Christopher Global

A client recently hired me to help them write their strategic goals. The problem with strategic goals is their simplicity. Rather than a goal, a strategic goal should be an initiative. To put it another way, the strategic goal should reflect an organizational strategy for moving from point A to point B on your growth journey. Leaders' strategic goals often reflect milestones along the journey, rather than the journey's purpose.

Leaders should leave an offsite with goals that are ready for teams to decompose into a delivery model. A PPM structure is one of the most effective and recommended. The goals should be decomposed into business cases, objectives, risks, and milestones, and can be incorporated into a roadmap once you have this information. Goals should not be recorded in a system of record where they cannot be tracked effectively and transparently.

Disguise strategic goals as unique portfolios, products, or programs that reflect the overall goal. When you enter the portfolio into a system to view and track the supporting components, you know progress is being made, or when you cannot see and track the supporting components, you know progress is not being made.

There is no doubt that the hardest part of the conversation is educating a person on what should be considered a strategy or strategic goal. Many strategic goals can be merged into one organizational purpose and become a strategic portfolio, but the leaders may not see it that way. Thus, educating on how to construct goals is almost as important as executing them.