Imagine football without a goal line... Yes, I know that is a silly — maybe even a stupid — concept.

Yet it often occurs to me that many businesses are working every day in the same manner as a football team playing on a field without a goal line. 

The reason I am aware of it is because — when I first talk to a business owner as a business coach — one of the first questions I ask is “What are your goals for your business?”

The answers I get to that question are usually something like, “I want more business.”  OK, that’s a worthy goal.  But it is not enough of an answer, so I ask a follow-up question, “How much “more business” do you want?”  2%?  10%? 100%? 1000%?

How much “more business will satisfy you?  When will you get that satisfactory amount of “more business?” One year? Five years? 10 years? 

Can you imagine that the CEO of Starbucks had a goal of “having more business” and somehow that translated into tens of thousands of coffee shops around the world, or do you think he would have been satisfied standing behind the counter of one store with modest annual increases?  (By the way, I’m not making any personal value judgments here, either answer is fine with me as long as it is satisfactory to you; my point is that, if you have not created a specific goal, you don’t have anything to focus on).

Without a goal line, a football team doesn’t know where to focus their energies and how they can score points.  Without home plate, a baseball batter wouldn’t know where to stand, the pitcher wouldn’t know where to throw, base runners wouldn’t know how to score, and the game wouldn’t make any sense. Without a finish line, bicycle racers would end up all over Europe instead of riding down the streets of Paris at the end of the Tour d’ France. 

It is the focus on the goal that makes sports so alluring, competition so thrilling. Business is just like that… almost. The difference is that business goals are not physical realities like a basketball hoop or the edge of a swimming pool. Business goals are far more abstract, often negotiated or even arbitrary, based upon the ambitions of owners, executives, and managers and those are the “hard” business goals. They are plenty of “soft” business goals that need to also be addressed, such as dealing with cash flow, production efficiency, personal productivity, etc.

I’m surprised (shocked actually) that so many business are working without clearly defined, well-articulated goals. They have difficulty leading their staff forward into the future because the staff doesn’t know were the future lies, how to work towards it, and what will happen when they get there or even if there is a there there. So they all come to work in the morning and, robotlike, go through the motions of trying to do business, satisfy the customers and satisfy the boss without having firm criteria for satisfaction. 

A week ago I was in a meeting of a company where the owner presented an expansion plan. He presented a very ambitious five year sales goal and what his plans are to accomplish that goal.  The plan included new services, new people and how they would be trained, a new sales strategy, new office procedures and a new organization chart. The managers and staff in the meeting were becoming visibly excited. 

As I listened, my memory kicked in of watching a televised pre-game pep talk a football coach gave his team in the locker room before a championship contest and when he was done, the team was all fired up and roared out onto the playing field. They had the goal, they had the strategy, they had the motivation, they had the inspiration, they knew what they had to do to win the ring and they were inspired to do it. 

Every member of a sports team, from my eight-year-old grandson who plays on a soccer team to a major leaguer, knows what it takes for the team to win their game and the championship and what he or she is expected to accomplish every game in order to win. Does the staff in your business know what the goal is? Do they know what is expected of them? Do they know how the company is keeping score? Without clear goals, they are working without reason other than keeping the owner happy and earning their paycheck. 

Give yourself and your business and your staff a real goal. Give them something to focus on. Create the winning path. Winning starts with the goal. Start winning.

Larry Galler specializes in coaching owners of small businesses to grow their business through effective marketing, customer retention programs and systemizing their business practices. Explore how he can help you during a free coaching session by calling (219)464-9463 or email larry@larrygaller.com. Visit his website at www.oneyeartogreatness.com.