Goal deployment: what it is and which tools to use?

A common challenge for managers and team leaders after the strategic planningopens in a new tab meeting is cascading goals down to different levels and areas.

Goal deployment is done to make sure the strategic objectives set by senior leadership turn into concrete, measurable actions in every department and team. After all, goals are the guide that steers the company’s actions.

In this article, we explain what goal cascading is, how to do it and which tools and methodologies to use in the process.

What is goal deployment?

Goal deployment is the process that distributes a company’s objectives and goals across all levels, from leadership to analysts. Each objective turns into goals, and each goal is measured by an indicator (KPI), with a data source, calculation formula, owner and measurement frequency.

To make this process easier, Vicente Falconi, a Brazilian professor and reference in management efficiency, popularized policy deployment management, known as the Falconi method, which cascades goals from senior leadership down to the teams.

According to him, after drawing up the strategic plan, it is essential to cascade it into the tactical and operational dimensions of management, that is, to define which part of the plan belongs to each of them.

Only then will departments know exactly what their role is in executing the strategic plan and be able to contribute to the growth of the business.

What is the relationship between strategic objectives and goal deployment?

In goal deployment, strategic objectives are the translation of the company’s vision into medium- and long-term objectives. They allow the mission to be fulfilled and the vision to be reached. That is why they are the broadest and most global in the organization, forming the basis of strategic planning.

For the plan to be executed, they must be cascaded into tactical and operational objectives, which are more specific.

Tactical objectives

Tactical objectives are set at the middle level of management, such as department managers or team leaders.

In goal deployment, they focus on implementing the strategies defined in the strategic objectives. Tactical objectives translate high-level goals into more concrete and specific actions.

In addition, in goal deployment, tactical objectives have a medium-term horizon, such as annual or semiannual.

Examples of tactical objectives in different industries:

• in manufacturing, increase production efficiency by 20% next year;
• in mining, reduce operating costs by 15% in six months;
• in a hospital, reduce patient waiting time for care by 20% in six months.

Such objectives must be relevant to the company. So, before defining them, be clear on these questions:

• what needs to be done?
• is it possible to do it?
• what is expected to be achieved?
• will it bring results?
• when will it be done?

Operational objectives

Operational objectives are more specific and short-term (daily, weekly or monthly). For that reason, they are more focused on carrying out everyday operations. They are the most tangible dimension of objective planning and the easiest to measure and evaluate.

In goal deployment, these objectives are set at the lowest level of management, often at the team or individual level.

For them to be truly achievable, it is necessary to define the methods, processes and systems that will be applied, in addition to the owners and deadlines of each task.

Some examples of operational objectives in different industries:

• in manufacturing, complete the production of 500 units of a product per week;
• in mining, carry out 100% of the preventive maintenance scheduled for each month;
• in a hospital, review every day the discharge forecast for each inpatient;
• in a service company, answer 100 customer calls per day.

Each of these objectives has its own indicators. In manufacturing, OEE, which measures overall equipment effectiveness, and industrial maintenance indicators track production and machine availability.

In a hospital, hospital performance indicators, such as occupancy rate and patient waiting time, show whether the goal is being reached.

Why do goal deployment in the company?

Goal deployment is a crucial process for companies for several reasons, all of them contributing to more effective management and to long-term organizational success.

Among the benefits are strategic alignment, clarity of planned actions, better communication between teams and individual accountability.

Strategic alignment

Goal deployment ensures that actions at all levels of the organization are aligned with the overall strategic objectives. This means that each department, team and individual works toward a common purpose, avoiding uncoordinated or contradictory efforts.

Clarity of actions

The company gives employees clarity about what is expected of them. This helps each team member understand how their work contributes to the organization’s larger objectives, increasing the sense of purpose and direction.

Better communication

The goal deployment process makes it easier to communicate the strategy within the company. It creates an ongoing dialogue about objectives, progress and challenges, promoting a culture of transparency and openness.

Accountability and empowerment

By setting clear goals at different levels, employees feel more responsible for results. This increases individual and team accountability and gives people more autonomy, since each one understands how their work affects the company’s success.

How to do goal deployment step by step?

The goal deployment process is an ongoing exercise in alignment and communication that involves eight steps: understand the value chain, define the strategic goals, create the indicator tree, communicate the goals, cascade them to the tactical level, align them to the operational level, include monitoring in the routine and keep feedback continuous.

By following these steps, the company has more confidence that everyone is working in a cohesive and effective way toward common objectives, using the indicator tree as a tool for monitoring and adjustment.

Step 1: understand the value chain

Understanding the value chain helps identify which stages of the cascade are most critical to the company’s success. This allows leaders to prioritize those areas when defining objectives, making sure efforts are aligned with the elements that add value for the customer and set the company apart in the market.

By mapping the value chain, companies identify where financial, human or material resources can be optimized to generate maximum value.

Goal deployment, when aligned with this understanding, directs the company’s resources toward the most effective path, avoiding waste and improving efficiency.

Step 2: define the strategic goals

To start the deployment, senior leadership must define clear, measurable strategic goals that reflect the organization’s mission, vision and values.

By starting goal deployment, leadership makes all subsequent goals aligned with that macro direction, ensuring cohesion and focus in all areas.

In addition, starting with senior leadership makes sure the goals of all departments and teams are aligned with the company’s larger objectives. This avoids disjointed or contradictory efforts.

An example of a strategic goal, in a manufacturer, would be to increase industrial productivity by 10% in the next fiscal year. In a hospital, it would be to reduce the average length of stay of inpatients.

Step 3: create the indicator tree

The indicator tree is a visual management tool that maps and organizes an organization’s performance indicators (KPIs) in a hierarchical way. This structure makes it possible to see how indicators at different levels of the organization are interconnected and contribute to the overall objectives.

By analyzing the indicator tree, leadership identifies areas where objectives are not being met and investigates the underlying causes. This allows an informed decision about where to focus improvement efforts or adjust strategies to better align actions with the desired goals.

Step 4: communicate the company’s goals

Communicate the strategic goals and the indicator tree to all hierarchical levels. Make sure each department and team understands how its activities contribute to the larger objectives.

At this stage of goal deployment, you can, for example, hold meetings by area to show how production, maintenance and quality in a factory contribute to the productivity goal, or how a hospital’s inpatient units contribute to reducing the average length of stay.

Step 5: cascade the goals to the tactical level

At the tactical level (department managers, team leaders), translate the strategic goals into tactical objectives. These must be more detailed, focused on the actions needed to reach the strategic goals.

Factory maintenance, for example, may have the tactical objective of “Raising the availability of critical equipment on the production line.” In a hospital, bed management may have the tactical objective of “Reducing the time between patient discharge and bed release.”

Step 6: align with the operational objectives

Cascade the tactical objectives into operational objectives at the lowest levels of the hierarchy. These must be extremely specific, measurable and focused on daily activities.

The factory maintenance team may have the operational objective of “Reducing the average repair time of each stopped machine,” and the hospital cleaning team, “Releasing the bed for the next admission right after discharge and cleaning,” for example.

Step 7: include monitoring in the routine

After goal deployment, regularly monitor progress against the indicators at each level. Use the indicator tree to identify areas that need adjustments or improvements.

At this stage, it is ideal to have a visual management tracking system. This allows everyone involved to follow indicators and objectives at the same time, at different hierarchical levels, as well as the people responsible for them.

In addition, if a goal is not met, it will be possible to identify the root cause of the problem, build action plans to solve it and promote continuous improvement of processes.

Step 8: work on continuous feedback and two-way communication

Set up a feedback process that allows two-way communication. Employees must feel safe to give feedback on the challenges faced in goal deployment and in its follow-up, which may lead to adjustments in objectives or strategy.

In addition, periodically evaluate performance against goals at all levels. Recognizing and rewarding the departments and employees with the best performance, through incentive programs, boosts engagement and better results.

What are the 3 best methodologies and tools for deploying goals?

To carry out goal deployment that covers all levels of the company, several tools and methodologies can be used. As examples, we can mention the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and results tracking, which combines the strategy map with the PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act).

