This is the outline for the session. We will move sequentially through each of these segments in the course of the day. However, we might call 'additional time outs' to afford participants the opportunity to reflect on their output and the reasoning that supports it. The process of getting people on the team to discover each other's views as to customers and goals is as important as the output that will guide the group in the coming year.

Outcomes

Who are our clients?

What do they expect from us?

How do we add value to their work?

How would we measure this?

Brainstorm

Stretch?

How much is too much? Too Little?

Categorizing

Are there clusters?

Are any of these similar? Readout and clustering

Are any of these in conflict? Do they work from very different premises?

Are we already doing this?

Does this all support the corporate plan?

Word-smithing in groups

Criteria

You now have a variety of goal clusters. Which of them is most important? Which deserves the first claim on your attention and energy? For example, a young girl might have several goals: playing a piano piece perfectly, making the honor roll, selling $200 of Girl Scout cookies, getting into the school play. They are all goals and all worthy of her overall mission. Which does she attend to first? In order to decide she must have some criteria.

One way of setting criteria is to complete a following sentence: A goal is important if …

Here are some sample completions

Makes us happy?

Satisfies customers?

In a particular way?

Decreases costs?

Increases innovation?

Gives us an advantage over the competition?

Is easily done so that we can get a win?

Provides the highest visibility for our efforts to those who control our departmental fate?

Prioritizing

Using those criteria, prioritize the goals first individually and then using those scores as a group. Talk about the differences in individual ratings and arrive at the group decision using a more consensus-oriented approach.

Next Steps

Flesh out the top goals

What do we need to do with our most important goals in order to achieve them?

Measures

Determine how you will know that you are on track to achieving the goals

What are the milestones that we can set to goal achievement?

What are the ways in which we will see that we are moving towards achieving the goal?