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The process of setting goals allows the vision of an organisation to be translated into actions and results. It is able to provide people with a clear statement of their direction, their tasks and performance measures, and to align the objectives and activities of a team to a common and co-ordinated path.

To avoid goals being in effect little more than ideas or a wish list, and potentially either not being achieved or not delivering beneficial results, the process of setting goals should be undertaken in a planned and committed manner and in coordination with both higher levels of strategic planning and day to day task management. Setting of goals becomes most effective within a process of goal management that adopts a number of basic strategies to ensure that goals are well conceived, clearly defined, attainable and finally become achieved.

The starting point for goal setting is the vision for an organisation, department or team's future. This vision may represent what the organisation would ideally be like at some point in the future. At an organisational level, the strategic vision may incorporate new products, business directions or growth projections and may have a relatively long time horizon, possibly 5 years, while a department or team's vision may be more specific in relation to their performance, capabilities or processes, and have a shorter time horizon. It is clearly important that visions at different levels in an organisation are aligned.

Achievements that will allow the vision to be realised may be identified as the basis for organisational goals. Prioritisation of goals is critical to allow sufficient focus and resources to be applied to the most important ones. Pareto's 80/20 principle which proposed that 80% of all effects will result from only 20% of all causes emphasises the importance of selecting and prioritising the goals to be set.

The participation of employees in setting goals is considered to be highly beneficial. This allows people to develop a better understanding of their team goals and why they are important. Through early participation, their commitment and motivation to achieve goals that they have contributed to and believe in will be stronger.

Goals should be specific and should be written down. This provides a clear statement of what is expected for everyone. It is important that goals are not set too high to be achievable, nor too low to be challenging and effective. Goals must be realistic.

The effective management of goals requires that they be broken down into specific and measurable objectives, activities and steps, and that it is made clear who is responsible for doing what. It is important that timeframes are set for each activity, fitting into an overall timeline for the main goal. The allocation of necessary resources, tools and training and potential roadblock issues such as time competition from employees' day to day workloads should be carefully considered and addressed.

An activity considered essential to successfully achieving team goals is the monitoring of progress. A regular review process should be put in place to track progress and assess and revise activities according to their actual status. The progress meeting provides an opportunity for achievements to be lauded, for difficulties to be raised and for additional activities to be scheduled. It promotes team communication and support, and may be used to maintain focus and motivation. As things progress, goals themselves may need to be revised to suit changing issues and conditions.

Setting and achieving goals is an important aspect of an organisation moving forward to successfully achieve its vision. A strong commitment to the process of developing and implementing goals, using established techniques, is needed to convert goals into reality.