Articles

Securing Your Future - Setting Strategic Goals That Deliver

Given your organisation has its Vision, it now needs a set of Strategic goals that will drive its activities, priorities and decisions towards making that vision a reality. It’s in the Goals you find out how serious the organisation is about creating a future that is more than just a larger set of financial numbers than it's currently achieving. 

1. Strategic Goals don’t normally number more than 10.
2. They will be clearly articulated, easily passing the ‘water cooler’ test of being understood by everybody.
3. Although simply stated, they will have significant detail underneath with a clear plan of how they will be achieved, with milestones and accountabilities clearly labelled. Strategy is essentially the mechanism for delivering the Strategic Goals.
4. Strategic Goals need to be masters (not servants) of, and integrated with, the current year’s business plans.
5. They should be more than just about financial growth. Profit is an output of doing something, so making more profit is a function of doing different things.  The most effective sets may cover such things as:
   • What it is you are selling?
   • How you intend to engage differently with customers?
   • Expansion, where, how, when?
   • Solo or by making new partnership or alliances?
   • Organic or acquisition?
   • How you intend to use and develop your people capital?
   • Technology, a disruptive focus or just a condition of play?
   • Intellectual property development?
   • Innovation?
   • New markets and/or new segments?
   • Challenging existing orthodoxies?
   • New/emerging value chains?
   • New costing models?
   • New routes to market?
   • Optimising or transforming – or both?
6. Leadership is critical to the process of developing effective and mobilising Strategic Goals. Without a point of view about the future, linked to the vision of what your organisation isto become, your Strategic Goals will not drive anything.
7. The best time frame is 4-7 years.

See Vision and Values for the other two components of an effective Purpose Framework.

Predaptive help organisations build and implement effective Purpose Frameworks; for more information please contact:

Claudine Mcclean
T: 01789 734333
E: claudinem@predaptive.com