Goals Worksheet
Goals Defined
A goal is an outcome. It is a desired end result that will take several years to achieve. Good goals
are directly related to your organization’s mission. They offer a clear picture of success but leave
room for creativity in deciding how to achieve success. The best goals are challenging enough to
be inspiring but realistic enough to be motivating.
Writing Good Goal Statements
The most common goal-writing mistake is to write goals that are activity-oriented rather than
results oriented. What’s the difference? Think about it this way: your goal is not to go on a diet;
dieting is an activity. Your goal is to have a healthy body. Similarly, the U.S. Government’s goal
is not to promote democracy in Wandola; promoting is an activity. Our goal is for Wandola to
have free and fair elections and rule of law in civil affairs. See the difference between a goal that
names an activity and a goal that describes a picture of success? Here are some more examples
of how weak goal statements can be improved:
Weak Goal Statement
Problem
Improved Goal Statement
Our goal is to restructure the office consistent with the Department’s priorities.
Restructuring is an activity, not a
result. This goal should give a
clearer picture of what success
will look like when the restructuring is completed.
Our office will have the leanest
staffing pattern capable of carrying out our mission.
Our goal is to increase customer
satisfaction.
Increasing is a process, not a result. This goal should give a
clearer picture of what success
will look like.
Customers will be delighted with
our services and will recommend
us to their friends and colleagues.
Our goal is to foster development
in the host country.
Fostering development is an activity, not an end result. This goal
should give a clearer picture of
what success will look like when
the host country is developed.
Host country citizens will have
access to basic services such as
education, health care, potable
water, and electricity.
Our goal is to cut our budget by
5%, award a new service contract, implement the new software, and reconfigure our office
space.
This goal is really a series of objectives. It does not describe a
long-term result that the office is
seeking.
Our goal is to use cutting-edge
technology to deliver the most
cost-efficient services possible.
Several years ago, only partly in jest, one of the Department of State’s planning offices circulated a list of commonly-used process words that should be banned from goal statements. The list
included words such as advance, assist, cultivate, defend, develop, encourage, endorse, enhance,
expand, extend, foster, further, improve, increase, promote, support, sustain, and uphold. Remember, the most effective goal statements do not describe activities; they describe an outcome
that provides a clear picture of long-term success.
SLS/ETC Offsite
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Goals Worksheet
Write a Goal Statement
Review the work we have done so far today. Your group task is to develop a few durable, results-oriented goal statements for the SLS/ETCs. Your goal statements should be from one to
five sentences long. (Don’t get too hung up on wordsmithing for now; just capture the basic
idea.)
SLS/ETC Goals
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SLS/ETC Offsite