Why?

Setting goals creates a plan for you and your partner and defines the “how” of achieving your vision and your outcomes.

What’s the Result?

A clear plan that articulates the goals for you and your partner and the resources and tasks needed.

Materials: Pen and paper

Time: 120 minutes +

Step 1:  Look at your vision and identify the goals that need to drive you forward

• With your partner, create a list of goals that will get you to your vision and outcomes e.g.
  • Goal 1 – Conduct a thorough needs assessment of the community
  • Goal 2 – Raise xxx amount in funds
• Start adding the goals to the first column of the Goal-setting template.

Goal-setting Plan

Goal	Success Indicators	Tasks/ Activities	Resource requirements	Timeline	Lead
Goal 1 e.g. Conduct a thorough needs assessment of the community	e.g. Survey 50 community members	Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
Goal 2 e.g. Raise sufficient funds to cover the cost of the program	e.g. Raise $50,000 by the end of the 2nd quarter	Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
Goal 3		Task 1
Task 2
Task 3

Step 2:  Identify success indicators that provide targets for you and your partner to work towards

• Success indicators need to be tangible and measurable e.g. Raise $50,000 by the end of the quarter

Step 3: Identify some tasks/actions you could take around your goals that would advance your vision

• Look at your list of goals and begin to assign some critical steps to each one.

Step 4:  Identify the resources (budget and staff) required for each task/activity as well as an estimated timeline and a lead for each task/ activity

• Complete the rest of the goal-setting plan

You can only effectively focus on 3-5 goals because it’s hard to keep more than that front and center. It doesn’t mean that other goals you’ve identified are not important. It means that you have to start somewhere. You can incorporate more goals into your work as you move forward and achieve results or implement solutions. 

Engaged Self-Interest

It is important to articulate the common vision, goals, and outcomes that you are working towards with your partner. It is also critical to the success of the partnership that you and your partner are open and transparent about your own and your organization’s self-interest in being involved in the partnership. All too often, we believe that to be successful in a partnership, partners need to let go of their own interests and embrace a mutual one, that self-interest is “selfish” and will lead to lack of trust and an inability to work cooperatively. This is simply NOT TRUE.  At the early stages of your partnership, putting your individual interests on the table is crucial to building trust and creating staying power.  The mutual interest you create together must honor the self-interest that partners bring to the table. Everyone needs something – visibility for your organization, additional money, options to branch out into new areas of work.  This doesn’t diminish partners’ desire to create better options for youth or promote community empowerment. The more honest you can be about each other’s self-interest, the stronger the foundation of your partnership will be.