long term goals in business plan

Examples of Effective Short-Term, Mid-Term, and Long-Term Business Goals

By Kate Eby | September 7, 2023

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Setting effective goals is vital to your business’s success. Good goals help organizations move forward and keep employees on track. We’ve talked with experts and gathered examples of solid short-term, mid-term, and long-term business goals.

Included on this page, you’ll find examples of long-term , mid-term , and short-term business goals and how they work together. Plus, check out an easy-to-read chart on which framework is best for setting time-based goals and a free, downloadable goal-setting worksheet that can help your team create your goals.

Common Time Ranges for Different Business Goals

Companies set large overarching goals to achieve in two to five years. To attain long-term goals, set goals with shorter time frames that work toward the long-term objective. Depending on the type of goal, some experts might refer to it as a strategy or an objective . However, there is a difference between a goal, an objective , and a strategy. 

Examples of Long-Term Business Goals

Long-term goals focus on the big-picture vision for the future of the organization, generally covering two years or longer. They typically don’t cover more than five years, since the business and technology environment can change drastically after that time frame.

Long-term goals are more aspirational and might not have the specificity of short-term and mid-term goals. “These goals ought to be aligned with the overall vision of the company,” says Izzy Galicia, President and CEO of global professional services firm the Incito Consulting Group and an expert in Lean enterprise transformation.

The long-term goals also must be realistic. “We know from the literature and practical experience that you want goals that are challenging, but they're also achievable. You don't want to have a goal that people don't buy into at all, or it's just so outrageous that you can't possibly achieve it,” explains Lee Frederiksen, managing partner of Virginia-based Hinge Marketing and former Director for Strategy and Organizational Development at Ernst & Young.

Here are four examples of long-term business goals:

• Increase Sales: A common long-term goal is to increase sales significantly. A company might establish a long-term goal of increasing total sales by 40 percent in three years.
• Become Niche Leader: Another company might have its sights on becoming dominant in its industry. It would set a long-term goal of becoming the leader in its market niche in four years.
• Expand Company Locations: Adding storefronts over the next few years is also a common long-term goal. A company with that aim would set a long-term goal of expanding its one restaurant location to four locations in four years.
• Create and Develop a Non-Profit Entity: An organization or group of people can also establish a long-term goal of establishing a successful nonprofit organization focused on environmental conservation.

Examples of Mid-Term Business Goals

Mid-term goals help an organization meet a long-term goal. They can take an organization six months to two years or so to reach. 

Here are examples of mid-term goals that will help a company reach a specific long-term goal: 

A company’s long-term goal is to open three more restaurants in the next four years. These examples are some of the mid-term goals they would need to achieve first:

• Systematize Standard Operating Procedures for Running the Restaurant: The mid-term goal would be to document and systematize its standard operating procedures to efficiently operate its original restaurant within a year.
• Develop a Hiring Process That Attracts Talented Employees: The company sets a goal of developing and implementing a hiring process to attract committed employees in the next 14 months. 
• Research and Evaluate the Best Locations to Open the New Restaurants: The company would set a goal of continually scouting and evaluating possible locations for new restaurants over the next two years.

A group of people have the goal of creating a successful nonprofit organization in five years. Here are some examples of mid-term goals they would set and meet first:

• Establish Partnerships with Local Environmental Organizations: The group of people would like to start a nonprofit focused on environmental conservation. A mid-term goal would be to develop and establish partnerships with key local environmental organizations within the next two years.
• Develop and Implement a Solid Fundraising Strategy: The nonprofit needs funding to be successful. The organization would set a mid-term goal of developing an effective fundraising strategy within the next 18 months.
• Build a Dedicated Team of Volunteers: To help it reach its long-term goal of establishing a successful nonprofit focused on environmental conservation, the organization would set a goal of building a system to attract and retain volunteers for the organization within the next year.

Examples of Short-Term Business Goals

Short-term business goals encompass work that helps an organization reach its mid-term goals. These goals are often meant to be reached in a month or a quarter. Some might take six months or so to accomplish. Only one department — or even only one worker — might work on some short-term goals.

Some experts call short-term goals objectives. They might call the shortest short-term goals tactics . (Learn more about the differences between business goals vs. business objectives and strategies vs. tactics .)

“If one of my goals is to develop a content strategy — so that more people are aware of my company — I can't jump into Year Three and say, ‘I have a content strategy,’” shares Keith Speers, CEO of Consulting Without Limits , which provides business consulting, leadership coaching, fractional leadership, and other consulting services. “Part of that one- to three-year plan is developing my audience, curating them, creating content, and establishing myself as someone who's a thought leader in a specific field. All of that requires establishing short-term goals or objectives.”

The short-term goals or objectives are “more about the measurable steps or actions to take in order to reach that (mid- or long-term) goal,” states Marco Scanu, a business coach and CEO of Miami-based Visa Business Plans , a consulting firm providing attorneys and investors with business planning services.

Here are examples of short-term goals to build toward achieving the mid-term goals associated with expanding a company’s restaurant count from one to four: 

• Assemble a Team to Develop a Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Document for Current and Future Locations: To help reach the goal of systematizing its SOP for running its original restaurant, the company would set a short-term goal of developing a SOP document for the company’s original and future locations by the end of the next quarter.
• Work With an HR Consultant to Attract and Retain Qualified Staff: To reach the mid-term goal of developing a hiring process that attracts talented workers who will stay with the company, the business would set a goal of hiring and working with a human resources consultant to find ways to attract and retain employees within the next month.
• Create an Internal Team to Improve Compensation and Increase Retention: To reach the goal of developing a prosperous hiring process, the company would set a short-term goal of forming an internal team to assess ways to improve employee compensation and retention within the next two months.
• Research Demographic/Economic Trends in the Metro Area: To achieve the goal of researching and evaluating the best locations for new restaurants, the company would set a short-term goal of researching demographic and economic trends within neighborhoods where they want to add new restaurants.
• Work With a Real Estate Agency to Find Potential Buildings: To complete the mid-term goal of researching and evaluating the best locations for new restaurants, the company would set a goal of hiring and working with a real estate agency within the next two weeks. The real estate agent would continually search for good locations for possible new restaurants.

Here are examples of short-term goals necessary for a group of people to create a successful environmental conservation nonprofit:

• Research and Identify Potential Partner Organizations and Establish Connections: To reach the mid-term goal of establishing partnerships with local environmental organizations, the founding group would set a goal of identifying specific organizations that might be good partners and connecting with their representatives in the next six weeks.
• Research Grant Applications, Methods for Individual Donations, and Fundraising Events: To reach the goal of developing a solid fundraising strategy, the organization would set a short-term goal of researching the elements of  a fundraising plan that includes grant applications, individual donations, and fundraising events.
• Identify and Collect Contact Details of Potential Volunteers: To build a dedicated team of volunteers, the organization would set a goal of meeting and collecting contact details of potential volunteers over the next four months.

Examples of Short- and Mid-Term Business Goals Contributing to Long-Term Goals

These examples break down how to strategically set short- and mid-term goals to achieve a company’s long-term more visionary goals. “I think of short-term and mid-term goals as stepping stones to your long-term goals, things you have to accomplish to be able to get to the next goal,” Frederiksen explains.

• Short-Term Goal: Use customer relationship management (CRM) software to gather better information about potential and existing customers.
• Short-Term Goal: Increase production of website content.
• Short-Term Goal: Create and implement a new Google ad strategy.
• Short-Term Goal: Establish an engineering and product team to tweak product features.
• Short-Term Goal: Hire a new vice president of sales. 
• Short-Term Goal: Add three new members to the overseas sales team.
• Short-Term Goal: Hire a rebranding consultant.
• Short-Term Goal: Hire a contractor to lead the website redesign.
• Short-Term Goal: Find more opportunities for the new CEO to speak at industry events.
• Short-Term Goal: Become a key sponsor of an annual industry conference.
• Short-Term Goal: Empower the marketing vice president to pursue other sponsorship opportunities.

Business Goal-Setting Frameworks

When setting goals, it helps to use an established framework. Experts point out that, in setting business goals, people most often use one of five goal frameworks . Those frameworks are SMART, management by objectives (MBO), objectives and key results (OKR), key results areas (KRA) , or big hairy audacious goals (BHAG). Here are details on each of these business goal-setting frameworks and which goal length they work best for:

Which Business Goal-Setting Framework to Use

Learn more about goal-setting frameworks and use goal-setting and goal-tracking templates to get started working on your goals.

Business Goals Worksheet Template for Excel

Download the Business Goals Worksheet Template for Excel

Use this free template to guide your team in setting long-, mid-, and short-term business goals. Identify long-term goals, and then the mid-term and short-term goals that serve them. You have room to add any tasks and actions that must be completed to reach those goals. The downloadable worksheet is fully customizable.

Improve Your Goal-Setting With Real-Time Work Management in Smartsheet

Empower your people to go above and beyond with a flexible platform designed to match the needs of your team — and adapt as those needs change. 

The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

Discover why over 90% of Fortune 100 companies trust Smartsheet to get work done.

