This blog entry, about setting and measuring goals for your strategic plan, is the final article in a five-article series where I share a brief preview of some of the guidance that I provided in my book, Mission Met: Proven Strategic Planning Guidance to Help You Build a Financially Secure and Impactful Nonprofit. 

Results and Process Goals

Take a look at the goals in the following table. Do you see how the wording of the first three goals has a different style and format than the last three goals?

I organized the table to highlight two different types of goals that you’ll want to consider including in your plan. The first three goals listed are “results” goals and focus on a numerical result. The last three goals are “process” goals and lead to the completion of a plan, process, or system. 

For example, the first goal, “Raise $750,000 in individual donations,” is a results goal. Its correlating process goal is the fourth goal in the table, “Document and implement an individual donor plan.” 

Both of these goals follow my overall guidance. They have a goal topic. They represent a specific and desired achievement. They have due dates and goal champions. They’re excellent goals. 

So, which goal is better? Although the correct answer is “it depends,” research suggests that the process goals may have greater impact. 

As described by Chip and Dan Heath in their book, Switch, researchers indicate that process goals may be nearly three times more effective than results goals in helping you get what you want (note that they use the term “behavioral goals” to describe process goals):

In a pioneering study of organizational change, described in the book The Critical Path to Corporate Renewal, researchers divided the change efforts they’d studied into three groups: the most successful (the top third), the average (the middle third), and the least successful (the bottom third). They found that, across the spectrum, almost everyone set goals: 89 percent of the top third and 86 percent of the bottom third. A typical goal might be to improve inventory turns by 50 percent. But the more successful change transformations were more likely to set behavioral goals: 89 percent of the top third versus only 33 percent of the bottom third. For instance, a behavioral goal might be that project teams would meet once a week and each team would include at least one representative of every functional area. Until you can ladder your way down from a change idea to a specific behavior, you’re not ready to lead a switch.

In my work with executive directors and their teams, I’ve found that process goals are especially relevant. Most nonprofit leaders are great at putting out fires but struggle when it comes to building organizational processes. By deliberately incorporating a plan, process, or system as a goal within the strategic plan, the team will be more likely to build its capacity and effectiveness over time. 

Use a Simple Method for Measuring Goals

If you follow this guidance, then the goals you and your team will write will be specific and measurable. Assuming this is the case, here is a simple method that you can use to measure them. 

Commonly called the “traffic light system,” the method uses the colors of red, yellow, and green to quickly communicate goal progress:

Red—The goal is off track, and it won’t be completed by its due date.
Yellow—Progress on the goal is slow, and it may not be completed by its due date.
Green—The goal is on track to be completed by its due date.

I have added two additional colors to provide a little greater measurement specificity:

Blue—The goal has been completed.
Gray—The goal has not been started. 

In the following table, the “Goal Status” column provides an example of what the traffic lights would look like. 

If you and your team want to be more exacting in your measurements, you can supplement the colors with percentages. The “Percentage Complete” column in the table indicates what that might look like.

Bottom line: it’s important to set goals and measure them regularly. Focus first on the process, then the result. Using a simple method to track and measure will help you build a habit of analyzing this information. I recommend reviewing your goals monthly, as it will help you and your team build a learning culture that will catalyze your strategic planning success.