Setting business goals with a proven growth framework
The beginning of a new year is often seen as a natural time for reflection. Businesses and individuals alike take stock of their progress and set aspirations for the future. While this tradition can spark important conversations about growth and improvement, the truth is that waiting for the end of the year to evaluate your goals is a missed opportunity.
Incorporating a structured goal-setting framework provides a dynamic way to translate your vision into action and more importantly, maintain momentum throughout the year.
Goal setting is a catalyst for growth in many different forms, from increasing sales and improving customer service to expanding your team, launching a brand new product or service, or acquiring another business. Whatever your organisation’s ambitions, you can achieve them through setting clear and challenging goals.
Place your vision at the core
Every great achievement starts with a clear vision. Your organisation’s ‘vision’ should be a 3-5 year roadmap that defines where you want to be and how you’ll measure success. It’s not just about lofty aspirations, it’s about identifying tangible outcomes that resonate with your purpose.
At the core of this vision are your ‘big moves’ which should be strategic initiatives that drive long-term growth. These typically have a 3-year timeframe and are reviewed annually. Big moves help answer the important questions: Where are you now? Where do you want to be? What are the major shifts required to close that gap? By establishing this foundation, your organisation can ensure that all efforts are aligned with the broader strategy.
Structuring your goal setting framework
To effectively execute your vision, organisations need to break it down into actionable chunks. Essentially, a successful goal setting framework should function as the scaffolding that supports progress at every level. Its main purpose is to drive performance and accelerate growth. Here’s how they work:
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Company-wide objectives (Annual)
Company objectives define the organisational priorities for the year. These are high-level objectives that reflect growth goals, highlighted in the ‘big moves’, aka your businesses aspirational targets.
While the time frame is annual, progress is reviewed quarterly to ensure alignment and agility. For example, a company might set an objective to ‘Drive consistent and scalable growth in new customer acquisition” with key results tied to customer acquisition or retention rates.
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Transformational objectives (Quarterly)
Transformational objectives bridge the gap between high-level strategy and day-to-day execution. These initiatives often span three months, with a bi-weekly cadence for progress reviews. Unlike company-wide objectives, transformational objectives focus on cross-divisional projects that require specialised expertise and collaboration.
For example, a transformational objective might aim to ‘Improve customer experience,’ with key results tied to system deployment, training, and feedback metrics. These objectives ensure that strategic priorities are chunked into manageable, actionable steps, creating a clear pathway toward the vision.
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Local objectives (Quarterly)
At the team level, local objectives mirror the time frame and cadence of transformational objectives. However, they focus on specific local objectives that contribute to broader organisational goals. Teams take ownership of these, ensuring alignment with their unique areas of expertise.
This approach transforms strategies into actionable steps, directing resources where they create the greatest value, delivering greater impact for your business. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing hard work pay off as the results you’ve been striving for begin to materialise.
Get started on setting your business goals
Now is the time to start, define your vision, set your objectives and take the big moves that will push your business toward sustainable growth. The goal setting framework described in this blog is based on OKRs (Objectives & Key Results).
If you’re looking to implement a growth framework, speak with one of our experts at There Be Giants. We offer the expertise and resources to help you drive real results and accelerate results.