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How to Set Strategic Planning Goals

• 29 Oct 2020

In an ever-changing business world, it’s imperative to have strategic goals and a plan to guide organizational efforts. Yet, crafting strategic goals can be a daunting task. How do you decide which goals are vital to your company? Which ones are actionable and measurable? Which goals to prioritize?

To help you answer these questions, here’s a breakdown of what strategic planning is, what characterizes strategic goals, and how to select organizational goals to pursue.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning is the ongoing organizational process of using available knowledge to document a business's intended direction. This process is used to prioritize efforts, effectively allocate resources, align shareholders and employees, and ensure organizational goals are backed by data and sound reasoning.

Research in the Harvard Business Review cautions against getting locked into your strategic plan and forgetting that strategy involves inherent risk and discomfort. A good strategic plan evolves and shifts as opportunities and threats arise.

“Most people think of strategy as an event, but that’s not the way the world works,” says Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen in the online course Disruptive Strategy . “When we run into unanticipated opportunities and threats, we have to respond. Sometimes we respond successfully; sometimes we don’t. But most strategies develop through this process. More often than not, the strategy that leads to success emerges through a process that’s at work 24/7 in almost every industry."

Related: 5 Tips for Formulating a Successful Strategy

4 Characteristics of Strategic Goals

To craft a strategic plan for your organization, you first need to determine the goals you’re trying to reach. Strategic goals are an organization’s measurable objectives that are indicative of its long-term vision.

Here are four characteristics of strategic goals to keep in mind when setting them for your organization.

1. Purpose-Driven

The starting point for crafting strategic goals is asking yourself what your company’s purpose and values are . What are you striving for, and why is it important to set these objectives? Let the answers to these questions guide the development of your organization’s strategic goals.

“You don’t have to leave your values at the door when you come to work,” says HBS Professor Rebecca Henderson in the online course Sustainable Business Strategy .

Henderson, whose work focuses on reimagining capitalism for a just and sustainable world, also explains that leading with purpose can drive business performance.

“Adopting a purpose will not hurt your performance if you do it authentically and well,” Henderson says in a lecture streamed via Facebook Live . “If you’re able to link your purpose to the strategic vision of the company in a way that really gets people aligned and facing in the right direction, then you have the possibility of outperforming your competitors.”

Related: 5 Examples of Successful Sustainability Initiatives

2. Long-Term and Forward-Focused

While strategic goals are the long-term objectives of your organization, operational goals are the daily milestones that need to be reached to achieve them. When setting strategic goals, think of your company’s values and long-term vision, and ensure you’re not confusing strategic and operational goals.

For instance, your organization’s goal could be to create a new marketing strategy; however, this is an operational goal in service of a long-term vision. The strategic goal, in this case, could be breaking into a new market segment, to which the creation of a new marketing strategy would contribute.

Keep a forward-focused vision to ensure you’re setting challenging objectives that can have a lasting impact on your organization.

3. Actionable

Strong strategic goals are not only long-term and forward-focused—they’re actionable. If there aren’t operational goals that your team can complete to reach the strategic goal, your organization is better off spending time and resources elsewhere.

When formulating strategic goals, think about the operational goals that fall under them. Do they make up an action plan your team can take to achieve your organization’s objective? If so, the goal could be a worthwhile endeavor for your business.

4. Measurable

When crafting strategic goals, it’s important to define how progress and success will be measured.

According to the online course Strategy Execution , an effective tool you can use to create measurable goals is a balanced scorecard —a tool to help you track and measure non-financial variables.

“The balanced scorecard combines the traditional financial perspective with additional perspectives that focus on customers, internal business processes, and learning and development,” says HBS Professor Robert Simons in the online course Strategy Execution . “These additional perspectives help businesses measure all the activities essential to creating value.”

The four perspectives are:

• Internal business processes
• Learning and growth

The most important element of a balanced scorecard is its alignment with your business strategy.

“Ask yourself,” Simons says, “‘If I picked up a scorecard and examined the measures on it, could I infer what the business's strategy was? If you've designed measures well, the answer should be yes.”

Related: A Manager’s Guide to Successful Strategy Implementation

Strategic Goal Examples

Whatever your business goals and objectives , they must have all four of the characteristics listed above.

For instance, the goal “become a household name” is valid but vague. Consider the intended timeframe to reach this goal and how you’ll operationally define “a household name.” The method of obtaining data must also be taken into account.

An appropriate revision to the original goal could be: “Increase brand recognition by 80 percent among surveyed Americans by 2030.” By setting a more specific goal, you can better equip your organization to reach it and ensure that employees and shareholders have a clear definition of success and how it will be measured.

If your organization is focused on becoming more sustainable and eco-conscious, you may need to assess your strategic goals. For example, you may have a goal of becoming a carbon neutral company, but without defining a realistic timeline and baseline for this initiative, the probability of failure is much higher.

A stronger goal might be: “Implement a comprehensive carbon neutrality strategy by 2030.” From there, you can determine the operational goals that will make this strategic goal possible.

No matter what goal you choose to pursue, it’s important to avoid those that lack clarity, detail, specific targets or timeframes, or clear parameters for success. Without these specific elements in place, you’ll have a difficult time making your goals actionable and measurable.

Prioritizing Strategic Goals

Once you’ve identified several strategic goals, determine which are worth pursuing. This can be a lengthy process, especially if other decision-makers have differing priorities and opinions.

To set the stage, ensure everyone is aware of the purpose behind each strategic goal. This calls back to Henderson’s point that employees’ alignment on purpose can set your organization up to outperform its competitors.

Calculate Anticipated ROI

Next, calculate the estimated return on investment (ROI) of the operational goals tied to each strategic objective. For example, if the strategic goal is “reach carbon-neutral status by 2030,” you need to break that down into actionable sub-tasks—such as “determine how much CO2 our company produces each year” and “craft a marketing and public relations strategy”—and calculate the expected cost and return for each.

The ROI formula is typically written as:

ROI = (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) x 100

In project management, the formula uses slightly different terms:

ROI = [(Financial Value - Project Cost) / Project Cost] x 100

An estimate can be a valuable piece of information when deciding which goals to pursue. Although not all strategic goals need to yield a high return on investment, it’s in your best interest to calculate each objective's anticipated ROI so you can compare them.

Consider Current Events

Finally, when deciding which strategic goal to prioritize, the importance of the present moment can’t be overlooked. What’s happening in the world that could impact the timeliness of each goal?

For example, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the ever-intensifying climate change crisis have impacted many organizations’ strategic goals in 2020. Often, the goals that are timely and pressing are those that earn priority.

Learn to Plan Strategic Goals

As you set and prioritize strategic goals, remember that your strategy should always be evolving. As circumstances and challenges shift, so must your organizational strategy.

If you lead with purpose, a measurable and actionable vision, and an awareness of current events, you can set strategic goals worth striving for.

Do you want to learn more about strategic planning? Explore our online strategy courses and download our free flowchart to determine which is right for you and your goals.

This post was updated on November 16, 2023. It was originally published on October 29, 2020.

About the Author

How to set up and achieve long term goals for a business

What are long-term goals for business?

Long-term goals for business are the high-level goals of your strategy that you aim to achieve in the next 3-5 years or even longer. They are the objectives that, once reached, bring you closer to your vision.

They are the milestones for your vision.

They tend to be resilient to environmental changes like technological, political and others. Long-term goals determine the direction of your company and solidify your strategy regarding your position in the market and the industry. In other words, they outline the high-level objectives you choose to accomplish to bring your vision to life.

Why it’s important to set long-term goals

They provide clarity ..

A business with weak or non-existent long-term goals is like a leaf in the wind.

It moves in no particular direction and is subject to every and any change in the environment. It jumps from trend to trend without understanding what causes them, trying to get as much benefit out of them as possible. Sometimes it succeeds, others not so much. As a result, its performance is a roller coaster and its future unpredictable and uncertain. These kinds of businesses move fast towards nowhere.

A business with no long-term goals is in reactive mode .

On the other hand , organizations with long-term goals deriving from their vision have a more steady course. They have clarity on what they wish to become in the next 3-5 years, which guides their decisions. It’s easier for them to spot meaningful trends and take advantage of them in the short term to succeed in the longer term.

Clarity in the organization’s future state, when combined with a concise view of its current state , is a powerful tool. It enables an accurate gap analysis and the grounding of the strategy in reality.

A business with solid and aligned long-term goals is in proactive mode .

How short-term and long-term goals differ

Long-term goals differ from short-term goals in four key traits:

• Short-term goals are malleable .
• Short-term goals are specific .
• Short-term goals are measurable .
• Short-term goals are sacrificable .

Short-term goals change often. As they should. They correlate to the tactics you choose to pursue your strategic objectives. And your tactics change when the environmental circumstances change, e.g., your competitors launched a new product, a global pandemic came out of nowhere, your country leaves a state union , or a new tech disrupts your industry. All of these changes force you to adapt your short-term expectations and tactics. Your long-term goals are more resilient to these changes.

Short-term goals love specificity. This is goal setting 101. Remove ambiguity and make sure that everybody interprets the goals the same way. Make your language simple and your description longer if you have to. Clarity in goals informs decisions. Of course, long-term goals should be clear, as well, but they don’t have to be so specific. 

