Long-term Mission and Goals

A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, identifying the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operation. It may include a short statement of such fundamental matters as the organization’s values or philosophies, a business’s main competitive advantages, or a desired future state the “vision”.

A mission is not simply a description of an organization by an external party, but an expression, made by its leaders, of their desires and intent for the organization. The purpose of a mission statement is to communicate the organisation’s purpose and direction to its employees, customers, vendors, and other stakeholders. A mission statement also creates a sense of identity for its employees. Organizations normally do not change their mission statements over time, since they define their continuous, ongoing purpose and focus

According to Chris Bart, professor of strategy and governance at McMaster University, a commercial mission statement consists of three essential components:

• Key market: The target audience
• Contribution: The product or service
• Distinction: What makes the product unique or why the audience should buy it over another

Advantages

Provides direction: Mission statements are a way to direct a business into the right path. They play a part in helping the business make better decisions which can be beneficial to them. Without the mission statement providing direction, businesses may struggle when it comes to making decisions and planning for the future. This is why providing direction could be considered one of the most advantageous points of a mission statement.

Clear purpose: Having a clear purpose can remove any potential ambiguities that may surround the existence of a business. People who are interested in the progression of the business, such as stakeholders, will want to know that the business is making the right choices and progressing more towards achieving their goals, which will help to remove any doubt the stakeholders may have in the business.

A mission statement can act as a motivational tool within an organisation, and it can allow employees to all work towards one common goal that benefits both the organisation and themselves. This can help with factors such as employee satisfaction and productivity. It is important that employees feel a sense of purpose. Giving them this sense of purpose will allow them to focus more on their daily tasks and help them realise the goals of the organisation and their role.

Design

“What do we do?”: The mission statement should clearly outline the main purpose of the organisation, and what they do.

“How do we do it?”: It should also mention how one plans on achieving the mission statement.

“Whom do we do it for?”: The audience of the mission statement should be clearly stated within the mission statement.

“What value are we bringing?”: The benefits and values of the mission statement should be clearly outlined.

Long-Term Goals

A long-term organizational goal defines a success point in the future potentially months, or even years down the road. Long-term goals include objectives for life, career, education, and more. They require you to plan and allot time for the grand accomplishment. They’re best tackled through a series of short-term goals or milestones along the journey toward the final destination. Especially large long-term goals will not reach completion unless you define a way to break them down into manageable stages of progress.

Agile Goals

Agile goals are rooted in the lean and rapid movements of the Tech Start-Up industry. Agile goals describe a set of values and a process of achieving outcomes that evolve through small cycles of collaboration within or between teams. Agile organizational goals allow individuals or teams to break down the long-term goals into a roadmap of shorter and achievable milestones. Agile goals are usually executed by focusing on one clear and concise smaller objective at a time. Agile goals are typically two week “sprints” of actionable activities that have a clear objective to be completed within that short time-frame.

For example, in the software industry, developers create daily and weekly process cadences as a way to conduct quality checks, run tests, demo, and adjust or refine the requirements of the project to suit customer needs and company goals. Agile goals with shorter cycles and achievable results effectively contribute to a larger ongoing objective. They are designed with an inherent sense of urgency that influences a team to produce results quickly and collaboratively while continually making adjustments and improvements along the way.

Performance Goals

Performance goals are rooted in current events and are designed to measure, analyze, and improve over time usually on a quarterly, tri-annual, or bi-annual period of time. These goals can include achievements in education, problem-solving, and professional scenarios that clearly demonstrate some type of forward, measurable progress in which an individual will have some levels of regular conversations toward a performance goal. These discussions are often in relation to a team member’s role and their contribution toward a specific outcome. Performance goals are often centered on what the organization is trying to achieve from a strategic viewpoint. These goals often motivate individuals to continue finding support, and they give you a gauge on the energy needed to effectively pursue important outcomes.

Along the way, you should constantly evaluate through formal or informal appraisals or retrospectives any performance goals for their effectiveness or completion. When evaluating a performance goal, it’s important team leaders and individuals focus less on the key metrics of the goal and more on the overall process and collaboration was toward achieving it. Metrics and outcomes are important, but the most critical learnings, as related to performance, are lost when only focusing on numbers. Such practice ignores the interpersonal relationships and collaboration that experienced during the pursuit of the goal. As a leader, collaborating on performance goals well developing an individual’s skill sets builds trust and allows you to measure and discuss their work in an objective way. It allows for healthy feedback and recognition and performance improvement in the future.

A long-term goal is something you want to accomplish in the future. Long-term goals require time and planning. They are not something you can do this week or even this year. Long-term goals are usually at least several years away.

Long-term goals are important for a career. Careers last your whole working life. Long-term goals help you think about the education you will need. Long-term goals help you think about jobs you want in the future. Careers take time and planning. These plans will include your long-term goals.

The following are the differences between business goals and business objectives:

• Business goals define the “what” of a business’s purpose whereas business objectives define the “how.”
• Business goals typically only provide a general direction that a company will follow whereas business objectives clearly outline actionable steps.
• Business objectives are measurable whereas business goals generally are not.
• Business objectives are specific whereas business goals are broader and more all-encompassing.
• Business objectives typically have a set timeline whereas business goals do not.

Steps

1. Establish the goals you want to accomplish over the next 5-10 years

The first step to creating long-term business goals is to determine the goals you want to accomplish over the next several years. Many people find that setting goals 10 years out is sufficient; however, you can set goals as little as one year out or as far away as 20 years. Identify and write down as many goals as possible that you want your business to achieve in the time period you decide on.

2. Prioritize your long-term business goals

Many companies have several goals that they want to accomplish in the long-term. However, it’s difficult to focus on every goal at once. For this reason, it’s important to prioritize the goals that you want to focus on first and put your company resources into accomplishing those before moving onto other goals.

3. Break down each long-term goal into short-term objectives

Similar to how you break down short-term goals, you will also need to break down your long-term goals into actionable short-term objectives. For example, if your long-term goal is to increase your company’s overall brand awareness, you will need to break this down into short-term objectives that will ultimately help you accomplish the long-term goal. Examples of actionable objectives for the above goal would be to post to social media three times a week and collaborate with social media influencers on a monthly basis.

4. Track your company’s long-term goals regularly

An important component of accomplishing long-term goals is tracking them on a regular basis. Because long-term goals can take an extended period of time to reach, it can be easy to forget about them or lose sight of the end goal. Keeping track of the progress being made towards each goal can ensure you’re on the right path to reaching these goals and enable you to make any adjustments when needed.