This content originally appeared on the W2O company blog.
Goals are often one of the most talked about, and least defined, topics within any organization. When it comes to digital maturity, goals can be an even more nebulous concept than in many other areas of the business. This is because digital maturity itself is often difficult to define. While there are many frameworks for establishing goals, our experience has been that a simple Goals, Strategies, and Tactics (GoST) framework is the most efficient and effective.
Goal Setting and Strategies
In this framework, a team starts with one or two high–level goals. In the case of digital maturity, this could be something like, “transition department to omni-channel marketing.” Goals should be ambitious but achievable, well defined, and measurable. Each goal should have a rough timeline of about a year to accomplish. If goals take longer than a year, they should be re-confirmed annually and aligned with all stakeholders.
Strategies are large initiatives that directly support the defined goals. They should encompass an entire deliverable that is independent of other initiatives. An example of strategies could be “implement a training program for new marketing software.” These strategic initiatives (SI) should provide value in and of themselves but also combine with other SI to contribute more broadly to digital maturity. They should take anywhere from three months to one year and be aligned by stakeholders who are directly impacted.
The Importance of Tactics
Tactics are the individual actions that support each SI. They should:
- Be well defined in terms of ownership, timeline, and success criteria.
- Be assigned to individual team members and, when taken together, they complete the SI. Examples of tactics are “map consumer journey” or “finalize creative assets.”
- Have a timeline that is no longer than a month.
- Be aligned by the stakeholders of the SI they support.
Many times, organizations have multiple existing goals, strategies, and tactics in place by the time they start on their digital maturity journey. Our suggestion is to plug these items into the GoST framework and see how/if they support your organization’s digital ambitions. Next, work with the entire stakeholder team to modify and/or replace items that do not help progress digital maturity. Lastly, fill in all goals, SI, and tactics for the next twelve months. We find that guiding clients through a workshop is the most efficient way to complete this process.