December 7, 2023 | By David M. Wagner

The end of the year is in sight. For many nonprofit leaders, that means it is goals season.

Is setting goals something you and your team see as value-adding? Or is it another dreaded box-checking routine?

Well-crafted goals motivate us, encourage accountability, and ensure alignment across different teams. Poorly-crafted goals are easily ignored and contribute to performance stagnation or, worse, confusion.

The Harm of Arbitrary Goals

I’ve had bad run-ins with arbitrary goals.

In an old job, I was tapped to lead a strategic initiative that had a lot of visibility.

I was excited – a until I dove into the details. I realized the goals for the initiative made no sense.

The work was supposed to benefit a customer. But the project goals were out of touch with what that customer actually needed.

Rather than change course, corporate leadership insisted we satisfy the original goal.

Goals with Meaning and Value

My team sometimes struggled to find motivation to continue working on that initiative. I think that’s because the project goal was not imbued with meaning (a sense of purpose) and did not add value (a clear contribution to our organization’s mission).

Goals that impart both meaning and value:

1. Create accountability for shared outcomes. There is no success in a vacuum. Goals should identify our contributions to outcomes that are larger than ourselves, which invites accountability (“I said I would do ‘x’”) and alignment (“together, we’re trying to accomplish ‘y’”).

2. Emphasize the “why” of our work. We’re not working just to keep busy. What’s the intended impact? Use goals to reinforce the values that make our work important.

3. Measure what really matters. Activities are easy to measure, but they’re just the plan. Write goals to reflect what really matters: outcomes.

4. Push us to grow. In a rapidly-changing world, the status quo is not an option. We must grow by doing better (not necessarily doing more). As Daniel Pink explains in Drive, we are propelled to accomplish more when pushed just beyond our comfort zone to master something new.

For example, the development manager at a food bank might start with an arbitrary goal like, “Meet with 18 major donors each month” (activity-focused). How does this sound by comparison? “Raise $1.15 million in gifts from major donors so we can provide 20% more meals to people in need this year, demonstrating our commitment to eliminating food insecurity in our community.”

Motivate your stakeholders, your team, and yourself with goals that provide clear meaning and value. I use this same principle when helping nonprofits create strategies that won’t just check the box – set a free consultation to start moving needles for your mission.