Success criteria examples

Success criteria examples
See also
Consumer orientation Market potential Product backlog Budgetary control Sight line Advertising plan Harrington Emerson Market metrics Role of employees

Success is defined as reaching an objective within a specified time or within a specified parameter. It may concern a large area of operation or a small part of a task or project. It can be achieved at the workplace or in the personal life of the individual. For example, if a person's personal goal is to find a dream job, then success will follow after the person is officially admitted to a new place of employment. Managers of various corporation should use different success criteria examples to prepare measurable objectives for all important activities.

How to measure success?

1. Analyze your financial situation- is the first thing that allows us to measure whether the company's success on the market. In order to get a real picture of the situation, three different financial statements should be analyzed: profit and loss account, balance sheet and cash flow statement.
2. Listen to Customer Feedback- Money is not the only way to measure success. An important factor in measuring success is the customer's opinion about the company. Special attention should be paid to this factor as customer satisfaction decides about the company's strong market position. For example, a large number of regular customers may indicate that your products meet the expectations of the target group and meet its needs, which results in higher revenues.
3. Employee Performance- To be able to measure your success well, you should also focus on a thorough analysis of your employees' work. People who create a team and who are able to work together create a company and are responsible for its success in the future.
4. Peak Business Hours and Traffic - When thinking about the development of a company, every manager should think about whether the company can cope with the increase in the amount of work. It should be considered what exactly affects the movement in the company. Determining these determinants will help to achieve success.

Business criteria Examples

Here you can find some of the examples of the company goals :

• Achieve 10% of market share within 2 months
• Sell 1500 new products within six months after market introduction
• Achieve 1 mln USD profits in 1 year
• Reduce cost to $10 per product within 6 months after finishing project
• Reduce time of servicing one car to 30 min. in 1 year
• Decrease number of bad products to 0,1% of overall number of products
• The total project cost for the client does not exceed 15% of the initial budget
• The actual delivery schedule for products is within 5 percent of the original deadline
• The estimated number of defects created during production does not exceed 2% of the total order
• By the end of the year, increase the number of customers subscribing to the newsletter on the website by 10%
• Get an additional 4% market share in our primary market (Poland) this year, thanks to the use of marketing tools such as sales promotion

How to use S.M.A.R.T to prepare success criteria for company?

Success criteria (goals, objectives) of every strategy should follow S.M.A.R.T. This means that managers or company owners should check if their business goals are:

1. Specific - The goals must be specific and well-defined. This will allow employees to get acquainted with the results expected from them by employers. A well-designed goal will allow you to focus more energy on achieving it. An example of such an action may be achieving a 60% increase in revenues in the new year.
2. Measurable- Each manager should specify exact criteria that will measure the progress in achieving each planned goal. If these goals can not be measured, it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of employees' work in their implementation.
3. Attainable- Success in your activities can also be achieved if the planned goals are realistic for the company to realize. The best goals require people involved in the project to develop to realize them. Employees may not be able to achieve overly ambitious goals or ignore those that are not difficult to achieve.
4. Relevant- Each developed goal should be individually matched to the company's situation. It should be between the current situation and the one in which we would like to be in the future. If they do, the efforts of you and your employees to drive their goals will guide the company in the right direction.
5. Time bound- This means setting deadlines for each objective. Dates will increase the effectiveness of employees' work. They know how to focus the necessary attention and help them determine the priorities of their activities.

If the company sets these criteria for its goals, they will increase the chances of successfully completing them. When implementing SMART goals, you should regularly check results in order to achieve them. If it is an important aspect it is necessary to introduce the necessary changes for your business. It is an essential tool for the company's success.

The criteria for success are related to the desire to develop. They are developed by the owner or manager and describe what the goal that the company looks like as its success. They help the person managing the company and the employee to assess the quality of the company's work. Each business goal should imply technical criteria for success that can be monitored prior to release. For example, the team of programmers can not directly achieve the business goal of increasing sales, but it can increase the chance of achieving this goal by introducing specific actions in the pursuit of its implementation.

The success criteria must be presented in accordance with the business objectives of the company, so that employees can determine which ones should be implemented without delay and which are only desirable by management in the future.

References

1. Do Ba Khang, Tun Lin Moe (2008),Success Criteria and Factors for International Development Projects: A Life-Cycle-Based Framework, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg, PA, USA, 72-74.
2. Gorgievski, M. J., Ascalon, M. E., & Stephan, U. (2011), Small business owners' success criteria, a values approach to personal differences, Journal of Small Business Management, 49(2), 207-232.
3. Segal Ch., 5 different ways to measure the success of your small business or startup.
4. Shanin, A., Mahbod, M. Ali (2006), Prioritization of key performance indicators, Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran, 227-229.

Author: Karolina Przewoźnik