Goal Setting
What’s the difference between a “goal” and an “objective”? A goal is an aspirational statement of a “place” you would like to be in the future. A goal is something that we want badly enough that we are willing to work toward reading it. A goal defines the purpose of the work I am going to do and it isn’t really measurable or tangible, unless I actually accomplish it completely. For example, I used to have a goal to visit all 50 of the United States. In October of 2012 I accomplished that goal by visiting North Dakota, the last holdout on my list. So I made a new goal. After considering multiple options, I made a goal to visit all of the Presidential Libraries. I did some research on where they are located and which Presidents have official libraries. I don’t have a specific time frame around the goal I just know that I want to accomplish it sometime in the future.
An objective, on the other hand, is a specific action that I will take to accomplish my goal. For example, in 2014, my objective was to visit 4 of the Presidential Libraries, the Nixon in February (which I did), the George W. and Roosevelt in July, and the Reagan in September. This objective was measurable (I either did or I did not), tangible (I got a stamp in my Presidential Library Passport), and has a timeframe (2014). At the end of 2014 I was part way to the accomplishment of my goal, but it required that I create an additional objective in order to realize my goal. Had these Presidential Library visits been my objective in 2020, COVID 19 would have kept me from achieving them.
Too often we get these two terms confused. To further illustrate, at Consult 4 Kids we have a goal to serve millions of youth and afterschool professionals by helping them to become positive role models and mentors for youth. This is a lofty goal. Our objective for 2020 is much narrower and much more focused on spreading the word about our high-quality staff development program to practitioners in the field. It is our goal that propels us forward, but our objective that puts “flesh on the bones” and gives us direction and drive.
To help us reach our 2020 objective, contact us at support@consultfourkids.com or call (661) 665-8270 to find out how by helping you develop your staff we are also helping ourselves to realize our objective, and in time our goal.