Step one, define and express the objective. The purpose of this step is to clearly state the objective to be achieved. Create a clear statement that sets the strategic pillars of your vision and establishes the highest level of goals to which your teams and the work will align. This statement is a non-technical deliverable, meaning that it is done as a behavioral best practice outside the context of the software. This objective serves as an expression of your vision as a leader to your people and teams. Within the statement, outline the top-level goals as they fit within the vision. There are four parts to this statement and addressing each part independently makes it clear and direct. Part 1, a clear outcome of achieving our purpose looks like… This statement will be more focused than your mission and vision statements but will likely share some common tones. Define what the outcome should look like once you’re done. Part 2, the single most important thing this team can do is… This statement defines the single most important thing to deliver. This deliverable usually spans across many goals, such as launching a new product, rebranding your company, entering a new market, et cetera. Part 3, the team will accomplish their objective by… List out one to three objectives. These are your strategic pillars or the core top-level goals that must be achieved in order to reach the desired outcome. Part 4, our operational constraints include… This statement articulates the constraints that you have to adhere to while you complete your goals. Perhaps there are legacy requirements that must be met. Define those constraints to help your teams be aware of what conditions you expect these goals to be accomplished within. For example, at Workfront, we refer to this statement as the commander’s intent. The executive leadership team at Workfront, consisting of the direct reports to the president and CEO of Workfront, will lead an enterprise SaaS company to create modern work management as a category by delivering an enterprise application platform that serves as a company’s operational system of record. The single most important thing this team can do is create and keep customers. The team will accomplish their objective by achieving sales and marketing excellence, becoming a product-driven company, activating an ideal customer journey, and cultivating a culture that is contagious. Operational constraints include our long-term target operating model of greater than 30% ARR growth, 90% gross renewal rates, 120% net renewal rates, and achieving the so-called Rule of 40. All of this must be accomplished within the cultural boundaries of getting it done and doing it right. While this statement was written by Alex Shootman, our CEO, each leader in each organization can and should develop a similar statement. Ultimately, these statements will segment further how their people and teams should behave to contribute to the overarching objective. How far these statements spread down through your company will depend on the structure of your company, but, given their nature, we do not recommend making such statements quarterly or even annually. In Part 3 of these statements, the time horizon for each of these goals should be at least 12 months. Establish high order enterprise or organizational goals. Your highest level goals represent your longer term objectives and the higher the goal sits within the hierarchy, the broader its scope. Regardless of where you sit as a leader within your company, it is likely that your higher order enterprise or organizational goals center around how you deliver value to one or more of three primary stakeholders, customers, shareholders, and/or employees. Writing goals can be tricky as we naturally have a tendency to jump straight into action. A goal should represent a value statement that indicates the outcome you’re working toward. Pro tip, think of a statement that you would want to make about your company, brand, or organization after a successful achievement. Here are some examples of higher order goals. Example number 1. Goal, our brand is globally recognized as a leader in our industry. Result, we obtain 55% market share within our industry. Example 2. Goal, our customers rely on us as trusted partners who provide a product or service crucial to their success. Result, we achieve an NPS score of 30 or higher. Example 3. Goal, we maintain a culture where diverse individuals can thrive in their careers. Result, we achieve an eNPS score of 50 or higher. These example goals are statements that indicate value delivered to customers, shareholders, and/or employees. It is clear what you want to achieve and how you will measure that success. As consumers of this information, it’s also easy for team members to understand why these outcomes are valuable for the business although further description about the goal could deepen understanding. At this point, what isn’t clear is how we will achieve this goal. It may be tempting to jump straight into defining goal execution at this point, but instead, start to think about what metrics drive market share. As you dissect the top-level goals and measurable results, you start to see that these goals can be segmented into specific targets that either drive or enable success of this objective. We’ll get into more detail about cascading and segmenting these top-level level goals in the next step. For now, focus on setting clear high-level goals as they will inform subsequent goals farther down the organization. The recommendation is to formulate three to five top-level goals. As you’re defining the goals in Workfront Goals, they’ll initially be in a draft state meaning that you can review and finalize the goals before they’re shared more broadly. Take advantage of the easy-to-understand hierarchical view in Goals to socialize your ideas and gain consensus with your peers. Summary of recommendations. Number 1, focus on creating no more than three to five higher order, longer term goals that center around achieving outcomes for at least one of three primary stakeholders, customers, shareholders, and/or employees. Number 2, when writing goal statements, focus on an outcome statement that you would want to be true after achieving the outcome. Number 3, identify a clear metric by which you will measure successful achievement of the goal. -