Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Connect Short-term and Long-term Goals

Becoming a strategic organization involves understanding where you're going over the long term and helping people understand how their shorter term activities help moving the collective forward. A long-term framework guides people with broad posts, it offers a light at the end of the tunnel. The annual implementation plan allocates resources and aligns priorities for making the journey through the tunnel. Yet, too many organizations stop there. Effective organizations identify quarterly goals that help keep them looking forward (rather than just at the next step in front of them). [A recent Fast Company article positions the 90-day goals as golden. It offers good context, though without the accompanying annualized intentions, organizations can find themselves taking turns in the tunnel that they didn't intend or didn't need to explore.] An excellent addition is also the 30-day milestone map. At the outset of each month, identify what the team needs to accomplish to proclaim success; review it mid-month to keep it in mind; discuss it at month-end to ascertain progress. Together, these various views help an organization remain mindful of its intentions, actions, and impressions.
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