TYPES OF GOALS AND PLANS

THERE ARE 3 TYPES OF GOALS, INCLUDING:

1. Strategic Goals – official goals, broad statements about the organization
• Define the action steps the company intends to attain
• The blueprint that defines activities
EXAMPLE: Corporate growth: “Achieve $2 billion in annual revenue by the end of 2025.”
2. Tactical Goals – help execute major strategic plans
• Specific part of the company’s strategy
• Plans of the divisions and departments
EXAMPLE of a tactical goal would be “Launch three new product lines within the next 24
months to capture a greater market share.”
3. Operational Goals – results expected from departments, work groups, and individuals
• Lower levels of the organization
• Specific action steps
EXAMPLE: “Reduce production downtime by 10% this year” is an example of an operational
goal for a manufacturing company.

How do you write a strategic goal?

STRATEGIC PLANNING
Strategic plans are the action steps by which an organi- zation intends to attain strategic goals.
The outcomes that major divisions and departments must achieve for the organization to reach its
overall goals are called tactical goals
+ Comprehensive and high-level: Strategic plans are designed at the top level of management
and encompass the entire organization. They define the long-term goals, allocate resources, and
outline the overall strategic direction.
+ External and internal analysis: Strategic plans consider both the external environment,
including market conditions and competition, and internal factors such as strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) to align the organization strategically.
10 steps in the strategic planning process

1. Define mission and vision

Begin by articulating the organization's vision for the future. Create a mission statement
describing organizational values and how you intend to reach the vision. What values inform and
determine mission, vision, and purpose?

2. Conduct a comprehensive assessment

This stage includes identifying an organization’s strategic position.

Gathering data from internal and external environments and respective stakeholders takes place
at this time. Involving employees and customers in the research.

The task is to gather market data through research. One of the most critical components of this
stage is a comprehensive SWOT analysis that involves gathering people and bringing
perspectives from all stakeholders to determine:

3. Forecast

Considering the factors above, determine the company’s value through financial forecasting.
While almost certainly to become a moving target influenced by the five forces, a forecast can
assign initial anticipated measurable results expected in the plan or ROI: profits/cost of
investment.

4. Set the organizational direction of the business

The above research and assessment will help an organization to set goals and priorities. Too
often an organization’s strategic plan is too broad and over-ambitious. Planners need to ask,
”What kind of impact are we seeking to have, and in what time frame?” They need to drill down
to objectives that will have the most impact.

5. Create strategic objectives

This next phase of operational planning consists of creating strategic objectives and initiatives.
Kaplan and Norton posit in their balanced scorecard methodology that there are four perspectives
for consideration in identifying the conditions for success. They are interrelated and must be
evaluated simultaneously.

Financial
Customer-satisfaction.
Internal processes
Learning and growth
6. Align with key stakeholders

It’s a team effort. The success of the plan is in direct proportion to the organization’s
commitment to inform and engage the entire workforce in strategy execution. People will only
be committed to strategy implementation when they're connected to the organization's goals.
With everyone pulling in the same direction, cross-functional decision-making becomes easier
and more aligned.

7. Begin strategy mapping

A strategy map is a powerful tool for illustrating the cause-effect of those perspectives and
connecting them to between 12 and 18 strategic objectives. Since most people are visual learners,
the map provides an easy-to-understand diagram for everyone in the organization creating shared
knowledge at all levels.

8. Determine strategic initiatives

Following the development of strategic objectives, strategic initiatives are determined. These are
the actions the organization will take to reach those objectives. They may relate initiatives
related to factors such as scope, budget, raising brand awareness, product development, and
employee training.

9. Benchmark performance measures and analysis

At this stage, the task is to create goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and
time-based informing the operational plan.

Benchmarks are established against so that performance can be measures, and a time frame is
created. Key performance indicators (KPI’s) are assigned based on organizational goals. These
indicators align workers’ performance and productivity with long-term strategic objectives.

10. Performance evaluation

Assessment of whether the plan has been successful. It measures activities and progress toward
objectives and allows for the creation of improved plans and objectives in order to improve
overall performance.

TACTICAL PLANNING
Tactical plans are designed to help execute major strategic plans and
to accomplish a specific part of the company’s strategy.
Departmental or functional focus: Tactical plans are developed at a lower level of management,
targeting specific departments or functional areas within the organization. They align with the
tactical goals, providing a roadmap for achieving them.
Resource allocation and coordination: Tactical plans allocate resources, such as personnel,
budget, and equipment, necessary for implementing the strategies outlined in the strategic plans.

Tactical Planning Examples

While specific strategic and tactical plans can vary between companies and industries, they all
follow the same model: A strategic plan defines a long-term goal, and the tactical plan defines
the steps needed to achieve it.
Here are some quick examples where the number is the strategic plan and the bullet points are
the tactical plans.
1. Hire and develop a diverse cohort of new employees and retain them in the long-term.
Research salary survey data to determine the compensation of new hires.
Carry out effective exit interviews to find out why people are leaving.
Develop outreach programs that target diverse areas (i.e., schools, cities).
Develop in-house training for managers and supervisors on diversity & inclusivity.
2. Reorganize the business so that it is more closely aligned with the industry.
Review the existing roles and responsibilities of teams and business units.
Develop a reorganization proposal and distribute it to all employees.
Consult with employees to find out their operational pain points.
Experiment with org charts to build a new structure that supports our strategic goals.

How to Build Your Own Tactical Plan

Since tactical planning is the process of breaking down your strategic plan into distinctive,
concrete short-term plans, then that’s exactly what you should do:
1. Consider the Overall Vision
Since your tactical plans are influenced heavily by your overall strategic business plans, it’s
important that you keep these in mind when creating your tactical plans. It’s also important to
communicate your strategic plan to your employees who will be carrying out your tactical plans
and make sure that they truly understand it. Once your employees understand the larger goal and
how they can contribute to it, they’re far more likely to meet their individual tactical objectives.
2. Create Clear Objectives and Goals
Strategic planning rests on measurable and realistic goals and objectives, with objectives that are
more complex requiring more time, money, and resources to achieve.
Before creating these objectives, consider your individual teams’ workloads and then prioritize
your strategic plans based on i) what your company needs most and ii) how likely the objective
is likely to be achieved given how busy or productive your team is.
3. Assign Actions to These Plans
It’s all well and good defining strategic plans like “Increase new leads by 20% before Q3” or
“Produce a series of eight blog posts about <insert niche topic here>” but if you don’t have
specific plans in place to achieve them, then you may struggle.
To assist your teams in achieving specific objectives, it’s a good idea to assign concrete action
items to each one. Doing so eliminates the risk of confusion and provides your employees with
easy-to-follow instructions that are aligned with their core skills.
4. Define Your KPIs
Key performance indicators (KPIs) help you determine if you’re on the right track. For example,
a KPI for “Increase new leads by 20% before Q3” could be a measurable rise in the number of
new enquiries you’ve received, or a higher conversion rate on your website.
KPIs can be evaluated weekly, monthly, or quarterly to determine the success of your team’s
efforts. The KPIs that you set and measure depend on your industry and you should only set ones
that support your objectives; those that don’t will do nothing but feed you irrelevant information.
Other examples of KPIs include:
Customer satisfaction score
Quarterly or annual profit compared to previous reports
Sales figures
Product enquiries received
New positive customer reviews
5. Delegate Actions to Specific Teams
Teams work best and follow through with objectives better when they know who’s responsible
for what.
As you put together your tactical plans, delegate the work to the people or teams that are most
qualified to take on the work. While there may be many people or teams involved with a single
objective, it’s important that your tactical plans and goals are more focused and are
unambiguously clear about who is taking each one on.
One of the biggest advantages to tactical planning is that nobody is left behind confused about
what needs to be done. Instead, they get the momentum going and allow your strategic plan to
come to life.