Short-term goals have numbers in them. They are not metrics or KPIs because they’re lagging indicators of your progress. But they are indicators nonetheless. They inform you whether you and your people did a good job to achieve them. Long-term goals don’t need numbers if they don’t make sense. For example, “Dominate our category” could be accompanied by a number like “Own 70% of the market”, but that doesn’t exactly sum up what “dominating a category” really is.

Short-term goals are sacrificed for the company’s greater good. We’re past the time where quarterly numbers are the holy grail of strategy. Leadership with a clear vision recognizes that sometimes you have to make short-term sacrifices to achieve long-term success. It’s how you build sustainable and stable growth. The reverse is what creates soaring short-term results but destroys the culture and leads to ethical fading.

How long are short-term and long-term goals

The scale is relative.

A colossus like Amazon can’t really keep up and survive with a strategy shorter than 3 years . The bigger the organization (and its market cap), the longer the span of its long-term goals. Planning for so long ahead allows the company to manage its resources efficiently and direct its effort towards the most promising big move.

In his book “Invent & Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos,” Jeff Bezos says that each quarter is baked three years earlier .  Not three months. Not three quarters. Three years. Which means that the numbers of the latest quarter indicate the quality of the company’s 3- year-old strategy. And it makes sense. It’s impossible to coordinate over a million employees if you change the company's direction with every small trend you spot.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the strategy doesn’t adapt to environmental changes.

Complacency is the enterprise killer . Large organizations might be more resilient to threats, but they can become irrelevant very fast, remember Blockbuster and Kodak. However, with size comes one huge advantage. Data. Large organizations have access to huge amounts of data that can generate market insights, spot trends and almost “predict the future.”

Short-term and medium-term goals are decided based on those findings. Due to their dependence on environmental conditions, short-term goals can’t be yearly . Even longer than quarterly is stretching them. In a time of a crisis, short-term goals could be as short as daily and in more peaceful circumstances as long as quarterly.

Long-term goals examples

The further you look into the future, the more uncertain it becomes. The closer your milestones are to your vision, the less specific they become.

Let’s take, for example, The Walt Disney Company . Disney’s vision statement is:

“To be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information.” When Bob Iger took over as Disney’s CEO, his strategy was summed up in three priorities, 3 long-term goals :

• Create content of the highest quality
• Adopt cutting-edge technology to create content & connect with the customers
• Expand globally

These goals are specific enough to guide the decisions of everyone inside the company and are vague enough for everyone to interpret them differently. In other words, they are contextualizing the content of the rest of the strategy.

Other long-term goals examples are:

• Dominate our category
• Create a community-like culture
• Lead the sustainability transformation in our industry
• Create the most comfortable/cheapest/easiest to use [product]
• Digitize our processes

Short-term goals examples

Short-term goals are very specific.

Each department, team and individual has its own short-term goals to meet. What’s important is to have all of them aligned, some shared between teams and people and none isolated. Choosing short-term goals is the last step of your strategy’s implementation and should derive naturally from your strategic priorities.

Here is a list of short-term goals:

• Increase our revenue by 15% by the end of Q1 owned by Jane Doe.
• Reduce safety incidents by 70% by the end of Q1 owned by John Doe.
• Increase customer retention by 30% by the end of Q2 owned by John Doe.
• Hire 5 new salespeople by the end of the month owned by Jane Doe.
• Increase ad conversion by 10% by the end of the next month owned by Jane Doe.

How to set long-term goals

Long-term goals have 3 important components:

• Duration (NOT deadline)
• Specificity to dictate choices
• They are memorable

They don’t have a specific deadline. They have an estimated duration. You don’t “Dominate your category” by Dec 31, 2025. You “Dominate your category” in the next 3 years. If in 3 years you haven’t achieved your goal, then something went wrong. That’s how you should think of your long-term deadline, not as a hard date but as an estimated duration.

They dictate choices. Long-term goals outline the company’s strategy and inform every employee’s decision-making process. Ideally, when a team leader needs to make a decision, crucial or not, they can easily align it with the company’s strategy simply by visiting the long-term goals. That’s why they can’t be overly specific because they will only inform certain types of decisions and be useful to only a limited part of the organization. Thus, creating a big risk of internal misalignment.

They are easy to remember. If your people need to check the company’s long-term priorities every time they make a decision, they won’t. Make sure everyone understands and is on board with your priorities by simply making them memorable. In the end, you want the priorities to provide context, not represent all of your strategy’s details.

Benchmark the duration of your goals externally

Take as much guessing as possible out of the process. Have a hard look at your industry’s history and how long it took certain players to achieve their long-term aspirations. Find out what were their strengths, weaknesses and mistakes . Contrast them to yours and then make an educated estimation of your goal’s duration.

Do better than “best”

Shy away from generic goals like “be the best/first/most innovative.” Nobody perceives these the same way. For example, specify your ideal customer so your people know who NOT to target. Specify your product’s niche , e.g., “perfect scale models” instead of “just toys.” In essence, provide a context to decisions that will dictate a clear set of choices on every organizational level.

Write them for 5-year-olds

If a young child can’t understand your long-term goals, chances are your people will have a hard time remembering them. Simplify the language, avoid jargon, use verbs and be specific in your adjectives . Go beyond 3 goals and you risk giving your people contradicting priorities. Clarity unifies collective effort towards one direction .

How to achieve long-term goals in business

With shorter-term goals.

When you write your strategic plan , start from the end and work your way backward from your vision towards your current state. Here’s how to think about your plan:

• Your vision is your destination.
• Your long-term goals are your milestones.
• Your shorter-term goals are your odometer.

Your strategic plan also contains your Focus Areas and your strategic objectives . They break down your direction even further. 

Starting with the end in mind gives your shorter-term goals a predictive power

So basically, your strategic plan works like a roadmap towards your long-term goals. Here’s how to think about tracking your progress: if you complete all of your strategic objectives, will you have achieved your long-term goals? If you haven’t achieved at least an 80% progress towards them, your tracking is off. You need to revisit your strategic objectives.

This tracking process cascades from the top of the strategic plan to the bottom. Check out how Cascade brings this strategic model to life and aligns your people’s day-to-day work with your company’s vision as a goal management software .

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How To Set Business Goals (+ Examples for Inspiration)

Updated: March 11, 2024

Published: October 24, 2023

You’re a business owner — the captain of your own ship. But how do you ensure you’re steering your company in the right direction? 

Without clear-cut goals and a plan to reach them, you risk setting your sails on the course of dangerous icebergs. 

The best way to steer clear of wreckage is to map out exactly where you want your business to go. This is what makes setting business goals so important. If you’re not already using them to guide your ship, then now’s a great time to start.

Table of contents:

• What are business goals?

Why business goals are important

How to set business goals, tips to achieve business goals, business goals examples, what are business goals .

Business goals are the desired outcomes that an organization aims to achieve within a specific time frame. These goals help define the purpose and direction of the company, guiding decision-making and resource allocation. They can be short-term or long-term objectives , aligned with the company’s mission and vision.

Operating a business using your gut and feelings will only get you so far. If you’re looking to build a sustainable company, then you need to set goals in advance and follow through with them. 

Here’s what goal setting can do to make your business a success:

• Give your business direction. Business goals align everyone toward a common purpose and ensure all efforts and resources are directed toward achieving specific outcomes.
• Keep everyone motivated to keep pushing forward. Goals provide employees with a sense of purpose and motivation. According to research from BiWorldwide, goal setting makes employees 14.2x more inspired at work and 3.6x more likely to be committed to the organization.
• Create benchmarks to work toward (and above). Goals provide a basis for measuring and evaluating the performance of the organization. They serve as benchmarks to assess progress, identify areas of improvement, and make informed decisions about resource allocation and strategy adjustments .
• Prioritize activities and allocate resources effectively. Goals help you identify the most important initiatives, ensuring that time, money, and effort are invested in activities that align with the overall objectives.
• Make continuous organizational improvements. Goals drive continuous improvement by setting targets for growth and progress. They encourage businesses to constantly evaluate their performance, identify areas for refinement, and implement strategies to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

Nothing creates solidarity among teams and departments like shared goals. So be sure to get everyone involved to boost camaraderie. 

Setting business goals requires careful consideration and planning. By defining specific and measurable targets, you can track progress and make necessary adjustments along the way.

Here are the steps to effectively set business goals.

Step 1: Identify key areas to improve in your business

Start by assessing the current state of your organization. Identify areas that require improvement or growth. This could include increasing revenue, expanding your customer base, improving employee satisfaction, or enhancing product offerings.

Step 2: Choose specific and measurable goals 

Setting clear and specific goals is essential. Use the SMART goal framework to ensure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For example, instead of setting a vague goal like “increase revenue,” set a specific goal like “increase revenue by 15% in the next quarter.”

Step 3: Prioritize which goals to tackle first

Not all goals are equally important or urgent. Evaluate the impact and feasibility of each goal and prioritize them accordingly. By ranking your goals, you can focus your efforts and resources on the most critical objectives.

Step 4: Break down your goals into smaller milestones

Breaking down each goal into smaller, manageable tasks makes them more attainable. Assign responsibilities and set deadlines for each step. This approach helps track progress and ensures accountability.

