Goal setting is a neglected part of most organizations' management. Goals get set, yes--but they are set as mere extrapolations from the past.

For example, it is common for the next year's revenue goals to simply be the same as last year's plus some arbitrary percentage. On the one hand, this seems like a natural way to set goals because, after all, improvement is the point. But when the goals are simply a function of doing the same thing slightly better each year, they have no basis in real thinking or strategic vision.

A different way to approach goal setting is to begin with the long-range vision of the organization: What kind of organization will this be in thirty years? And if that gets accomplsihed, what will the financial report say? When those questions are answered boldly and creatively, then the goals for next year can be deduced from that long-range vision.

The goals are not then arbitrary or incremental--they are essential and intrinsic to the fulfillment of the long-term vision.