Companies or organizations sometimes use the terms “goals” and “objectives” interchangeably. Especially when discussing business strategy, to use these terms more effectively there needs to be an understanding of the differences between a goal and an objective. Let’s first define “What is a goal” and “What is an objective?”
A goal is a broad aim that you set up to start the business planning process. When you plan your business future, you will generate a list of potential targets that you want to reach. These are goals. For instance, growing sales revenue of your company in Canada can be considered as a goal. An objective is a specific milestone that you reach on the way towards achieving your goal. Increasing your network can be an object which used to reach your goal.
Importance of Goals and Objectives
Defining the direction of your business that will take on the way to success comes from setting goals. Additionally, objectives are the stair
steps which build a staircase, goals. Without objectives, it is impossible to achieve your goals. Objectives can be motivational for employees
After you have planned your goals and objectives, you can get even more particular in your business planning by creating strategies and tactics to reach your objectives. Strategies are more intangible than tactics. Tactics are the keys of achieving your objectives. For instance, a strategy can be “Be effective in Social Media to increase the sales” for the objective “Increase sales by 20% next quarter. For that objective, a tactic can be “Post an advertisement on company's social media accounts every day during the next quarter".and business owners. If your objectives are easy to write but not easy to reach, that means your business strategy is on the right track. Therefore, strategic planning is important when setting your goals.
Goals and OKR
An OKR is almost the same as a goal, with a few small differences. The difference is just we divide our goal in 2 pieces. Objective and Key Result.
For example, a natural way for people to come up with goals is to say: “Grow revenue to $3 million”. Here we can spot 2 main components: a direction (Grow revenue) and a target ($3 million).
The OKR strategy describes that you split a goal like this example into two parts, an Objective and a Key Result. The Objective always answers the question Where do I want to go?, and the Key Results answer the question How will I know I’m getting there? Hence, the goal Grow revenue to $3 million can be split into the Objective Grow revenue and the Key Result $3 million in revenues. It really is that simple.
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