Step 5: Decide what your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will be

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to measure progress toward your goals. Set realistic and relevant KPIs that align with your objectives. For example, if your goal is to increase customer acquisition, a relevant KPI could be the number of new customers acquired per month.

Now that you have set your business goals, it’s time to take action and work toward achieving them. Here are some tips to help you stay on track:

1. Write down your action plan 

Develop a detailed plan of action for each goal. Identify the necessary resources, strategies, and milestones to achieve them. A well-defined action plan provides a road map for success.

2. Foster a culture that’s goal-oriented

Encourage your employees to embrace and contribute to your goals. Foster a culture that values goal setting and achievement. Recognize and reward individuals or teams that make significant progress toward the goals.

3. Regularly track and evaluate progress

Monitor the progress toward each goal and make adjustments as needed. Use project management tools or software to track and visualize progress. Regularly review and evaluate your performance to ensure you’re on the right track.

4. Seek feedback and adapt

Gather feedback from employees, customers, and stakeholders. Their insights can provide valuable perspectives and help you refine your goals and strategies. Adapt your approach based on feedback to increase your chances of success.

5. Stay focused and motivated (even when you fail)

Staying motivated to achieve goals is difficult, especially when you come up short or fail. But don’t let this set you back. Continue pushing forward with your goals or readjust the direction as needed. Then do whatever you can to avoid distractions so you stay committed to your action plan.

Also, remember to celebrate small wins and milestones along the way to keep your team motivated and engaged.

To provide inspiration, here are some examples of common business goals:

1. Revenue growth

Revenue growth is a business goal that focuses on increasing the overall income generated by the company. Setting a specific target percentage increase in revenue can create a measurable goal to work toward.

Strategies for achieving revenue growth may include:

• Expanding the customer base through targeted marketing campaigns
• Improving customer retention and loyalty
• Upselling or cross-selling to existing customers
• Increasing the average order value by offering premium products or services

Example: A retail company sets a goal to increase its revenue by 10% in the next fiscal year. To achieve this, it implements several strategies, including launching a digital marketing campaign to attract new customers, offering personalized discounts and promotions to encourage repeat purchases, and introducing a premium product line to increase the average order value.

2. Customer acquisition

Customer acquisition focuses on expanding the customer base by attracting new customers to the business. Setting a specific goal for the number of new customers helps businesses track their progress and measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

Strategies for customer acquisition may include:

• Running targeted advertising campaigns
• Implementing referral programs to incentivize existing customers to refer new ones
• Forming strategic partnerships with complementary businesses to reach a wider audience

Example: A software-as-a-service (SaaS) company aims to acquire 1k new customers in the next quarter. To achieve this, it launches a social media marketing campaign targeting its ideal customer profile, offers a referral program where existing customers receive a discount for referring new customers, and forms partnerships with industry influencers to promote its product.

3. Employee development

Employee development goals focus on enhancing the skills and knowledge of employees to improve their performance and contribute to the organization’s growth. By setting goals for employee training and skill development, businesses can create a culture of continuous learning and provide opportunities for career advancement.

Strategies for employee development may include:

• Offering training programs
• Providing mentorship opportunities
• Sponsoring professional certifications
• Creating a career development plan for each employee

Example: A technology company aims to have 80% of its employees complete at least one professional certification within the next year. To achieve this, it offers financial support and study materials for employees interested in obtaining certifications, provides dedicated study time during working hours, and celebrates employees’ achievements upon certification completion.

4. Product development

Product development goals focus on creating and improving products or services to meet customer needs and stay competitive in the market. Setting goals for product development can prioritize your efforts and so you can allocate resources effectively.

Strategies for product development may include:

• Conducting market research to identify customer preferences and trends
• Gathering customer feedback through surveys or focus groups
• Investing in research and development to create new products or enhance existing ones
• Collaborating with customers or industry experts to co-create innovative solutions

Example: An electronics company sets a goal to launch three new product lines within the next year. To achieve this, it conducts market research to identify emerging trends and customer demands, gathers feedback from its target audience through surveys and usability testing, allocates resources to research and development teams for product innovation, and collaborates with external design agencies to create visually appealing and user-friendly products.

5. Social responsibility

Social responsibility goals focus on making a positive impact on society or the environment. These goals go beyond financial success and emphasize the importance of ethical and sustainable business practices. Setting goals for social responsibility allows businesses to align their values with their actions and contribute to causes that resonate with their stakeholders.

Strategies for social responsibility may include: 

• Implementing sustainable practices to reduce environmental impact
• Donating a percentage of profits to charitable organizations
• Supporting local communities through volunteer programs
• Promoting diversity and inclusion within the organization

Example: A clothing retailer aims to reduce its carbon footprint by 20% in the next two years. To achieve this, it implements sustainable practices, such as using eco-friendly materials, optimizing packaging to minimize waste, and partnering with ethical manufacturers. It also donates a percentage of its profits to an environmental conservation organization.

Setting and achieving goals is what it takes to be successful in business. By following the steps outlined in this article and incorporating the tips provided, you can effectively set and work toward your goals. Remember to regularly evaluate progress, adapt as necessary, and celebrate milestones along the way.

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How to accomplish big things with long-term goals

Long-term goals are objectives you want to achieve months or years down the road. Setting this type of goal gives your work purpose, helps you make better decisions, and offers a hefty dose of daily motivation. In this article, we explain how you can use long-term goals to accomplish big things over time, with examples.

When you think of an ideal future for your work, what do you see? Perhaps you envision yourself launching a new global product, hitting record sales numbers, or recruiting the best talent in your field. But while it’s easy to imagine those dream scenarios, actually getting there is another story. That’s where long-term goals can help. 

Setting long-term goals helps turn your daydreams into concrete objectives that you can work towards with intention. Aside from helping you achieve difficult things, they’re also a useful tool to prioritize your work and decide what success looks like for you. 

What are long-term goals?

Long-term goals vs. short-term goals.

Long-term goals give your work direction and purpose. They’re usually made up of smaller, short-term goals , which are the stepping stones that help you accomplish your larger goals. While long-term goals are your north star, short-term goals make the work feel less daunting by breaking it up into actionable steps. 

For example, if your long-term goal is to double sales revenue in two years, a related short-term goal might be to hire three new sales reps this quarter. 

Benefits of long-term goals

Setting long-term goals can help you tackle big objectives at work and in your personal life. Here’s how. 

Improving focus and clarity

According to a 2020 report , some 86% of leaders say defining a purpose is essential to a successful growth strategy. Long-term goals help with that clarity because setting them encourages you to intentionally decide what kind of future you're striving for.

Creating a sense of purpose

When you set a long-term goal, you're deciding what success looks like to you. For example, if you set a vague intention to "increase sales revenue," it's difficult to measure progress and success. By clarifying your long-term goal to hit 2 million dollars in sales revenue in the next five years, you give your team a clear vision of success to aim for. 

Betters decision making

While many decisions aren't as simple as left or right, a long-term goal can be your compass. When you're faced with a choice, you can evaluate how each option might help you reach your goal.

Staying motivated

Long-term goals are also a powerful motivational tool. Specifically, long-term goals help with intrinsic motivation —the drive to succeed that comes from within yourself, rather than external factors like praise or compensation.

How to set long-term goals

The best long-term goals take a bit of planning. Here’s how to create goals and stick with them for the long haul. 

1. Visualize your ideal future

Before you create your goals, you have to decide what you want to achieve. Keep in mind that long-term goals are a big commitment. To create goals you can stick with, make sure they really matter to you and align with your values. This helps you stay motivated and avoid burnout . 

If you’re setting long-term objectives for your business , this means consulting with your mission , vision statement , and company values . If you’re setting personal work goals, try to identify your values first. Ask yourself what’s most important to you and what has fulfilled you most in the past—for example, you might value creativity, customer interaction, or organization.  

2. Write SMART goals

Goals should be clearly defined and falsifiable, so you have a concrete path to success. Luckily, the SMART goal framework makes it easy to create clear and measurable goals. SMART is an acronym that stands for: 

Here’s an example of a SMART goal: “This year, the engineering team will launch a mobile-first company website optimized for iOS and Android devices.” It specifies the type of website and what qualities it should possess, allows you to measure success based on whether or not the website has launched, is attainable (assuming you have sufficient engineering resources), and can realistically be achieved within the specified time frame.

3. Prioritize your goals

Now that you’ve set goals, it’s time to prioritize them . It can be tempting to try to tackle all your objectives at once, but that’s usually not realistic. You have to take into account what resources are available , including your own personal bandwidth. 

To prioritize, start by listing out all your long-term goals. Highlight which ones are most important to you. Make a note of when you want to achieve each goal and estimate how long it will take. Based on those factors, decide which goals you want to focus on right away and which ones you’ll put on hold until more bandwidth opens up.

4. Break long-term goals into short-term goals

Long-term goals take hard work to achieve, so it’s normal for them to feel a bit daunting at first. That’s where short-term goals come into play. These smaller stepping stones break the work down into bite-sized tasks you can tackle within a shorter time frame, such as a day, week, or month. 

To set short-term goals, write down all the tasks you need to accomplish in order to reach your long-term goal. Think of them as dependencies —hitting these goals unblocks your ultimate, long-term goal. Then, turn each of those dependencies into its own SMART goal. 

Example: Microsoft famously had a long-term goal in the early 1980s to put "a computer on every desk and in every home." They then broke this down into shorter-term goals around developing affordable hardware, creating a user-friendly operating system, and partnering with manufacturers to get their software preinstalled on new PCs. These incremental goals paved the way for Microsoft to become the PC market leader.

5. Make a plan to track your progress

In order for long-term goals to be effective, they should be connected to your day-to-day work. That means instead of setting and forgetting your goals, make a plan to regularly check in and update your progress—for example, at the end of each day or week. And with the short-term goals you’ve set, it will be easier to gauge your progress and determine if you’re on track for your long-term goals. 

Using a project management tool can help streamline this process. For example, when you create a long-term goal in Asana, you can set a due date and create automated reminders to update your goal's progress. And within each long-term goal, you can create short-term goals to break work down into manageable chunks—each with its own timeframe and scheduled reminders.

6. Be flexible

Keep in mind that your long-term goals aren't set in stone. Rather, they're a living document that you can adjust over time. Staying flexible with your goals can also help when unexpected opportunities arise. For example, imagine your company has set a long-term goal to enter a new international market, but a competitor gets there first. Instead of pursuing that same goal, you might consider adjusting your objective to focus on differentiating your product from the competition in order to target a different audience within that international market.

Common pitfalls to avoid when setting long-term goals 

While long-term goals can be incredibly powerful, there are some common mistakes to watch out for:

1. Setting unrealistic goals: It's important to dream big, but make sure you’re prioritizing SMART goals. Setting goals that are too far out of reach can be demotivating.

2. Failing to break big goals down: Long-term goals can feel overwhelming if you don't break them down into smaller chunks. Always split your bigger goals into actionable steps.

3. Not tracking progress: If you don't regularly check in on your milestones and goals, it's easy to lose sight of them. Make goal tracking a habit and celebrate your hard work along the way.

4. Giving up after setbacks: Bumps in the road are inevitable. Don't let them derail you from your ultimate goal. Learn from setbacks and adjust your approach as needed.

How to stay motivated with long-term goals

Pursuing long-term goals is rarely a smooth journey, whether they are personal goals or professional goals. It's common to encounter challenges along the way, like losing motivation, getting sidetracked by other priorities, or facing unexpected setbacks. Here are some strategies to stay focused, resilient, and motivated while pursuing long-term goals.

Remember your "why." Reconnect with the underlying reason and motivation behind your goal. Reflect on how achieving it will improve your work or life and contribute to your personal growth and self-improvement.

Break your goals down into measurable milestones , like waypoints on a roadmap, and celebrate each time you reach one. Rewarding progress, not just outcomes, reinforces your accomplishments and keeps you energized for the work still ahead.

Share your wins , both big and small, with trusted colleagues, mentors, friends, or family members who can offer encouragement, recognition, and advice. Acknowledging others multiplies motivation and helps you stay accountable for your own goals.

Reframe failures as learning opportunities. If you experience a setback, try to extract lessons that will help you improve your approach moving forward and refine your long-term vision.

Prioritize self-care and prevent burnout , which are key to staying on course toward long-term goals. Make time for activities that help you relax, recharge, and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Treat yourself when you make notable strides. Celebrate your progress to create a sense of momentum and keep your energy high as you work towards your ultimate goal.

40 examples of long-term goals

Long-term goals can help in every area of your life—including your professional life and personal development. Take a look at 40 different types of goals , with examples. 

Long-term business goals

Long-term business goals can come in many forms, including strategic goals and big hairy audacious goals (BHAGs) . Your long-term business goals might focus on these areas: 

1. Increase revenue

2. Become or stay profitable

3. Improve the function of a specific department, like customer service

4. Grow your customer base

5. Launch a new product or service

6. Expand to a new country or region

7. Improve hiring practices

8. Rebrand your company

9. Improve operating efficiency

10. Increase employee satisfaction

Example: Warby Parker set a long-term goal to disrupt the traditional eyewear industry by creating an e-commerce model to sell affordable, stylish glasses online. This guided their efforts to vertically integrate design and manufacturing, offer free home try-ons, and partner with nonprofits to distribute glasses to people in need. Their innovative approach and clear long-term vision have made them a leader in the eyewear industry.

Long-term team goals

Long-term goals can also help shape your team culture, increase productivity, and encourage collaboration. For example, you could set long-term team goals to: 

11. Hire skilled new team members

12. Develop a process for cross-functional collaboration

13. Reach a specific revenue or sales target within your team

14. Organize regular offsites to promote team building

15. Document and share important team processes

16. Establish a regular feedback cycle for direct reports

17. Start a mentorship or buddy program for new hires

18. Develop a post-mortem process for completed projects

19. Create new areas of responsibility within your team

20. Identify new professional development opportunities for direct reports

Long-term career goals

There’s a reason one of the most common job interview questions is: “ Where do you see yourself in five years?” Long-term professional development goals help shape and grow your career. In that vein, here are some examples of career goals to consider: 

21. Find your dream job or career

22. Start your own business

23. Become a team manager

24. Learn a difficult new skill, like a new programming language

25. Find a fulfilling side-hustle

26. Pursue a new professional certification or master’s degree

27. Improve your work-life balance

28. Grow your professional network

29. Assume a leadership position within my department

30. Pitch and manage a new project 

Example: Reshma Saujani had a long-term goal to close the gender gap in technology. She started Girls Who Code, a nonprofit that runs coding camps and clubs for girls in elementary through high school. Her work has sparked a movement to make coding education accessible to girls around the world, positioning her as a thought leader in the field.

Long-term personal and financial goals

Long-term goals are just as valuable for your personal life. Here are some examples of how long-term goals can help improve your health, finances, skills, and more: 

31. Learn a foreign language

32. Learn to play an instrument

33. Expand your social network

34. Compete in a difficult event, like a marathon

35. Learn to play a sport 

36. Have or adopt a child

37. Find a partner

38. Save for an emergency fund

39. Improve your credit score

40. Buy your first home

Grow more with long-term goals

The power of long-term goal setting is undeniable. By using visualization to create a vivid picture of your ideal future, breaking it down into smaller goals, and consistently working towards it, you can achieve things that once seemed impossible. Whether you're aiming to transform your career path, personal life, or financial well-being, long-term goals give you a roadmap to turn dreams into reality.

So, what are you waiting for? Armed with these strategies and examples, it's time to stop dreaming and start achieving. Set your sights on the future, create a career plan, and take action, because with long-term goals, anything is possible.

Remember, tracking your progress is key to staying motivated and on course. When you can see how your daily efforts are adding up to big wins, you'll be unstoppable. Try using a tool like Asana to visualize your goals, break them down into milestones, and celebrate every victory along the way.

FAQ: Long-term goals

What is an example of a long-term goal?  

An example of a long-term goal is starting your own business within the next five years. This goal requires planning, saving money, researching your industry, and potentially pursuing further education or professional certifications. Other examples include buying a house, achieving a leadership position at work, or learning a new language.

How can long-term goals provide a sense of purpose and direction in life?  

Long-term goals provide a sense of purpose and direction in life by:

Giving you a clear target to work towards

Helping you prioritize your time and resources

Providing motivation and inspiration during challenging times

Allowing you to measure your progress and celebrate your achievements

Contributing to your overall personal growth and self-improvement

What is a 10-year goal plan?  

A 10-year goal plan is a roadmap for prioritizing your long-term objectives over the next decade. It involves setting specific, measurable goals for different areas of your life, such as career, finances, health, and personal growth. A 10-year plan should be broken down into smaller, yearly milestones to help you stay on track and make consistent progress towards your ultimate goals.

How do you create a strategic plan for long-term goals? To create a strategic plan for your long-term goals, follow these steps:

Visualize your ideal future and set clear, specific goals

Break big goals down into smaller, actionable steps

Prioritize your goals based on importance and urgency

Create a timeline for achieving each goal, with milestones and deadlines

Identify potential obstacles and develop strategies to overcome them

Regularly review and adjust your plan as needed

Stay motivated by tracking your progress and celebrating your successes

By setting long-term goals and creating a strategic plan to achieve them, you can bring your vision for the future to life and realize your full potential.

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How to Set Professional Long Term Goals…And Actually, Achieve Them

Your ability to set and pursue short-term goals and long-term goals significantly influences the success and profitability of your business administration, your enterprise, and your personal life.

Top executives, renowned for their achievements, share one trait: they’re long-term thinkers.

These visionaries project themselves five years into the future, envisioning their positions and responsibilities, all to fulfill their long-term aspirations and prioritize goals. Their continuous quest wondering how to set goals and refine strategic planning propels their business achievements.

Understanding Long-Term Goals

Long-term personal and professional goals are the pinnacle of your professional advancement, requiring substantial time and dedication. Swift achievements aren’t the goal here; meticulous planning and resolute commitment are vital. These objectives might span months or even years.

But remember, even the grandest goals can be broken into manageable portions. A technique called chunking aids this process, dividing the long-term intention into smaller tasks or segments.

Applying this approach enhances any undertaking. Say you aspire to become a bestselling author to elevate your professional network and business profile. Where do you begin?

Start with the ultimate goal—landing on the bestsellers list—and scaffold it with intermediary objectives. Your initial aim might be as simple as learning how to write a book.

Once you’ve studied the techniques employed by successful authors, you can outline milestones along your journey. These stepping stones encompass planning, writing, editing, designing, marketing, and ultimately publishing your book.

In this manner, the short-term goals become scaffolding for your overarching objective of becoming a bestselling author.

Long-term Goals vs. Short-term Goals

Long-term objectives serve as the guiding stars that help crystallize your ambitions. Within them, reside the seeds of short-term objectives – the stepping stones that usher you toward monumental accomplishments.

Consider your long-term triumphs as constellations in the night sky, while your short-term goals function as the guiding lights that illuminate your path.

Picture your team conceiving a groundbreaking app poised to garner a million views annually within two years. These objectives serve as the rudders steering your choices and delineating the destiny of your application. Envision the incremental strides necessary to ascend toward loftier achievements – these are the essence of your short-term and long-term career goals.

Navigating Business Goals vs Personal Goals

It’s imperative to navigate the distinctions between long-term goals for your business, your team, and your personal growth.

While certain goals might align—such as financial or professional achievements—others are tailored exclusively to personal aspirations, like achieving a better work-life balance, honing your time management skills, or laying the groundwork for a comfortable retirement. Recognizing and differentiating between these different types of goals is essential.

Goals for your whole business might pertain to business growth or revenue growth. Team goals could involve communication skills or adding more employees to your roster.

Sometimes these goals might overlap with your personal goals.

But it’s good to have goals for yourself that are completely separate from your business, too. For example, quantifiable goals for improving your time management, becoming a better parent or life partner, a healthy diet, or saving for retirement. These goals are intended for personal growth.

Why Set Long-Term Goals?

Before we talk about some examples of long-term goals, make sure you understand why these types of goals are so crucial and how they can help.

The act of setting definitive long-term career goals catalyzes elevating your performance and bolstering your self-assurance. It’s a reflection of the unwavering belief you hold in your capacity to acquire knowledge and leverage it for your betterment.

Every stride you take towards self-improvement invariably enhances your job performance. Furthermore, goals possess the remarkable potential to augment your workplace contentment through the refinement of your day-to-day objectives.

Sustain Focus and Motivation

Long-term goals emerge as beacons amid the routine challenges of each day. They bestow a sense of direction upon your endeavors, infusing purpose into your actions.

By persistently advancing new skills in the areas that genuinely matter, these objectives provide intrinsic motivation and a positive mindset that propels you forward. The achievement of short-term milestones en route to your ultimate goal fuels an enduring sense of determination.

Uphold Your Vision

As the operational intricacies of daily tasks accumulate, the clarity of your original business dream can sometimes waver.

Long-term goals rekindle the passion that initially fueled your dream country or venture’s inception. Functioning as a bridge between mundane daily responsibilities and your aspirational vision, these goals make your dream palpable and attainable.

Enhance Your Business Operations

Continuous refinement of your day-to-day business operations is a linchpin for sustainable growth. The more streamlined your processes, the higher your overall performance.

In this context, long-term goals are akin to a compass, guiding you toward operational optimization and amplification of revenue streams. They provide a framework to systematically identify areas of improvement, innovate, and thereby elevate the efficiency and effectiveness of your business operations.

Incorporating personal or professional development objectives, such as obtaining a professional certification, attending a leadership course, or honing public speaking skills, into your long-term goals can empower you with the tools to lead with authority and navigate complex challenges effectively.

Ultimately, weaving the threads of long-term goals into the fabric of your business and personal aspirations not only shapes a successful career path but also nurtures a life imbued with meaningful achievements.

How To Set Your Long-Term Business Goals

There’s a simple five-part formula for developing a sense of direction that you can use for both your personal and your personal or professional advancement goals for the rest of your life.

It’s called the GOSPA Formula .

The letters in the word GOSPA stand for G oals, O bjectives, S trategies, P riorities, and A ctivities.

First, the formula starts with setting your own goals first. A goal is a specific place where you want to end up, at the end of a specific time. For example, your goal could be a certain volume of sales, or a certain level of profitability at the end of a quarter or the end of a year.

Every goal you set should be SMART. A SMART goal is:

• Specific . A specific goal is not vague–it outlines exactly what you are trying to do.
• Measurable . Use quantifiable metrics to help you measure when you’ve reached the end goal.
• Achievable . This might not be the time to shoot for the stars. You don’t want to end up discouraged if you can’t reach your goal. Challenge yourself, but make sure the goal is within the realm of possibility.
• Relevant . Every goal you set should be relevant to what’s going on in your business.
• Timely . Finally, a SMART goal will have a deadline. Specify a date by which you need to achieve this goal.

An example of a SMART business goal might be, “Double your monthly revenue within the next three years.”

For a personal goal, you could set a goal such as, “By the end of the year, I want to be able to run five miles.”

Setting SMART goals is helpful because they outline a clear vision with an actionable plan. You’re more likely to reach a goal that adheres to these parameters.

The letter O stands for objectives. These are the sub-goals that you’ll need to accomplish to achieve your long-term goal.

Breaking up your big goals into smaller ones is one of the best goal-setting tips I can give you.

Long-term goals are ideal for your big picture, but if you only focus on your major goals, you’re likely not going to reach them as easily. Instead, you want to take that goal and split it into several smaller achievable goals that will ultimately lead you to the big one.

Once you have a long-term goal in place, medium-term goals should come next, and then short-term goals.

If your long-term goal will take years to complete, consider using months as a time reference for your medium-term and long-term goals examples and weeks or days for your short-term goals.

Maybe your long-term goal is to launch a new product in the next two years. Within a certain number of months, less than a year, you may want to create and test a prototype.

Short-term goals, like research, testing, or gathering materials, will help you reach the prototype stage and help you get to your bigger goal.

The third letter in GOSPA stands for strategies. Your strategy is the method you use to accomplish the objectives of your goals.

For example, if we look at sales, your strategy could be to build an internal sales force or you could outsource all sales to a professional organization. Within this could have numerous sub-strategies within your overall, single sales strategy.

Next in the GOSPA formula is setting your priorities. Not all goals are alike. You may need to start working on some of your goals right away. But others might be able to simmer on the back burner until you’re ready for them.

The million-dollar question is how can you decide which goal or goals to work toward first?

To help you decide, make a list of all your business and financial goals first. Physically write them out with a pen and paper.

Next, figure out how important each goal is to you. Consider creating a value system, such as 1-5, and assigning each goal a number based on importance. You can also rank your goals based on urgency.

If you’re getting external pressure from someone else about a certain goal, or if that goal needs to be completed within a certain timeline for any reason, it might be more urgent than the others.

From there, you can decide which goals you want to prioritize the most. But this list doesn’t have to be set in stone. It’s okay to come back to your goals–say, once a month–and reevaluate. You can always change your strategy for setting long-term goals in the future.

The final letter in the GOSPA Formula is A, which stands for activities. These are the specific daily functions that are delegated to individuals with standards of performance and set deadlines.

If you’ve thought out this process completely, each activity will be determined by the current priorities. Each achievement of your priorities will lead to the accomplishment of the strategy.

When your strategy is carried out, you’ll achieve your objectives and at the end of the period, you’ll reach your goals for a specific level of sales or profitability.

One of the primary qualities of executives in high-profit businesses is that they are continuously going through the strategic planning process. They are always playing down the board. They’re always thinking about the future and about the different things they can do, and how to set up realistic timelines and goals to make their desired future a reality.

Track Progress

Once you’ve performed the GOSPA formula on your goals, all that’s left to maintain your growth is to track your progress.

This step is essential—most successful people regularly check in on their progress, considering the actionable steps they’ve been taking to help them achieve long-term goals.

The method you use to track your progress might vary depending on the nature of a certain goal. At a basic level, however, you want to make a note of everything you do to help reach those long-term goals. Then set time aside to sit down and review.

How much time did you spend last week working toward your goal?

What short-term goals did you check off?

Have you run into any obstacles or roadblocks that might alter your overall timeline?

By carefully tracking your progress as you head toward the finish line, you’ll get valuable firsthand insights that you can use to inform your strategy throughout the entire process.

5 Examples Of Long-Term Business Goals

Do you feel ready to start setting some long-term personal goals, but unsure of where to start? Take a look at these examples of long-term business goals.

Launch A New Product

Launching a new product or service could make an excellent business goal. Depending on the product specifications, it could take anywhere from a few months to several years to bring the product to the market.

This isn’t a process you want to rush–you want any new product or service that you offer to be as high-quality as possible.

Increase Your Sales And Earnings

Increasing your revenue could also serve as a long-term goal for your company. Choose a specific number and a time frame so you’ll know when you’ve reached this goal. For example: “We want to see $XXX in monthly revenue by this month and this year.”

Then figure out what smaller goals you need to set to see the sales numbers you want to see.

