Company goals: a process the leadership keeps

Key takeaways

A company goal setting process decides the three to five results the business will focus on this year and who owns each. The leadership must set them, because goals decide where money and people go. What can be outsourced is the tracking: collecting the numbers, building the dashboard and preparing the monthly progress pack.

• Set 3 to 5 company goals a year, each with one owner.
• Leaders set goals; nobody outside the business should.
• Outsource the tracking, reporting and reminders.
• Review progress monthly and reset goals quarterly if needed.

Why should goals be set inside the business?

Goals are a promise from leaders to the team about what matters. They depend on knowing the business's capacity, its people and its customers. A goal set by an outsider, however well meant, lacks ownership: nobody fights for it when it gets difficult. Setting goals is also how leaders decide what not to do.

• Which business processes should you never outsource?
• Should you outsource business strategy?

How do you set company goals?

Start from the strategy and last year's results, then agree a short list. Each goal needs a measure, a target, a deadline and one owner.

• Review last year's results and lessons.
• Pick 3 to 5 goals that serve the strategy.
• Give each a measure, target and deadline.
• Name one owner per goal.
• Agree how progress will be reported.

• Board packs: outsource the preparation, keep the story
• Risk appetite: a decision no provider can make for you

Which parts of goal management can be outsourced?

The routine around the goals: pulling numbers from systems each month, updating a dashboard, chasing owners for updates and producing a one-page progress report. This keeps goals visible without leaders spending hours on spreadsheets.

• Data reporting: outsource the build and the monthly refresh
• Keep the decision, outsource the admin around it

What goes wrong with goal setting?

Too many goals, goals without owners and goals nobody looks at after January. A short list reviewed monthly beats a long list reviewed once. Goals that cannot be measured also drift, so define the number before the year starts.

• Can you measure it? The test every outsourced process needs

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: an SME sets twelve goals in a planning session and loses track by spring. Cutting to four, each with an owner and a monthly one-page report prepared by an outsourced analyst, keeps the leadership meeting focused on decisions rather than gathering numbers.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Goal setting checklist

• Agree 3 to 5 goals from the strategy.
• Give each a measure, target, deadline and owner.
• Set up a monthly one-page progress report.
• Review progress in a monthly leadership meeting.
• Reset goals quarterly if circumstances change.

• Should you outsource business strategy?
• Investment decisions: why capital allocation stays inside

Next step

Write this year's goals on one page. If there are more than five, or any lacks an owner, that is the first fix.