your guests, hotel management, and employees. They also explain how you can create measurable goals in your business. Study this article for inspiration.
Many personal development and leadership experts encourage you to set short, medium, and long-term goals. Unfortunately, in the digital age, not only is the path ahead harder to see than it ever was (due to technological advancements, disruption in the industry, and other factors), it’s easy to get off-track when you don’t have an immediate focus.
Are you the kind of person that can stay focused on the same goal for a year, 5 years, or even 10 years? What about your staff? Or, do you find that quarterly, three-month goals are easier to digest and break down into actionable daily steps?
Some people are motivated by big-picture goals and visions. But others lose track of them within a short amount of time. The key to achieving more of what you want is to limit the scope of your objectives. This also makes it easier for you to make course corrections when need be.
This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t have long-term goals. But it is a good argument to have short-term goals for your team to focus on and get behind.
Goals are never achieved when you aren’t taking regular action towards their accomplishment. This may seem obvious, but goals can get away from you when you’re dealing with difficult challenges or unexpected busyness. If you want to see your visions become a reality, you must stay focused.
This is another argument for simplifying your objectives. This doesn’t mean that they are easy. “Simple” and “easy” are two different things. Simple means that you can take small steps every day to move towards your destination. But they are just as easy to do as they are not to do. Easy means there’s little to no effort required.
Once your goals are in place, you need to review them often and keep them in front of you so that you’ll keep your focus over the long haul.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Many hotels make their goals publicly visible, even if it’s just in the form of a mission statement. By observing and studying what your competitors are up to, you can gain more clarity on what you value, what to prioritize, and what targets to set for your business.
You can also get in touch with your colleagues and connections and ask for their thoughts (even if they aren’t in the hotel industry). What kind of goals do they have? Why are they prioritizing those goals? What’s their long-term vision (i.e. what are they doing in the short term to move towards long-term objectives)?
Talk to people who are regularly setting and achieving their goals. Studying their habits will teach you how to use the goal-setting process to benefit your business.