Setting your strategic direction with StratNavApp.com
Learn how to map your strategy out using a vision and mission statement, values, goals, objectives, KPIs and targets. Cross-check these against your analysis and implementation plans, and track progress using a scorecard.
Once you've completed your strategic analysis, it's time to articulate what your strategy is / will be.
StratNavApp allows you to specify, annotate and discuss your Vision, Mission and Corporate Values. It then allows you to break these down into specific Goals, with Objectives, Key performance indicators (KPIs) and Targets. (Later, you can specify Actual Results for each KPI, relative to your target and check if your strategy is delivering the intended results.)
Goals, Objectives, KPIs and Targets form a hierarchy with each lower layer adding more detail to the layer above:
- Goals are high-level statements of direction and ambition to achieve your vision.
- Objectives are usually described as being SMART, that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable and Assigned, Realistic and Relevant, and Timebound.
- KPIs are specific enough that you can collect actual data on them on a regular basis. It is important to be clear on exactly how and how often you will take or calculate the measurement. They add the Measurable objective to you SMART Objectives.
- Targets are actual measurement values you plan to achieve by specified dates. They add the Achievable, Realistic and Timebound dimension to your SMART Objectives.
Each goal can be broken down into multiple objectives. Each objective can be tracked by multiple KPIs, and each KPI can have multiple targets (usually for different time periods).
To help you achieve a holistic strategy, your Goals, Objectives and KPIs can be specified within the 4 Perspectives defined by the Balanced Scorecard Methodology: Financial, Customer, Internal Business Processes, and Learning and Innovation. It is important to set goals which create a balance between:
- Hard, financial goals and softer, non-financial goals.
- Forward-looking goals, which create the conditions to support future success, and rearward-looking goals which focus on the success achieved now.
- Input goals, which focus on doing the right things, and output goals, which focus on getting the right results.
Once you've articulated your Goals, Objectives, KPIs and Targets, the Scorecard (in the Control quadrant) will map out your entire strategy on a single page, highlighting any gaps you might still have.
See also:
See also
For more insight into articulating your strategy, please read our sister blog StrategicCoffee, in particular: