Strategic goals objectives: How to set + 65 examples

Goal-setting is a critical part of your business strategy. You want your team moving cohesively in the right direction, and strategic goals make that possible by connecting daily work to your company's mission.

In this article, we'll explain when to set strategic goals vs. other types of goals, how to set them effectively, and provide 65 examples you can adapt for your organization.

What is a strategic goal?

A strategic goal is a measurable, long-term objective that defines what your organization aims to achieve over the next 3 to 5 years. Unlike yearly objectives or daily tasks, strategic goals connect your company's vision to concrete outcomes.

Strategic goals share a few key characteristics:

• Time-bound: Typically spans three to five years

• Broader than OKRs or KPIs: Focus on big-picture outcomes rather than quarterly metrics

• Shorter than BHAGs: More actionable than 10-25 year visionary goals

• Tied to strategy: Flow directly from your strategic plan

How strategic goals compare to other business processes

There are many ways to set goals. Here's how strategic goals compare:

Strategic goals vs. strategic planning

Strategic planning is the process of defining where your company wants to go over the next 3 to 5 years. A strategic plan includes strategic goals alongside shorter-term goals that describe how you'll achieve them.

Your strategic plan should also include customer insights, a SWOT analysis, your company values, competitive advantages, and a high-level project roadmap.

Strategic goals vs. strategic management

Strategic management is the process of organizing and executing resources to achieve your company's goals. It's the implementation of your overall organizational strategy.

Strategic goals define what you want to achieve. Strategic management determines how you'll achieve it. Your strategic plan connects the two by providing direction and context.

Strategic goals vs. strategic objectives

The difference between strategic goals and strategic objectives is somewhat subjective. In general, objectives tend to be more specific than goals, and some people argue that objectives are always quantitative, while goals can be either qualitative or quantitative.

Whether you use the terminology strategic goals vs. objectives, it's critical to make sure your goals are specific, measurable, and actionable.

Strategic goals vs. big hairy audacious goals (BHAGs)

Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) are long-term objectives that typically take 10 to 25 years to achieve. These are industry-defining goals, like Microsoft's famous goal to put "a computer on every desk and in every home."

Not every organization has, or needs, BHAGs. Depending on your business strategy, a vision statement might be enough. Strategic goals are shorter-term goals that help you achieve your bigger, more ambitious goals.

Strategic goals vs. OKRs

OKRs, which stand for Objectives and Key Results, is a goal-setting methodology developed by Andy Grove that follows a simple but flexible approach:

• I will [objective] as measured by ***[key result]****.*

OKRs can span multiple years, but most commonly these are one to two-year objectives that help your company accomplish your larger strategic plan. In a typical OKR structure, your OKRs feed into your broader strategic goals.

Strategic goals vs. KPIs

KPIs, or key performance indicators, are quantitative measures of progress. They tend to be shorter-term than strategic goals and are nearly always numerical. Achieving several KPIs over time helps you reach your broader strategic goals over three to five years.

Strategic goals vs. business goals

Business goals are predetermined targets that organizations plan to achieve in a specific amount of time. Technically, strategic goals, along with BHAGs, OKRs, and KPIs, are a type of business goal.

How to set strategic goals for your company

Setting strategic goals requires a structured approach that connects your company's vision to measurable outcomes. Here's how to create strategic goals that drive real progress.

Start with your mission and vision

Before writing any goals, review your company's mission statement and long-term vision. Your strategic goals should bridge the gap between where you are today and where you want to be in three to five years.

Ask yourself:

• What must we achieve to fulfill our mission?

• Where do we want to be in three to five years?

• What obstacles stand in our way?

Conduct a SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis helps you identify your organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This assessment reveals where to focus your strategic goals for maximum results.

Use the SMART approach

Make sure each strategic goal follows the SMART criteria:

• Specific: Clearly define what you want to achieve

• Measurable: Include metrics to track progress

• Achievable: Set realistic targets based on your resources

• Relevant: Align goals with your overall business strategy

• Time-bound: Establish a clear deadline (typically three to five years for strategic goals)

Involve key stakeholders

Strategic goals affect every part of your organization. Include leadership, department heads, and team representatives in the goal-setting process. When people contribute to creating goals, they're more invested in achieving them.

Prioritize and limit your goals

Focus on what matters most. Most organizations perform best with three to five strategic goals at a time. Trying to pursue too many goals dilutes your efforts and makes it harder to track progress.

Connect goals to daily work

Strategic goals only drive results when your teams understand how their work contributes to them. Break down each strategic goal into shorter-term objectives, key results, or KPIs that teams can act on, supporting continuous improvement over time.

