While the vision and mission of your company provide a clear direction of where you are heading in the future, it yet does not provide detailed and practical information on how you will get there. It goes without saying that being aware of everything it takes to reach your long-term objectives is critical for actually getting there. The OGSM was designed just for that – to translate your business vision into practical and realistic goals, objectives, strategies, and KPIs.
What does OGSM stand for?
OGSM stands for objectives, goals, strategies, and measures. All these elements work together to provide a how-to guide for reaching your company vision. Each of these elements is more extensively discussed below.
Objective: Where are we going?
The first step to the OGSM framework is asking what you want to achieve. This should be a direction-setting element that directly reflects the company mission. It is advised that your objective is formulated as a positive statement in a stable and concise manner, such as “ Become the industry leader” or “Embrace diversity and foster a culture of inclusivity”.
Goals: What do you want to achieve?
At this stage, you begin to drill down your objective into smaller goals. Make sure that your goals are SMART which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
Specific: Be specific in what you want to achieve. Ask yourself what exactly you want to achieve, how, where and when?
Measurable: Can your goals be measured? Identify what exactly you want to achieve and break down your goal into measurable elements.
Achievable: Are your goals attainable? Make sure that the goals you have said can be achieved with time, effort and resources.
Relevant: Are the goals you have set relevant to you? Ensure that you are not aiming for something that is irrelevant to you.
Time-bound: Be specific on the timeframe and when you want to accomplish your goals.
Strategies: How would you go about achieving your goals?
At this point, you need to list the strategies that you are going to undertake in order to achieve the goals you have set. How are you going to meet these goals? What kind of techniques will you use? What is your action plan for getting from point A to point B? Make sure that you put enough time and effort into your planning process.
Measures: Are your overall strategies being effective?
The last stage, that is often overlooked, is mostly concerned with measuring your performance against the goals you have set and the strategies that you have followed. Here, it is important that you choose the correct measurements – key performance indicators (KPIs) will differ depending on the nature of the business and the industry it is in. With that in mind, you will be able to judge and assess whether your current strategies are working on not, and how they can be improved or changed to help you reach your goals faster.