Break It Down

A strategic plan is broad in scope and addresses a lot of general themes for your business. Ultimately, though, you have to provide leaders and employees with the specific tasks they need to do to advance your business. It's important to identify your vision and mission, and figure out what point you're starting from, but then you need to address how you're going to get from here to there.

My suggestion: get from the big picture down to a little picture. Start with a set of goals that you want to reach, then break those down into objectives you have to achieve to reach your goals, and finally, figure out what tasks you need to do to accomplish your objectives.

GOALS: A goal is an end that the organization strives to attain. Goals should be challenging, but achievable. Accomplishment of goals will ensure fulfillment of the mission and realization of the vision. Goals transform your mission and vision statements into areas of focus and direction. Goals tend to be far reaching in that they give direction to many programs, and often to the company as a whole.

Strategic goal setting requires planners to identify goals that:
• challenge the status quo;
• require little or no explanation, but instead are easily understandable throughout the firm;
• are consistent with the vision and mission; and,
• are measurable, so you know when you reach them.

Goals focus on desired changes. They are the ends that the organization strives to attain. The purpose of goals is to provide discipline. More specifically, the "objectives for having objectives" include:

OBJECTIVES: Objectives are specific accomplishments that must be accomplished in total, or in some combination, to achieve the goals in the plan. Objectives are usually "milestones" along the way when implementing the strategies. They add some meat to the plan by identifying specific means to achieve the goals. Objectives represent pieces of a goal that can be accomplished over a shorter period. They provide direction for decision-making and a criterion against which outcomes are measured. Thus, objectives are the foundation of planning.

Guidelines for Defining Objectives

Specific An objective must be specific with a single key result. If more than one result is to be accomplished, more than one objective should be written. Just knowing what is to be accomplished is a big step toward achieving it. What is important to you? Once you clarify what you want to achieve, your attention will be focused on the objective that you deliberately set. You will be doing something important to you.

Measurable An objective must be measurable. Only an objective that affects behavior in a measurable way can be optimally effective. If possible, state the objective as a quantity. Some objectives are more difficult to measure than others. However, "difficult" does not mean that they cannot be measured. Avoid statements of objectives in generalities. Infinitives to avoid include to know, to understand, to enjoy, and to believe. Action verbs are observable and better communicate the intent of what is to be attempted. They include to write, to apply, to recite, to revise, to contrast, to install, to select, to assemble, to compare, to investigate, and to develop.

Attainable An objective must be attainable with the resources that are available. It must be realistic. Many objectives are realistic. Yet, the time it takes to achieve them may be unrealistic. For example, it is realistic to want to lose ten pounds. However, it is unrealistic to want to lose ten pounds in one week. What barriers stand between you and your objective? How will each barrier be overcome and within what time frame?

Result-oriented: The objective should be central to the goals of the organization. The successful completion of the objective should make a difference. How will this objective help the organization move ahead? Is the objective aligned with the mission of the organization?

Time-limited: The objective should be traceable. By using specific objectives you can prioritize your time better and you can send your time on objectives that really matter.

TASKS: Tasks are the specific approaches, methods and programs -- a work plan -- by which a firm intends to achieve goals and objectives. They are often the basis for your budget and may be a continuation of an existing program, a revision of an existing program, or a new program.

So how does this work? Well, consider an example from a public relations firm:

GOAL: increase public awareness of our client within the age 18-30 demographic

OBJECTIVES: identify at least 5 new outlets for which this demographic is the primary audience, create a message specifically targeted to this demographic with a 30% retention rate after 5 days

TASKS: explore Web 2.0 options, explore HD radio market exposure, form a message development team for this demographic

(OK, I've never been in PR, so no, these aren't meant to be something you'd really see there...but you get the idea)

It's tempting to look at where you are and try to build yourself up toward your vision, but that can take you down the wrong path and you might not realize it until it's way too late. Instead, start with where you want to be and work backwards. Break it down to the point where everyone in a different specialty can explain their unique role. Ultimately, an individual should be able to look at your strategic plan and say "this is what I contribute." If they can't, then how do they -- or you -- know they're doing the right thing?