How to Write a Goal Statement That Works: 3 Simple Steps with Examples
Creating goal statements can get weirdly intense. You wouldnโt think writing a simple objective could trip so many people up โ but it does. In fact, โHow do we write this as a proper goal?โ is one of the questions I hear the most when people are building KPI Trees.
You might be tempted to reach for SMART goals at this point, butโฆ maybe hold fire on that. I'll explain why it's best to avoid SMART goals a little later but whether youโre sorting out your KPIs, shaping up a business strategy, or just planning whatโs next in your career, writing clearly defined goal statements can make everything feel a lot more focused. This guide is here to help you do just that.
Why goal statements matter
Thereโs no one โperfectโ way to write them, but there are plenty of ways to get it wrong. People often have strong opinions, especially when KPIs are involved. In fact, objective statements are a big part of building KPI Trees โ so getting them right really matters. Thatโs where this guide comes in.
Weโll walk through how to write a goal statement that works in three quick steps, with simple goal statement examples and a few classic mistakes to avoid. Whether you're trying to set goals for your team or your personal and professional life, this guide has you covered. Thereโs even a mini FAQ at the end, in case youโre still scratching your head.
Total time to write an objectiveย statement? About 10 minutes.
First up: What is a goal statement?
A goal statement is just a clear way of saying what success looks like. No fluff. No corporate waffle. Just: this is what weโre trying to achieve.
Itโs not a to-do list or a plan of action. Itโs the end result โ the thing you want to be true once all the hard work is done.
Youโre not saying, โWe hope to...โ or โWe might...โ Youโre saying, โHereโs what weโve nailed.โ Like itโs already happened.
For instance, instead of writing,ย โWeโre building a new warehouse,โ a stronger objective statementย would be, โOur products are shipped without delay.โ Same ambition, but now itโs focused on the outcome โ not the job list.
How to Write a Goal Statement in 3 Easy Steps (with Examples)
Letโs keep it simple. You donโt need fancy tools or hours of your life. Just three quick steps, a few illustrations, and a little bit of common sense.
Typical time to write a goal statement: 10 minutes
Step 1
Brainstorm the end results (outcomes) youโre after
Grab whatever helps you think โ a notepad, a whiteboard, sticky notes, Notion, or the back of a takeaway menu. Doesnโt matter.
Start jotting down all the outcomes you want. Not the jobs to be done, not the day-to-day tasks โ just the results.
Here's an example:
๐ โSign up for the Sawdust and Running Diet Planโ
Thatโs a task. Something to tick off.
๐ โMaintain a healthy body weightโ
Now weโre talking. Thatโs the outcome that matters.
Step 2
Sort them by scale โ then pick one to focus on
Some objectives from Step 1 will be big and broad. Others will be quite small and specific. Thatโs fine.
Now line them up from the widest, most strategic ones at the top, down to the smaller, more tactical ones at the bottom. The big-picture stuff gives you the best shot at meaningful impact, so thatโs usually what you want to go with. You may have a specific reason to choose a lower level objective and that's fine as long as you're crystal clear on why.
Example:
Youโre thinking about health and fitness, and youโve jotted down:
๐ โWe use comfortable running shoesโ
Useful, but pretty narrow.
๐ โWe have a long and healthy retirementโ
Bingo. Thatโs got real scope. A much broader, more meaningful objective.
Step 3
Write it like itโs already happened
This is the magic bit.
Write your objective as if itโs already true. Like youโre living in a world where youโve nailed it. This helps you focus on what success actually looks like โ not just what you plan to do.
Stacey Barr calls this a 'future fact', which is a great term. (Hereโs a link to her article, if you fancy a deeper dive.) I find it helpful to refer to it as 'tomorrow's truth'.
Quick tips:
Stick to results, not actions.
Leave out numbers and deadlines for now โ that comes later.
Use pronouns like I, we, us, our โ it makes things feel real and grounded and makes it easier to write about 'future fact'.
