The start of the new year is the perfect time to set goals to build momentum in your firm. Creating goals as a team allows you to have all of your team members on the same page as to what should be accomplished. Setting goals can be difficult as you have to walk the line between too easy of goals that you stifle yourself, and those too out of reach that it hurts team morale. 

As you work towards walking that line, here are some tips for setting goals for 2024.

Collaboration in Goal Setting: Make sure your team members can give input on what they think the firm should be able to accomplish in the next year. Let them start the process by asking them to list out their goals, and then you can review them to ensure they are in alignment with your vision for the organization and add/adjust as necessary.

Keep Goals Specific: When it comes to making goals, it will benefit your team to have specific and measurable goals. If the goals are vague it is harder to track if they have been accomplished whereas specific goals provide more accountability.

• Example of Specific Goals:
  • Become the primary point of contact for all AA clients by 3/31
  • Become lead planner for Wilson’s, Smith’s, Brown’s, and Johnson’s by 6/30
  • Complete EA designation by 12/31
• These are much more effective for most of your team members versus:
  • Keep doing what you are doing
  • Becoming a better Associate advisor
  • Get the plans done quicker

Write Goals Down: There is a lot of empirical evidence that shows when goals are written down, they are more likely to be achieved. Write down your goals for 2024 both digitally, and on paper. Have the goals written in a place where your team can see them every day as additional motivation.

Set Goals at Different Levels: As previously mentioned, there can be a tough line to walk between making goals too easily achievable that your team doesn’t perform to their highest capability and setting a goal too lofty that it can’t be achieved and hurts morale. You want goals that will push your team, so consider setting 3 sets of goals: worst case, baseline, and best case. 

• Baseline - set these first to have a starting point to work from. Maybe it is something like what you did last year plus another 10% (assuming you want to grow) in whatever metrics you are using: Revenue, new AUM, client growth, profit, etc. 
• Worst case - think about what your goals would adjust to when the market drops, we have another pandemic or something else we can’t even imagine right now. Maybe this is 25% less than your baseline as a starting point. 
• Best case - also referred to as stretch goals, and starting points can vary, but usually something in the ballpark of baseline plus 20%. 

Reward Goal Achievement: Last month we discussed showing gratitude to your team for a year of hard work. When setting goals, keep in mind how you can reward your team for achieving the goals you set. 

The story of next year has yet to be written, but the work of setting goals now can create an outline as to how you want next year to end. Work with your team, create your goals, and get ready to hit the ground running in 2024.

Financial Advisor IQ reported that the recent Charles Schwab Compensation and Staffing Study found that 75% of RIAs it surveyed or roughly 975 firms planned to hire in 2024. Are you one of those firms? If so, call us today at 1-888-666-1021 or email info@newplannerrecruiting.com to get a jump start on your competition!