The Difference Between Goals and Objectives in Business Planning

Every organization creates goals to help them meet their overall mission, and objectives enable these businesses to accomplish goals. Since both ideas relate to milestones a company wishes to reach, people often use the terms interchangeably. In reality, differences exist between business goals and objectives, making it necessary for organizations to distinguish the two for strategic planning.

What Are Business Goals?

From a business perspective, goals are abstract ideas that express the desired result. Typically, goals are broad and focus on long-term success of the company. In other words, they are less concerned with the mechanics of achieving them.

Goals are crucial for strategic planning as they affect every aspect of your business, from its finances to the culture. For instance, a company that wants to increase recruitment may need to allocate money for employee resources and adjust how they market to potential hires. Other examples of business goals include:

• Becoming a leader within the industry
• Augmenting customer service efforts
• Boosting profits
• Fostering more eco-friendly practices
• Streamlining management
• Elevating the company’s visibility to target audiences

What Are Business Objectives?

Once an organization establishes goals, it can move on to creating objectives. Objectives are short-term actions that a business completes to reach a goal. They are more measurable than goals and usually feature a specific aim and timeline.

Business leaders should keep their overall goals in mind when developing objectives. This practice reminds them of the purpose of the objective, which can help them encourage employees and keep themselves motivated.

When it comes to goal setting, what are the objectives? In general, an objective is narrower than a goal and contains details on how the business should accomplish it. For instance, say you want to increase your customer base in five years. Your objectives may be to create two new products a year and invest in three new marketing strategies.

The Relationship between Goals and Objectives

While there is an undeniable difference between goals and objectives in strategic planning, neither is effective without the other. If you devise goals for your organization and do not have measurable objectives, it will be challenging to see these goals to fruition. On the other hand, objectives without goals can feel meaningless and lower morale company-wide.

A standard tool used to design objectives is the SMART method. This technique makes the goal-setting process more manageable for companies. SMART is an acronym that guides businesses in determining whether or not an objective is beneficial for realizing goals. It stands for:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Timely

Strategies for Measuring Goals

It may seem counterproductive to measure goals since you may use objectives to track them. However, evaluating goals is still important to determine if they produced the expected outcomes. Use the following techniques to gauge your business goals:

• Point system: Using a point system helps track progress with goals and can motivate employees. A multi-faceted approach to the points system may be most effective. For instance, you may award two points for completing a project before the deadline, and only one point if the project is late. Before implementing point systems, ensure you communicate the change to all relevant employees.
• Rubric system: Goals more focused on quality than quantity are challenging to measure due to their lack of numbers. In these situations, you can use a rubric system because it allows you to compare what you anticipated would happen and what actually occurred in your attempt to reach the goal.
• Self-reflection: If you wrote down the goal, return to it and ask—did we accomplish it? If the answer is no, review the goal with your team to decide if trying it again is worth the effort.

Strategies for Measuring Objectives

Evaluating objectives is arguably easier than assessing goals due to their more focused nature. Consider using the following methods as key performance indicators (KPIs):

• Quantitative measurements: Objectives typically feature numbers, units, and other quantitative information that simplify gauging outcomes. You and your team can figure out what is average, subpar, and outstanding progress.
• Surveys: For qualitative changes, consider conducting surveys or focus groups that provide insight into the employee or customer response. Quantitative analysis may not give the most accurate assessment of these objectives.

Guidance with Business Goals and Objectives

If you need assistance designing goals and objectives for your business, turn to Spider Strategies for software solutions. Our mission is to help clients improve their organizational planning through powerful and intuitive management software.

Contact us today to learn how Spider Impact can help you reach your business goals and objectives, or schedule a personalized demo to see the software in action.