1. Balanced Scorecard (BSC)

One of the best-known methods for goal and objective deployment is the Balanced Scorecard (BSC)opens in a new tab. It was created by Robert Kaplan, a professor at Harvard Business School, and by David Norton, a consultant, and presented in 1992 in the Harvard Business Review.

This method seeks to align the company’s strategy with operational activities, with a view that covers all perspectives of the company.

The BSC divides the organizational strategy into four perspectives: Financial, Customers, Internal Processes, and Learning and Growth. This balanced approach makes indicators focus not only on financial results, but also on the factors that drive them, such as customer satisfaction, the efficiency of internal processes and the capacity for innovation and continuous improvement.

2. Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

The agile management methodology Objectives and Key Results (OKR) helps set clear, measurable objectives (Objectives) that are supported by specific key results (Key Results). This lets everyone in the organization know what is important and what needs to be achieved, directing efforts and resources to the most critical areas.

Each Key Result is quantifiable and follows a clear success criterion, which makes progress easier to measure. This helps teams and individuals stay accountable for reaching their objectives, encouraging a continuous focus on performance and results.

To understand how OKR relates to performance indicators, see the difference between KPI and OKRopens in a new tab.

Thus, OKR is an effective solution for goal deployment because it provides a clear and flexible structure that aligns the efforts of the entire organization, promotes transparency and collaboration and encourages rigorous measurement of progress and accountability for results.

3. Strategy map and PDCA cycle to track results

The strategy map provides an overall view of the strategic objectives, flagging the status of those that are doing well and those that need more attention.

Combined with the strategy map, it is possible to run the PDCA cycleopens in a new tab (Plan-Do-Check-Act). With it, the company tracks and analyzes objectives and defines action plans for deviations from goals.

How to start goal deployment in the company?

The starting point is to define who is responsible for each goal and each indicator, at every level of the company, and how often the result will be reviewed.

Defining your company’s strategic objectives and cascading them is what makes it possible to reach goals and deliver the expected results.

In addition, this process brings greater engagement and commitment from employees, since it becomes clearer how each one contributes to driving the company’s growth. This results in a change in organizational culture, which becomes oriented by results.

How does Stratws support goal deployment?

Stratwsopens in a new tab, the AI platform for strategic and performance management created by Siteware, brings together in one place the objective, the goal, the indicator and the action plan of each level of the company.

In the Strategy Executionopens in a new tab solution, the Scorecard builds the strategy map in cause-and-effect relationships, using the BSC or another management model, and cascades the objectives into indicators, goals and projects.

Each person’s goal is tied to the company’s objectives, while visual management dashboards show real-time and historical data.

When an indicator falls off its goal, the action plan is created from the indicator itself, with an owner and a deadline, and follows methods such as PDCA, FCA and 5W2H within the platform.

Of the nearly 8 million goals tracked in Stratws, 73.32% were within expectations or exceeded.

If your company wants to have objectives, goals and indicators in a single source, with an owner and a deadline at each level, visit our website and see how goal and indicator deploymentopens in a new tab works in Stratws.

Frequently asked questions about goal deployment

Who takes part in goal deployment?+−

Senior leadership defines the strategic objectives, area managers translate those objectives into tactical goals and indicators, and teams take on the operational and individual goals. A planning analyst or a strategic management team usually coordinates the process and prepares the follow-up meetings.

What is the difference between goal, objective and indicator?+−

The objective is the result the company wants to achieve. The goal is the value expected for that result in a period. The indicator (KPI) is the measure that shows whether the goal is being reached, with a data source, calculation formula, owner and measurement frequency.

BSC or OKR: which to use to deploy goals?+−

The BSC organizes strategy into perspectives linked by cause and effect and usually supports annual planning. OKR works with objectives and key results reviewed in shorter cycles. The two can be combined, and the choice depends on the review pace and the company's management maturity.

Can goals be deployed in a spreadsheet?+−

Yes, and many companies start that way. A spreadsheet works while few people update few indicators. With several areas, versions multiply, the number changes without a trace and the deviation shows up late.

How often should deployed goals be reviewed?+−

Goals can be reviewed every quarter or semester, or outside the calendar when the scenario changes significantly. The frequency of each indicator depends on the pace of the operation.