Focusing Achievement, by Richard Nelson.

The editorial from Issue Three of our newsletter.

Establishing business purpose and direction are essential pre-requisites for leading an organisation. Purpose gives meaning to the business’s existence. This enables the leader to foster a sense of purpose among the organisation’s people. Direction sets out the overall means by which the business plans to gain success and relate with its stakeholders.

Once business purpose and direction has been defined, possibly as a Vision, the leader needs to provide greater clarity with respect to what needs to be achieved. Such clarity can be delivered by formulating Strategic Goals or Missions. These are action-orientated statements of intent. Each Strategic Goal should specify the action required together with their corresponding measurable outputs and timeframes for completion. Among other things, Strategic Goals can be set for customer acquisition and retention, people performance, shareholder value and profitability.

The Strategic Goals will focus the whole business on what needs to be achieved. They provide straightforward mental clarity that, with the right leadership style, can galvanise the motivation of an organisation’s people.

Click here for an overview of some of our work in establishing Strategic Goals.

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