Example:
๐ โBuild warehouse C17 by Marchโ
Thatโs a project deadlineโa task with a target delivery date. It doesnโt say why the warehouse matters or what good itโll do.
Now try this instead:
๐ โOur products are shipped without delayโ
Thatโs the actual winโthe outcome. Thatโs the bit people care about.
Why goal wording matters
You wouldnโt think writing a simple objective could trip so many people up โ but it does. In fact, โHow do we write this as a proper goal?โ is one of the questions I hear the most when people are building KPI Trees.
You might be tempted to reach for SMART goals at this point, butโฆ maybe hold fire on that. Iโll explain why in the FAQ section below.
After running hundreds of goal-writing sessions, Iโve spotted three classic mistakes that pop up again and again. The good news? Theyโre easy to avoid once you know what to look for. Letโs walk through each one โ and how to fix it.
3 Common Mistakes When Writing Goal Statements
Mistake 1: Writing goals that are just tasks in disguise
Letโs say I decide to go on a diet. The objective isnโt โGo on a diet.โ Thatโs the action.
The actual objectiveย is something like โReach and maintain my ideal body weight.โ Thatโs the result I want.
You can probably spot the difference, right? But loads of goal statements sneak in as simple to-do list items. They might sound fine at first glance, but they donโt actually tell us what success looks like.
Here are a few classic instances of activities masquerading as goal statements:
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Build warehouse C17
-
All staff to complete Health & Safety Training 101
-
Sign up for the 'Sawdust and Running' diet plan
These are all actions โ things we can do and tick off. But once theyโre done, they donโt tell us what benefit weโve achieved. That makes them a shaky foundation for your KPI design.
Letโs take the warehouse illustration. Once itโs built, so what? What do weย get from it? Faster shipping? Less product damage? More room for stock? We need to spell that part out.
So, hereโs the fix:
Create goal statements that talk about results, not tasks. Whatโs the outcome youโre actually hoping for? Thatโs what you want your goal statement to say.
โ
Good objectives focus on the difference you want to make, not the stuff youโre planning to do.
โ
You can still track tasks later if needed โ they often live nicely in OKRs which are developed alongside KPIs. But theyโre not the right starting point for KPIs.
Key points for Mistake 1: Tasked dressed up as goals
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Tasks get ticked off and forgotten. Goals should describe a meaningful result that still matters after the workโs done.
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A task tells you what youโre doing. A goal tells you why youโre doing it.
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You can measure activity later down the line, but itโs not a solid substitute for measuring actual outcomes โ so handle with care.
Mistake 2: Mashing activities together with targets and deadlines and calling them 'goals'
Youโll often see goals written like this:
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Handover of new warehouse C17 by January 2024
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Deliver H&S training to 100% of staff by month-end
-
Complete the 'Sawdust and Running' diet and lose 20kg
This type of goal follows a kind of โverb + subject + number + dateโ format. Itโs tidy. It looks impressive. But it causes two big problems.
Problem one: targets make people twitchy.
Say you suggest an objectiveย like โIncrease profit by 10x.โ Youโve now opened a can of worms. Some people will love the ambition. Others will panic. Instead of discussing whether โincreasing profitโ is a good objective (it probably is), everyoneโs now arguing about the number.
Problem two: targets are a job for later.
Weโre not ready for them yet. In most cases, you wonโt know how youโre measuring something or what โgreatโ looks like at this stage. So, setting numbers too early can throw you off course.
The better approach? First agree what good looks like in plain words โ what youโre aiming for โ and then come back later to set the targets. Fun fact: I developed a 7-step method for organisational KPIs where targets come into play in Step 5. Here's an overview of the ROKS Enterprise method with all 7 steps.
โ
Numbers invoke strong emotions.ย Save them for later โ focus on results first
โ
Nail the goal statement, then worry about how to track it
Key points for Mistake 2: Goals tangled up with targets
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Stick a target in too early and the conversation can go off the rails before it even starts.
