Simple. The major goals of an organization define the strategy. Because a strategy is a communicable plan to maximize and sustain the most important goals of a business, strategy is inseparable from the goals themselves.
Change the goals, and the strategy must change. The initiatives required to hit 1,000,000 monthly active users are very different from the initiatives required to hit 1,000 monthly active users in the same time.
Strategy planning can be greatly helped if an organization has very concrete top-level goals. Such goals are ultimately determined by:
- For-profit: shareholder needs and priorities
- Non-profit: stakeholder goals, desired impacts, and mission
Here's an example process for getting to the goals:
- Shareholder / Stakeholder Goals and Needs
(a) What are the needs of the shareholders/stakeholders of the organization, in the very long-term?
(b) How much progress has already been made?
(c) What are "80-20" methods to realize these goals and needs in the short/medium term?
- Organizational Outcomes Mapped to Shareholder / Stakeholder Needs
(a) Choose primary metric(s), driven by shareholder/stakeholder goals
(b) Layer in comparisons and benchmarks for this metric
(c) Choose secondary metric(s)
(d) Iterate to refine the outcomes
Learn more in our introduction to defining strategic outcomes.
