How to Set & Achieve Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals - Part 3 of 3 (90 Day Goals)

Okay, enough of the long-term planning.

Let's talk about how you really get your teams moving in the right direction.

• No more time wasted.
• No more goals unmet.
• And no more lack of clarity.

This week, I wrap up my 3-week series on setting and achieving Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals by discussing how we turn your 10-year Vision into 90-day Goals.

Goals Without Deadlines are Dreams

It's good to dream, to think big, to step back, and to consider futuristic solutions that can change markets.

But as you know so well, when we pursue those dreams without committing to plans and deadlines, an infinite number of excuses pushes those dreams to the back burner: FOR-EV-ER.

Everyone in your life is happy to give you a deadline for what they need.

You need to set deadlines for what YOU need to accomplish, then filter all other requests based on the remaining time available after your deadlines are kept on track (and them being valuable, of course).

But that's a topic for another time. Let's keep going.

Humans Can't Stay Connected with 1 Year Goals

If you've ever set a New Year's resolution and watched it fade over the coming year, you'll know this better than anyone.

When you set annual goals and never break them down into smaller bite-sized pieces, you reduce the likelihood of achieving them. 

Our minds are not designed to stay connected with goals a year out. Humans work better with shorter, 90-day goals, which are easily planned for and tracked weekly.

Now, to create 90-day goals that are connected to the larger picture, we run through the process of setting 1-year OKRs, but the real tactical magic happens at the 90-day level.

So, with that, let's chat about how we best create those goals.

Setting and Achieving 90-Day Goals

At this point, if you've been following Part 1 (The Importance of Cascading Goals) and Part 2 (1-Year OKRs) of this series, you're fully ready and capable of setting 90-day goals.

Like setting OKRs, which are bite-sized one-year Plans to achieve the 10/5/3-Year Vision, 90-day Goals are even smaller, bite-sized 90-day Plans to achieve your OKRs.

With OKRs set, let's look at how we create 90-day Goals.

90-Day Goal Planning Meeting

Following your OKR-setting meeting, schedule a 90-minute meeting with your team to plan your 90-day Goals.

Here's the basic agenda I use with my teams and clients:

1. Review the Objectives: Key Results that have been set for your department.
2. Have everyone take 5 minutes to write down everything that needs to happen in the next 90 days to accomplish these Objectives. After 5 minutes, write everything on a whiteboard so everyone can see them.
3. Go through each item and determine which Key Result the idea lines up with (KR1, KR2, KR3, etc.).
4. With your team, go through each item on the list and determine if this is something that you should a) Keep on the list, 2) Kill from the list, or 3) Combine with another item on the list. Your goal is to limit the number of goals (or initiatives) set for each Key Result to 3 to 5. Less is more!
5. Repeat the Keep, Kill, Combine process until you've determined the top 3 to 5 Goals for each Key Result for the next 90 days.
6. Make sure each of these Goals is S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound)
7. Assign an owner from your team for each 90 Day Goal.

That's it! Now, like all goals set, you must ensure that your 90-day Goals are recorded in a dashboard you can review weekly with your team to track progress.

Without accountability, you may as well ignore setting goals in the first place.

Example 90-Day Goals

So, what do these 90-day Goals look like?

Let's take a look at some example goals for a single Key Result for one 90-day stretch.

Last week, we set example OKRs, with Objective 1 being the following:

Objective 1: Expand Market Reach

• KR1: Increase North American user base by 50%.
• KR2: Enter the European market and acquire 1,000 new users.
• KR3: Boost website traffic from target regions by 75%.

Zooming in on KR1: Increase North American user base by 50%, your team might decide for Q1 to do the following initiatives to work towards achieving this Key Result:

1. KR1, Goal #1: Conduct market research to identify key demographics and preferences in North America and target 5 regions for initial user acquisition campaigns.
2. KR1, Goal #2: Develop and launch a social media ad campaign and email marketing campaign focusing on referral programs for existing users.
3. KR1, Goal #3: Partner with 10 influencers and 5 local businesses for cross-promotional activities.

As you can see, although the Key Result establishes what needs to happen to achieve the objective, the 90-day Goals tell your team what to focus on for a short 90-day sprint to move towards achieving your objectives.

Now, before we wrap up, notice how each of these Goals is S.M.A.R.T., meaning at the end of the 90 days, it's a clear "yes" or "no" to whether it was completed or not. 

This is a critical accountability function in all goal setting. Does it have enough details to hold feet to the fire?

Pause for a Minute

So, how are you feeling about setting and achieving big, hairy, audacious goals?

Good? Awesome! Now get started with your teams, and send me a photo of your dashboard once it's set up.

Bad? I can help. This type of work is easy for me because it's what I do for a living. Plus, I have all the tools, resources, and software to simplify this entire process.

If you're stuck in a rut and can't seem to get your teams aligned and focused in the right direction, book a free 1:1 call with me to discuss how I can help you win big.

I hope this 3-week journey on setting goals will bless you and your companies.