Goals and Objectives

Goals

A goal is a specific target, an end result or something to be desired. It is a major step in achieving the vision of the organisation.

In the strategic planning context a goal is a place where the organisation wants to be, in other words a destination. For example, a goal for a sporting organisation might be to have 50 qualified and active coaches. An organisation may set several goals that will outline a path to achieving the vision. The goal of attaining 50 qualified and active coaches will be an important step in achieving the vision of becoming most dynamic, most respected and best achieved club in the district league.

Example Goals

Key Result Area	Example Goals
Membership	To attain 1000 members
Club Development	To attain 30 clubs, each properly constituted.
Facilities	To own and operate a national standard training facility
Funding and Finance	To attain self-funding capability and financial independence
Administration	To achieve a standards of administration that are commensurate with the association's vision.

Objectives

A measure of change in order to bring about the achievement of the goal. The attainment of each goal may require a number of objectives to be reached (see figure below).

There is often much confusion between goals and objectives. Whereas as a goal is a description of a destination, an objective is a measure of the progress that is needed to get to the destination. The following table serves to illustrate the difference between goals and objectives.

Difference between goals and objectives

Example Goal	Example Objective
50 qualified and active coaches	Increase qualified/active coaches by 50% by December 2005
Membership base of 500 persons	Increase membership by 25% by December 2005
Profile in the community as a club of excellence in health and safety	Reduce incidences of injury on the field by 50% by December 2005
Achieve financial independence	Increase sponsorship by 100% by December 2005

goals and objectives It is important to understand that a number of goals must be attained before the strategic plan can be achieved. Similarly, each goal in the strategic plan will in turn require a number of objectives to be successfully achieved. The figure opposite is a simple illustration showing that each of six goals has two objectives. In reality, the number of objectives needed for each goal can be anything but the usual range is 1 to 6.

The table below also shows how a number of objectives (in this case four) is needed for a goal to attain 1000 members.

Example objectives

Example Goal	Example Objectives
To attain 1000 members	Increase membership in metropolitan area of Brisbane by 20% by 2005
	Increase membership in North Queensland by 50% by 2005
	To increase membership in over 35 category by 20% by 2005
	To reduce member loss between ages of 18 and 25 by 20% by 2001

An important principle in formulating objectives is that they should be specific, measurable, achievable and have time lines associated. Words like increase and reduce indicate change.

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