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When youโre just figuring out what to measure, itโs too soon to say how much or by when.
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Start by writing clear, measurable goals. Save the target-setting for later โ once youโve got your bearings.
Mistake 3: Mixing the result and the task in one sentence
This oneโs sneaky. Itโs where a goal sounds result-y at firstโฆ but then quickly turns into a to-do list.
Youโll spot this format:
Verb + result + โby doingโ + task
Here are a few illustrations:
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Improve customer delivery times by building warehouse C17
-
Create a safe workplace through daily toolbox talks
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Reach ideal weight by following the Sawdust and Running diet
See whatโs happening? The sentence starts strong โ weโre aiming for a result. But then the focus shifts straight to the task, which can throw off your measurements. Instead of asking โHave we improved delivery times?โ, people start measuring whether the warehouse got built on time.
And thereโs another problem...
If we tie the objective to a single action, we might miss other options that could help. Maybe daily toolbox talks arenโt the only way to improve safety. Maybe we need more than one fix. But the way the objective is written limits our thinking.
Hereโs the fix:
Keep your goal focused on the outcome. If there are actions that support it, thatโs great โ but let those sit underneath, not inside, your goal statement.
โ
Keep the goal clean: just the result, nothing else
โ
Let your KPI measure the outcome, not how you got there
โ
Actions come later, and there may be more than one
Key points for Mistake 3: Goal + task all in one
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Mixing the outcome with the action makes it easy to measure the taskโฆ and forget the actual result.
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It can also box you in โ you might miss other (better) ways to hit your goal because youโve already baked one method into the wording.
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Keep the goal about the outcome only. Let your actions and to-dos support it from the sidelines.
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How to Fix These Common Mistakes
Thereโs a simple trick to dodge most goal statement slip-ups: write your objective as if itโs already happened. Like itโs true tomorrow. Some people call this a future fact (once again, credit to Stacey Barr for that snappy phrase).
Letโs go back to our earlier examples:
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Build warehouse C17
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All staff to complete Health & Safety training 101
-
Sign up for the โsaw-dust and runningโ diet plan
Now, if we flip them into future facts, we get:
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We offer timely delivery to our customers
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We have a safe working environment
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I maintain a good body weight
Better! These sound more like results. But weโre not quite done yet...
Beware the woolly words ๐
Woolly words are the kind that sound impressive, but when you try to measure them... good luck. Theyโre vague, fluffy, and impossible to pin down.
Youโve definitely seen them before โ usually in glossy brochures or mission statements. Words like:
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Fabulous
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Best-in-class
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Synergistic
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Cutting-edge
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Brilliant
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Inspiring
They might make you as the reader feel great inside, but they donโt help much when you're trying to figure out if something actually worked.
Even in our updated examples, weโve still got a few sneaky woolly words hanging around:
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Timely
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Safe
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Good
Not awful, but also not clear enough to measure without a long debate. So letโs clean them up. And if you still need persuasion that wording counts, check out this 'wording horror story' regarding theย Cobra Effect!
3 Great Goal Statement Examples (Finally)
Hereโs what those same three goal statements look like with the fluff removed:
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Our products are shipped without delay
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Our team go home safely each day
-
We maintain a healthy body weight
Much better. You can picture what these mean, and theyโre clear enough to measure (or at least discuss without losing the will to live).
The trick? Describe the result you actually want, as if itโs already true โ no fluff, no buzzwords, no vague promises. Just a nice, solid picture of success.
Put It Into Practice
Thatโs it! Follow the 3 simple steps, steer clear of the common mistakes, and youโll be knocking out solid goal statements in no time.
Not only will your goals be ready for KPI Trees, theyโll also be way more useful when it comes to setting actions, tracking your progress and actually getting stuff done.
Scroll on for a few quick FAQs โ and if youโre hungry for more, take a wander through the Made to Measure KPIs resources for loads of practical advice on all things KPI-related.
