Setting annual goals for an organisation can be challenging, when you don’t have a long-term plan and don’t have the time or resources to create one.  But it doesn’t stop you from looking ahead and engaging your team to ensure that everyone is working towards the same end goal and that you will have a successful 2018.  If you do have time to step back (highly recommended!) and take a longer term view you may want to read Everyone in that direction now!

What do you need to do?

Here are five steps to take with your team:

  1. Understand where you are today. What have you achieved over the last 12 months?  What is going on with your customers and stakeholders that may impact what you can achieve in 2018?What is outstanding from 2017 that you need to carry forward to 2018?
  2. Identify how you will measure success in 2018 (and beyond). What will that look like from a financial perspective?  How will your customers and partners see success?  What about your internal measures?  Imagine you are reviewing the year in December 2018 and create that picture.
  3. Do a reality check. What are the big projects / activities that will need to happen? Who will take on ownership for each of those projects? Do you have the resources (budget and people) to get to where you want to be? What would stop you achieving these goals and how will you address? Do you need to modify targets or timelines in order to make goals achievable?  Or add resources?
  4. Agree how you will need to behave as a team to get these results. When will you meet to review progress?  How will you support each other?  How will you hold each other accountable?
  5. Decide who else needs to know about your goals and how you will engage them so you can achieve your annual goals.

Once you have gone through this process together as a team once, you will be much more prepared to take a more strategic view leading to longer term sustainability.  This is a great first step and is more practical than having to develop a full scale strategic plan. One organisation I worked with used a similar process to set their annual goals which helped them to a focused and accountable future.

Next steps

If you are ready to be more strategic and have a longer term horizon then look at another post Everyone in that direction now! Or consider getting support that will design the right process for you to think broader and ensure your sustainability long term.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Kris Shah for reviewing and who takes a more strategic perspective every year.