Organization starts with a goal.
Great goals are definitely more important than great goal statements; it is, however, also very important to have a clear and concise goal statement that can isolate your thoughts and bring you to focus, inspire you emotionally, and motivate and guide you to take action. The key result that you are looking to come out with is clarity of the end results, motivation, and a massive action plan.
Clarity of the end results are related to your goal. Goals are the results. They allow you to grasp the understanding of how you know when you have arrived at your destination; thus, they are measureable and observable. Keep your goals simple, clear, concise, and most importantly “smart” (specific, measureable, actionable, reasonable, time bound). Goals are hierarchical, with lower-level goals being the means to achieve higher-level goals.
The goals need to be backed up by intent and purpose. Your intent answers the question what direction you’re heading in. Purpose is a broader statement than a goal, and it explains the overall direction and intent.
A purpose drives you to action. As you write your intent and goal statements, a hodgepodge of ideas for achieving your goals will likely come rushing out at you. Your action plan defines what steps are required. Your action plan should include the key requirements for achieving the goal: sequencing, scheduling, steps, milestones, resources needed, who needs to be involved, assumptions, time demands, and so on.
The clearer the goal—what you are trying to accomplish—the better the chance of achieving it. Effective leaders lead by clarifying goals, then determining and managing activities to achieve them. Furthermore, success is measured by how well goals are achieved—”What gets noticed is what gets measured,” and “What gets measured gets done.” In a team environment, you would make your goal setting a collaborative activity. The goal setting process starts at the top and then cascades down; and at each level of the cascade it is clarified in real time.