Grow Your Social Media Presence

Numbers aren’t everything on social media. The amount of followers you have is important. But engagement is extremely important, too–and so is your overall company reputation and what people are saying about you online.

If you decide to set a long-term goal that relates to social media, consider which metrics are most relevant to your other business goals (for example, your click-through rate will likely have a big impact on your revenue). Then include those in your goal.

Expand Into A New Market

Another example of a long-term goal is to expand into a new market. This can be a great way to pull ahead of your competition. Smaller goals to help you reach a new market could include conducting market research, getting feedback from your current customers, and figuring out what kind of timeline this goal will require.

Hire A Larger Team

Hiring more employees can help grow your business as you bring new perspectives and new skill sets into the room. But don’t hire just for the sake of hiring–hire strategically, figuring out which positions will be the most helpful. If you’re trying to grow your social media presence, a new social media manager might be in order.

Final Thoughts

Goal setting isn’t always easy. But setting long-term goals is the best way to build your dream job or company and advance your career plan, taking concrete steps toward whatever success means for you.

Looking for more goal-setting advice to help you get started? Check out my 14-Step Goal-Setting Guide. This free ebook outlines the strategies you need to avoid common mistakes and succeed with your goals.

If you’re ready to invest in your own business and your personal life like never before, this is the resource for you–my best goal-setting tips all in one place.

Download the ebook for free!

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About Brian Tracy — Brian is recognized as the top sales training and personal success authority in the world today. He has authored more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on sales, management, business success and personal development, including worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. You can follow him on Twitter , Facebook , Pinterest , Linkedin and Youtube .

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What Are Long-Term Goals? (+50 Examples & Tips to Achieve Them)

Learn all you need to know about setting long-term goals and how to achieve them. Plus, a list of 50 long-term goal examples you can use as inspiration.

Setting long-term goals is important if you want to succeed in your life and career.

In fact,  over 1,000 studies  have found that setting lofty, specific goals is linked to higher levels of performance, motivation, and persistence.

But what exactly are long-term goals? How can you set them? And most importantly, how can you achieve them?

Let’s look at long-term goals, why they’re important, and how you can make them a reality. We’ll also give you a list of 50 long-term goal examples so you can be inspired to aim high when setting your goals.

What are long-term goals?

Put simply, a long-term goal is an objective you want to achieve in the future — but one that’ll take a fair amount of effort and time. They’re not something you can achieve in a week or even a year; long-term goals are big goals that concern your health, finances, or career.

To achieve long-term goals, you need to:

• Plan carefully to make sure each goal is realistic and achievable
• Include different milestones to ensure progression
• Consistently put in the work (even if the results are taking longer than expected)
• Remain focused and accountable throughout the process

Difference between long and short-term goals

While both long and short-term goals have end objectives, their scales and the time frames required to achieve them are different.

Short-term goals can take anywhere from a few days to a year to complete, whereas long-term goals can take five years or longer.

Long-term goals are also often made up of short-term goals or smaller milestones that help you stay accountable and measure your progress.

For example, if your long-term goal is to buy a house, you may have several short-term goals to help you afford the property, such as getting a promotion, investing in stock, or taking out a loan.

Since long-term goals are achieved over a long period, they’re more flexible than short-term goals. This is because circumstances that are out of your control (such as inflation when saving to buy a house) may change, and you may need to adjust your overall objective or timeframe as a result.

On the other hand, short-term goals are more specific and often list specific tasks that need to be completed over relatively short periods.

Why is it important to set long-term goals?

Without setting long-term goals, it’s impossible to know where you want to go — let alone how you’ll get there.

In 2018, John Doeer, an American investor with a net worth of over  $4 billion , spoke at a  TED conference  about the importance of goal setting. He went so far as to say that the “secret” to success is setting the right goals.

Not only do long-term goals give you a long-term vision, but they also inspire and motivate you to take deliberate, small actions to help meet them.

They help you stay focused and “keep your eyes on the prize.” As a result, you’ll be better able to organize your time, projects, and resources to achieve the things you truly want.

According to  Positive Psychology , setting goals can also help trigger new behaviors that’ll help you gain momentum in your life.

Long-term goal setting can even promote a sense of self-mastery since your goals will push you to step out of your comfort zone and do things you never thought you were capable of.

Examples of long-term goals

You can set different types of goals for the business, career, personal, and financial areas of your life.

Here are some examples of what these goals could look like:

Long-term business goals

• Grow a successful business
• Reach a monthly revenue of X amount
• Expand your business to a new country or region
• Hire a skilled team of workers
• Travel the world while managing your company remotely
• Rebrand your business
• Increase employee satisfaction and retention
• Leave a legacy
• Develop a personal brand
• Acquire a competitor company
• Grow your customer base to X amount
• Increase shareholder value
• Become a public speaker

Long-term career goals

• Find your dream job
• Improve your work-life balance
• Master a new job skill
• Become a company executive
• Work internationally
• Retire from full-time work
• Shift to a new career path
• Experience career stability
• Achieve a salary of X amount
• Expand your professional network
• Mentor other employees
• Pursue further education
• Become an expert in your industry

Want to set better goals for your career? Read our  ultimate guide to setting professional goals .

Long-term personal goals

• Buy a house
• Live abroad
• Go on your dream vacation (such as a two-week trip to Hawaii)
• Achieve your ultimate fitness level and weight
• Learn to cook like a chef
• Complete a difficult event, such as a marathon
• Have or adopt a child
• Maintain your ideal weight
• Find your life partner
• Become a better parent
• Become a better spouse
• Emigrate to a different country
• Learn to play an instrument

Long-term financial goals

• Become a millionaire
• Improve your credit score
• Pay off your large debts
• Grow your savings account balance
• Invest in something big
• Build an emergency fund
• Saving for a college fund for your kids
• Pay off your car
• Fund your retirement
• Invest money in stock or properties to get X amount of return on investment
• Become financially independent

According to a 2022 Hearts and Wallets research report, long-term financial goals matter to  82%  of American households.

How to set and achieve long-term goals

Setting long-term goals can be tricky and sometimes even overwhelming. Here are some general guidelines you can follow to make it easier:

1. Think of where you want to be in 10 years

You need to visualize your “perfect” future before you even think about creating long-term goals.

Remember that long-term goals require commitment and take several years to achieve. So, you don’t want to end up setting a goal that doesn’t fit into your life or business.

If you’re setting a long-term personal or career goal, it needs to align with your values and be something that matters to you. On the other hand, if you’re setting a business goal, ensure that it aligns with your company’s mission, vision, and values.

Having something to aim for that’ll really impact your life or business will help you stick to your goal — even during uncertain times.

2. Write SMART goals

The SMART goals framework is a popular method used for setting long-term goals. It focuses on helping you set goals that aren’t only suited to you and what you want but that are also realistic and achievable.

SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

When setting SMART goals, ask yourself the following questions:

• Specific:  What exactly is it that you want to achieve? Make the goal as specific as possible. For example, if you’re setting a financial goal, include a specific monetary amount.
• Measurable:  How will you know whether you’ve achieved your goal? Set up key performance indicators that’ll make it clear whether your goal has been met or not.
• Attainable:  Is your goal possible to achieve? Make sure it’s realistic and can be reached within the specified time frame.
• Relevant:  Does your goal contribute to your overall personal, career, or business growth? Ensure you set a goal that fits into your dream life or career. It needs to be focused on what you truly desire.
• Time-bound:  When do you want to achieve your goal? Choose a day you can use as a deadline. The more specific with it you get, the better.

3. Reverse-engineer your goal

Long-term goals can be overwhelming since they’re far more complex than short-term goals. They leave room for you to become demotivated since they can sometimes seem unattainable.

That’s why they should be broken down into short-term, bite-sized, less intimidating goals.

In other words, you need to create a more manageable action plan.

You can do this by reverse-engineering the objective. Start at the end and work backward to determine the smaller tasks that need to be completed for you to attain your ultimate goal.

Like long-term goals, each short-term goal should be based on the SMART framework.

For example, if your long-term goal is to grow a successful business, your short-term goals might include things like the following:

• Writing a business plan
• Gaining funding
• Opening a business bank account
• Hiring your first employee

4. Prioritize your goals

You can use a planning system such as  Motion  to prioritize your tasks and manage your schedule — and in doing so, make it easier to achieve your long-term goals.

‎Motion allows you to use  time-blocking  to set aside a specific amount of time to complete different tasks. This helps you to be more productive and get the work done!

With Motion, you can also merge your personal and professional goals — making it possible for you to work on home and work responsibilities on the same day without feeling overwhelmed.

You can also move tasks around whenever emergencies arise so you don’t forget about them — and rest assured that your tasks will be completed no matter what.

5. Make a plan to track your progress

This is where the “measurable” part of your SMART goal comes in. You need to make sure that your long-term and short-term goals are measurable.

For example, if you have a short-term goal of improving your networking and communication abilities, you could measure it through the tasks you complete.

Thus, your tasks may look something like this:

• Reaching out to three new people in your industry per day via email
• Taking a one-week communication course
• Going to a networking event
• Communicating more during work meetings

Completing each of these subtasks with the help of a tool like Motion could help you move toward completing your bigger goal. You can set the urgency of each task, its due date, and much more.

