Most organisations set goals. But most also struggle to achieve them. The problem is not the people. The problem is the way goals are set.

The annual ritual: every year, leaders sit down and write goals. These goals go into a document. The document goes into a folder. By February, no one remembers what was written in January. This is not unusual. It is the norm.

Three familiar problems:

• Goals are set once and forgotten. Written at the start of the year, reviewed at the end. Nothing happens in between. No check-ins, no course correction, no accountability.
• Goals measure activity, not progress. Teams track how busy they are, not how much they have moved forward. Calls made, reports submitted, meetings attended. These are activities, not outcomes.
• Goals are disconnected from strategy. Each department sets its own goals. Sales goes one way, operations another. No one checks whether these add up to something meaningful.

What needs to change: goals need to be few in number, focused on outcomes not activities, reviewed regularly not once a year, and connected to what the business is trying to achieve. This is exactly what OKRs are designed to do.