Many organizations set strategic goals for the upcoming year. Given the market’s instability, revisiting the strategy annually is both useful and critical for the company’s well-being. To clearly define these goals for the year, companies hold strategic sessions with department leaders: in small businesses, this might include all employees, while in large firms, only top managers may participate.
However, most companies face a common problem: despite crafting appealing strategic goals and planning change initiatives during these sessions, everyday operational tasks consume so much time and energy that the strategic plans remain mere declarations on paper.
In The 4 Disciplines of Execution, author Sean Covey refers to this phenomenon as the “whirlwind of urgent matters.”Beyond strategic, long-term goals, every company must also handle daily tasks that keep the business running.
These operational goals often involve tasks that should’ve been done “yesterday.” Naturally, urgent tasks are addressed first, while important ones—those aligned with strategic goals—are left without time or energy. This is an inevitable reality that can’t be changed easily, so specific focus measures are necessary.
The typical ratio between urgent and strategic tasks is around 80% urgent, 20% important.
One effective solution is to adopt the OKR system (Objectives and Key Results), which helps drive the company toward clear and ambitious results. The system is simple to implement and can be introduced both company-wide and at the individual level.
Step 1: Leadership Planning Session
Start by holding a meeting with department heads to discuss:
- What cadence to use for setting strategic goals.
Most companies choose a quarterly rhythm—beginning each quarter with a planning session and ending it with a retrospective session. - Revisit the company’s overall strategic goals and select the 1–3 most critical priorities for the current period(e.g., the quarter) that would bring the company closer to achieving those long-term goals. Focus everyone’s attention and effort on these key areas.
- For each selected strategic goal, define key results—measurable outcomes that indicate whether the goal has been achieved. These key results must be specific and quantifiable.
Step 2: Department-Level Objectives
Departments should then define their own goals and results, showing how they contribute to the organization’s strategic objectives. Over time, this process can be cascaded down to every individual employee.
Transparency is a critical part of the system. All information about goals should be easily accessible to employees and visible to everyone. This helps prevent misunderstandings and conflict between departments.
Step 3: Shared Information Space
Create a shared dashboard that displays goals, key results, and weekly progress updates.
- If everyone works in the same building, this could be a physical wall displaying key data.
- If the company is distributed, a virtual space (like a Google Sheet) is a great alternative.
The purpose of this space is to allow real-time visibility into the company’s, departments’, and individuals’ progress.
Step 4: Weekly Progress Rituals
This final step is essential: it keeps strategic priorities top of mind by shifting employee focus away from only urgent tasks.
Implement two types of weekly meetings:
Type 1: Progress Meetings
- Held in small groups (up to 12 people).
- The meeting is short and focused on key results.
- Each participant answers three questions in just a few minutes:
- What contribution did you make to the key results last week? (Report numeric progress.)
- What will you work on this week? (Brief answer.)
- What obstacles are preventing progress, and what support do you need?
- These updates are logged into the system.
- Afterward, department heads gather to review progress across teams.
This routine helps align and focus efforts on strategic goals.
Type 2: Motivation Meetings
- These are moments to celebrate big and small wins from the past week.
- They help build internal motivation and energy to keep working toward strategic objectives.
Conclusion: A 4-Step System for Executing Strategic Goals
To ensure strategic goals are achieved and employees remain energized and engaged, leadership must build a clear and consistent system for strategy execution:
- Define clear, specific company-wide goals and key results for the chosen period (e.g., a quarter).
- Work with departments to formulate and align their own objectives and results.
- Create a shared visual dashboard to track goals, results, and weekly updates (physical or digital).
- Establish a ritual of short, weekly progress meetings to maintain momentum and focus.
By following these four steps, organizations can turn strategic intentions into measurable outcomes—not just once a year, but continuously throughout the business cycle.