65 example strategic metrics and goals

If you've never written a strategic goal before, it's helpful to check out common goals. Use these examples as templates to create measurable, actionable goals with clear success metrics.

Set strategic goals that are:

• Simply phrased

• Measurable

• Easy to track

• Specific

• Time-bound

For more tips on what constitutes a good goal, read our article on how to write SMART goals.

Keep in mind that these goals should be achievable in three to five years. For shorter goals, consider setting OKRs or KPIs instead. For longer goals, check out vision statements and BHAGs.

Strategic goals: finance

Financial strategic goals typically center around a few different important financial metrics, including:

1. Increasing revenue

2. Attaining or maintaining profitability

3. Growing shareholder value

4. Diversifying your revenue streams

5. Becoming a financially sustainable company

6. Reducing production costs

7. Increasing profit margin

8. Setting revenue targets for new products

9. Reducing department-specific budgets

10. Influencing the percentage of local vs. international sales

Examples of financial strategic goals

These examples do not reflect Asana's goals and are included here for educational purposes only.

1. Increase total revenue by $10M in the next three years.

2. Reduce cost by 12% to become a profitable company by 2027.

3. Grow a specific product's revenue to 30% of overall business revenue within the next five years.

4. Reduce marketing budget by 10% in the next three years.

5. Update our sales profile to achieve 50% international sales by 2029.

Strategic goals: customer-focused

Strategic goals that focus on your customers can help you break into a new market or further develop a trustworthy brand. These metrics can include:

1. Reducing customer churn

2. Measurably increasing customer satisfaction

3. Increasing the number of new customers

4. Increasing customer retention

5. Offering great customer value

6. Boosting customer outreach

7. Increasing customer conversion rates

8. Breaking into new customer segments

9. Increasing the number of returning customers

10. Decreasing the percentage of returned products

Examples of strategic goals focused on customer metrics

These examples do not reflect Asana's goals and are included here for educational purposes only.

1. Increase net promoter score (NPS) by three points in the next year, and 10 points in the next five years.

2. Capture 23% market share by 2028.

3. Provide the best customer experience in the market, measured based on reaction time, customer sentiment, and brand tracking.

4. Increase customer retention by 3% every year.

5. Reduce the return rate to 2% by 2027.

Strategic goals: growth

On an organizational level, growth refers to how your company expands and develops. Growth metrics include:

1. Increasing market share

2. Breaking into new markets

3. Developing new products, features, or services

4. Increasing operational reliability and/or compliance

5. Increasing company velocity

6. Opening new locations

7. Building your brand on social media

8. Increasing website traffic

9. Acquiring a new company

Examples of strategic goals for growth

These examples do not reflect Asana's goals and are included here for educational purposes only.

1. Open 12 new locations within the next four years.

2. Increase market share to 8% by 2029.

3. Reach 5M followers on social media (including Instagram and Twitter).

4. Increase web traffic to 300K visitors per year by 2027.

5. Start three new product streams by 2030.

Strategic goals: internal

You can also set strategic goals focusing on your internal company goals. Example employee-centric metrics can include:

1. Increasing employee retention

2. Adding new team members

3. Building a healthy organizational culture

4. Implementing a performance review cycle

5. Standardizing titles and/or levels

6. Improving cross-functional productivity

7. Spinning up a project management office (PMO) to standardize processes

8. Attracting the best talent

9. Building high-performing teams

10. Investing in personal and professional development

11. Reducing burnout and impostor syndrome

12. Building employee-focused training programs

13. Reducing employee turnover

14. Improving workplace safety

15. Building better facilities management

Examples of internal strategic goals

These examples do not represent Asana's goals and are included here for educational purposes only.

1. Add 20 new team members within the next four years.

2. Increase overall engagement scores by 7% based on yearly surveys.

3. Increase new hire referrals to 5,000 team members per year by 2029.

4. Develop and circulate new company values by 2027.

5. Implement a biannual performance review cycle within the next three years.

6. Attain a maximum workplace safety score rating within the next three years.

Achieve your goals with goal tracking technology

Once you develop your goals, you need a clear way to track, measure, and communicate them. Too often, teams set great goals and then lose sight of them over time.

Goal tracking technology helps you:

• Connect strategy to daily work: Link strategic goals to team tasks

• Track progress in real time: See how shorter-term objectives feed into long-term goals

• Keep teams aligned: Ensure everyone understands how their work contributes to company success

With Asana, you can track long-term goals alongside the shorter-term objectives that feed into them. Get started and keep your team focused on what matters most.

Frequently asked questions about strategic goals