What Are Strategic Objectives? Examples & How To Track Them
Strategic objectives are an organization’s long-term goals to achieve its overall mission and vision. These objectives provide direction for the organization and serve as a roadmap for success.
If the term strategic objectives are not ringing any bells, you might have heard them discussed in another way. Also described as objectives that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART), these objectives guide an organization in decision-making and resource allocation.
You would want to incorporate strategic objectives within your organization for many reasons. They are more than just goals or daily tasks that you accomplish. They are components of your business’s strategy that require serious forethought and commitment.
In this article, we will discuss some of the steps your organization should take to build out strategic objectives, some examples to get you started, and a few ways to track your progress and measure your success.
Strategic objectives vs goals
Okay, so I initially thought both of these concepts were the same thing. So, if your brain goes there, you are not alone! However, after further review and research, goals and strategic objectives are two different processes.
While both goals and strategic objectives are related – they accomplish different concepts. Goals are broad, long-term aspirations that an organization aims to achieve, while strategic objectives are the SMART steps that support achieving those goals.
Essentially, goals are often qualitative and may be more abstract than strategic objectives. They provide a sense of direction for the organization and may be set for a long time horizon, such as five or ten years. Goals typically do not have a defined timeline for completion, and they may not be broken down into smaller, actionable steps.
Strategic objectives, however, are more concrete and can be extremely specific. They are the actionable steps that an organization takes to achieve its goals. They are often quantitative and SMART and may have a shorter time horizon, such as one to three years.
Goal example:
To become the leading provider of widgets in the southern region of Florida.
Strategic objective example:
Launch a new line of widgets within the next 12 months that are more efficient and cost-effective than the current widget offerings, targeting commercial and industrial customers.
6 Examples of strategic objectives
Strategic objectives vary depending on the organization’s size, industry, and goals. However, some common strategic objectives include increasing revenue, improving customer satisfaction, expanding market share, reducing costs, and enhancing operational efficiency. Examples of strategic objectives to grow your business include:
- Increase revenue
- Improve customer satisfaction
- Expand market share
- Reduce business costs
- Enhance operational efficiency
- Strengthen innovation and R&D
1. Increase Revenue
Increasing revenue is a common strategic objective for businesses. Using a strategic objective to achieve this could be through expanding into new markets, introducing new products or services, improving link building and marketing strategies, or increasing customer retention.
2. Improve Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is crucial to the success of any business. Customer satisfaction can be improved through providing efficient customer service, developing new products or services that meet customer needs or offering an upgraded personalized experience.
3. Expand Market Share
Expanding market share is a way businesses scale and expand their product reach. Companies can do this through campaigns targeting new customer segments, acquiring competitors, or partnering with other businesses to get a foothold into new markets.
4. Reduce Costs
Reducing costs is a strategic objective that can help businesses improve profitability. Companies seeking to improve operational efficiency can look to renegotiate supplier contracts or outsource non-core functions. For example, you can decide to switch from your current costly communication channel to a more efficient and budget-friendly business phone service.
You can check out sites like TheNewWorkforce.com for more information on outsourcing your tasks.
5. Enhance Operational Efficiency
Improving operational efficiency is a strategic objective that can help businesses streamline processes and reduce costs. Companies may aim to achieve this objective by adopting new technologies, improving employee training, or implementing lean manufacturing processes.
6. Strengthen Innovation and R&D
Fostering innovation and R&D (research and development) is a strategic objective that encourages businesses to stay competitive and adapt to changing market demands. This goal can be achieved through allocating resources for R&D activities, encouraging creative thinking and idea generation, and promoting a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement.
How do you track your strategic objectives?
If you cannot track your strategic objectives, how do you know how much progress you are making toward achieving them? Strategic objectives are not just a “set it and forget it” process but must be constantly assessed and measured for success.
To ensure you meet and exceed your strategic objectives, follow these five tips to ensure you hit your objectives:
- Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Measurable metrics help organizations track progress towards their strategic objectives. Organizations should identify the most critical KPIs for each type of strategic objective proposed and establish specific benchmarks for success.
- Monitor Progress: Regularly monitoring your progress towards strategic objectives will help your organization identify areas that require improvement and make necessary adjustments.
- Communicate Results: Communicating results to stakeholders and peers can help organizations build support for their strategic objectives. It also allows the team to celebrate successes and discuss any setbacks.
- Adjust Strategies: As organizations track progress toward strategic objectives, opportunities arise that allow you to identify and adjust the strategies as needed. Organizations should be flexible and willing to change strategies to ensure they remain relevant and effective.
- Use tracking software: Using a project management software platform or goal-tracking tool will be your best friend. With so many moving parts for strategy, using a software platform that can communicate, pull reports, and automate your processes for time-savings, will help keep you on track and team members on the same page.
By implementing these tips into your process of tracking your strategic objectives, you will ensure that you are making steady progress toward achieving each goal. Doing this will set the pace for your strategic objectives and set you up for success. If you set up and follow through with your objectives, you are guaranteed to improve performance, achieve success, and build support for their mission and vision.
Using Hive To Set Your Goals
Are you ready to start making strategic goals with your team? You’re in luck — Hive’s newest (and most exciting) feature is Goals. Everyone wants to know how they’re moving their organization forward, and your team is more than just a project. With Goals, you can set various goals, visualize progress, and keep everyone aligned in one centralized dashboard. You can also:
- Create one, ten, twenty, or more goals for your team, so everyone understands what they’re contributing to.
- Centralize and automate your goal tracking and reporting.
- Pull data from other systems into Hive to streamline operations and reporting.
- Share your goal or goals, assign the goal to relevant teammates, track activity, and give yourselves a deadline.
- Understand how your team and organization are pacing towards an individual goal or a set of goals.
- Color-coded designations allow an easy understanding of “on-track” items.
- When it’s time to review progress, accomplishments, and achievements, easily export all relevant information.
Help your organization track strategic objectives. Get started today with a free 14-day trial of Hive!
