Every December I see the same moment appear inside leadership teams.
Someone opens the plan from the start of the year and tries to figure out whether it meant anything at all. A few targets were reached, although most of those were already on track before the plan was written. Some of the bigger ideas never moved an inch. Then there are the unexpected wins that show up because a problem or opportunity forced the team to act.
This pattern reveals a deeper issue.
Many leaders still combine two different types of measurement. They blend the signals that show the business is healthy with the ambitions that would actually move the organisation forward. Once those two get mixed together, strategy loses its strength and the plan becomes a list of gentle nudges instead of meaningful progress.
The simplest fix is to separate business as usual from genuine goal work.
Signals That Protect Business as Usual
Every company has a set of numbers that show whether the engine is running properly.
Revenue. Margin. Customer counts. Delivery timelines.
Anything that shifts when known processes are working as expected.
These numbers matter. They confirm that the organisation is holding its standards. They show when something starts to slip. They tell you when to investigate a change in performance. They deserve consistent review.
What they do not deserve is to be written as goals.
If you already know the actions that produce these outcomes, then the work is repeatable. It is a process. It sits inside business as usual.
A slight percentage increase on a known number is not a strategic ambition. It is a signal to monitor.
The Work That Belongs In Your Goal Setting
Real goals take you somewhere you have not been before.
They introduce uncertainty. They require judgement and creativity. They force people to think rather than rely on the comfort of routine.
When I work with founders and executives, the goals that create actual movement tend to fall into one of five categories.
Innovate or Create
You build something that does not currently exist.
Fix or Remediate
You correct a known issue that is blocking performance or creating friction.
Improve or Accelerate
You take something that works and push it far beyond its current trajectory.
Mitigate Risk or Comply
You protect the company from threats, liability, or structural weaknesses.
Support or Scale
You strengthen internal capacity so the organisation can handle greater load or complexity.
These five categories capture the real shape of strategic work. They help leaders understand what kind of change they are committing to.
They also make it clear that these ambitions cannot sit beside routine KPIs. They are not the same kind of thing.
Choosing a Framework That Helps You Work This Way
My preferred approach is OKRs because they help leaders draw a clean line between maintaining and advancing.
- Objectives sit at the strategic level.
- Key results show whether the work behind that objective is effective.
- Initiatives bring the objective to life.
When OKRs are used well, teams can see how their contributions support the larger ambition.
When OKRs are used poorly, they turn into a storage box for KPIs that already have owners, rhythms, and processes behind them.
It is also important to point out that OKRs are not the only choice. Some companies use EOS.. Some use their own hybrid. The framework matters less than the discipline of separating business as usual from strategic change.
The Leadership Role
Leaders often assume their job is to create a list of targets.
In practice, their job is to define ambition and create the environment that allows people to reach it. That requires thinking time. It requires workshops where people can surface ideas, challenge assumptions, and find new ways forward. It requires a willingness to test things, learn quickly, and adjust.
If you already know the exact steps required to hit a number, then you are not setting a goal. You are managing a process.
Both matter, but they serve different purposes and belong in different conversations.
A Simple Test Before You Set Next Year’s Goals
Take each item on your list and ask one question.
Is this something we already know how to achieve, or is this something we need to figure out?
If you already know how, then it belongs in monitoring.
If you need to figure it out, then it belongs in goal setting.
That simple distinction is what separates a business that maintains itself from a business that grows with intention. It is also the distinction that many leaders miss, often without realising it.
Once you see it, you can build a plan that is grounded, achievable, and capable of meaningful change.