6. Be willing to make changes

As mentioned above, unexpected obstacles sometimes arise. And often, these obstacles are out of your control.

It’s important to remember that things change — and that’s okay.

When you’re aiming for a long-term goal, it’s completely normal for things to occur that knock you off track or for your long-term goal to shift. After all, a lot can happen in 5–10 years!

Rather than becoming demotivated when things change, maintain a mindset of flexibility. If you focus too much on a fixed outcome, you might miss out on other opportunities.

For example, if you’ve set a goal to emigrate to a specific country, but that country’s financial state declines dramatically — no longer making it a viable option — be willing to shift your goal. Look into other countries that could be better options.

Ready to set ambitious long-term goals?

Now that you know how to set your long-term goals, you can get to work setting business and personal goals that resonate with you and your dream life.

Setting these goals may take some soul-searching, but once you have them in mind, you can start working on your plan to get there.

Be sure to use a  to-do list app , as this will help you measure your progress toward your goals much faster.

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11 Tips for Creating a Long-Term Strategic Plan

7 min. read

Updated October 29, 2023

Strategic planning is a management tool that guides your business to better performance and long-term success.

Working with a plan will focus your efforts, unify your team in a single direction, and help guide you through tough business decisions. A strategic plan requires you to define your goals, and in defining them, enables you to achieve them—a huge competitive advantage.

In this article, we’ll discuss 11 essentials for creating a thorough and effective strategic plan. Each tip is a critical stepping stone in leading your business toward your goals.

• 1. Define your company vision

You should be able to define your company vision in 100 words. Develop this statement and make it publically available to both employees and customers.

This statement should answer the key questions that drive your business: Where is your company headed? What do you want your company to be? If you don’t know the answer to these questions off the top of your head, then you have some thinking to do! If you have the answers in your head, but not on paper—get writing.

If you have them written down, congrats! You’ve completed the first and most critical step in creating a long-term strategic plan.

• 2. Define your personal vision

While your personal vision is just as important to your strategic plan, it does not need to be shared with your team and customers.

Your personal vision should incorporate what you want your business to bring to your life—whether that’s enormous growth, early retirement, or simply more time to spend with family and friends.

Aligning your personal vision with your company vision is key to achieving your personal and professional goals. Just as with your company vision, have your personal vision written down in a 100-word statement. Know that statement inside and out and keep it at the forefront of your decision making.

• 3. Know your business

Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. By knowing where your business is now, you can make more informed predictions for how it can grow.

Questions such as “Why is this business important?” and “What does this business do best?” are a great place to start. A SWOT analysis can also help you plan for making improvements.

Questions such as “What needs improvement?” and “What more could the business be doing?” can help guide your strategic plan in a way that closes gaps and opens up opportunities.

For more on completing a SWOT analysis, see our SWOT analysis guide.

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• 4. Establish short-term goals

Short-term goals should include everything you (realistically) want to achieve over the next 36 months.

Goals should be “S.M.A.R.T.” (specific, measurable, actionable, reasonable, and timely).

An example of S.M.A.R.T. goals include “building out a new product or service within the next year” or “increasing net profit by 2 percent in ten months.” If you’ve already conducted a SWOT analysis, you should have an idea of what your business can reasonably achieve over a specified period of time.

• 5. Outline strategies

Strategies are the steps you’ll take to meet your short-term goals. If the short term goal is “build out a new product or service,” the strategies might be:

• Researching competitor offerings
• Getting in touch with vendors and suppliers
• Formulating a development plan
• Outlining a marketing and sales plan for the new offering
• 6. Create an action plan

An action plan is an essential part of the business planning and strategy development process. The best analysis, in-depth market research, and creative strategizing are pointless unless they lead to action.

An action plan needs to be a working document; it must be easy to change and update. But, must also be specific about what you’re doing, when you will do it, who will be accountable, what resources will be needed, and how that action will be measured.

Action plans put a process to your strategies. Using the previous example, an action plan might be: “CMO develops competitor research packet for new offerings by 9/1. Review packet with the executive team by 9/15.”

When The Alternative Board, Bradford West  Director Andrew Hartley was responsible for designing and delivering a three year, $10m environmental business support program, a full and detailed action plan was required for funding.

“That action plan allowed me to 1.) manage and measure the evolving program, 2.) ensure resources and staff were where they needed to be, and 3.) track whether the design of the program was working and delivering the level of results we were contracted to deliver,” says Hartley.

“Even I was surprised about how helpful that action plan was,” he says. “I cannot image approaching any significant project or business without one.”

• 7. Foster strategic communication

To align your team, you must communicate strategically. Results-driven communication focuses conversations and cuts out excessive meetings. Every communication should be rooted in a specific goal.

Include the how, where, when, and most importantly why every time you deliver instructions, feedback, updates, and so on.

• 8. Review and modify regularly

Check in regularly to make sure you’re progressing toward your goals. A weekly review of your goals, strategies, and action plans can help you see if you need to make any modifications.

Schedule time in your calendar for this. Weekly check-ins allow you to reassess your plan in light of any progress, setbacks, or changes.

• 9. Hold yourself accountable

Having a business coach or mentor is great for this. If you have a hard time sticking to your plans, you’ll have an equally hard time meeting your goals.

According to The Alternative Board’s September 2015 Business Pulse Survey, the number one reason business owners choose to work with mentors is accountability.

“Having a close—but not too close—space for advice and accountability is really valuable,” says TAB Member Scott Lininger, CEO of Bitsbox. “Someone who is too close to your business (such as board members) often have a perspective that’s too similar to your own. Over time, your coach comes to know your team, your product, and your business, and they help you work through all kinds of challenges in a way that’s unique.”

“All too often I find that leaders accept underperformance against their strategic plan too easily,” adds Hartley. “A coach can rekindle the resolve and ambition of the leader, resulting in a recovery of lost margins, sales, or output.”

According to Hartley, a coach can build accountability by questioning what’s working, making sure everything’s on track, pointing out areas of underperformance, and asking what corrective action needs to be pursued.

• 10. Be adaptable

Remember: You can’t plan for everything. Just as challenges will arrive, so too will opportunities, and you must be ready at a moment’s notice to amend your plan. Weekly reviews will help enormously with this.

“A strategic plan will likely need to be changed very soon after approval because nobody can accurately predict anything but the very near term future,” says Jim Morris, owner and President of The Alternative Board, Tennessee Valley. “You stay adaptable by monitoring the plan every day. The wise leader will be constantly looking for opportunities to exceed the strategic plan by being opportunistic, creative, and by exploiting weaknesses in the competitive market.”

By doing this, Morris was able to exceed forecast results of every strategic plan he ever approved. “The times when I needed to be flexible were when we met strategic plan goals ahead of time and had to rewrite the plan to keep it current and relevant.”

It’s important to be adaptable because nothing stays the same. “It’s more important to be agile and take advantage of opportunities that weren’t foreseen and make adjustments,” says Morris. “This and a continuous improvement mindset is the best way to exceed plan goals.”

• 11. Create a strategic planning team

As a business owner, you should never feel like you have to do everything alone.

A strategic planning team can help with every phase of the process, from creating a company vision to adapting your strategy week-to-week. Compose your team of key management staff and employees—some visionaries and some executors.

If you think you’re “too busy” for start strategic planning, then you need strategic planning more than you know. Having a focused plan allows you to focus your energies, so you’re working on your business, rather than in it. As a business owner, it is your responsibility to steer the ship, not put out day-to-day fires.

Yes, creating a strategic plan is challenging, and it’s certainly time-consuming, but it will make all the difference in achieving your long term goals. You’ll avoid making bad decisions and expending more effort than you need.

Try these 11 tips to get started, and then be flexible in your ongoing approach. You’ll be amazed at how much more streamlined your business processes will become when you are working with a long-term strategic plan.

Jodie Shaw is The Alternative Board (TAB)’s Chief Marketing Officer. She brings over 20 years of B2B marketing and 10 years in franchising to the role. Prior to to her work with TAB, Jodie served as the CEO and Global Chief Marketing Officer of an international business coaching franchise, serving more than 50 countries.

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Keeping Sight of Your Company’s Long-Term Vision

• Ron Ashkenas
• Peter D. Moore

There will always be short-term distractions. Here’s how to stay focused.

Crafting a powerful vision is often considered the sine qua non of great leadership, but it’s only the first step. How can leaders translate that vision into reality — a process that can take years — while the rapidly changing context distracts with the need for daily adaptation? The authors, both advisors to large firms which have undergone significant transformations, suggest three approaches: 1) Structuring strategic planning processes around the vision, rather than letting it be an afterthought; 2) Focusing experimentation on questions relevant to the long-term vision; and 3) Investing in training programs to help staff embrace the skills and mindset needed to executive on the vision.

One of the most visible and essential elements of your job as a leader is to create an exciting, unified vision of the longer-term future for your company or unit. (We discuss this imperative in more detail in Ron’s book The Harvard Business Review Leader’s Handbook and in earlier articles .) This is difficult enough, but even once a vision is in place, many leaders fail to execute on it over the many years that it may require. For example, a 2018 study by McKinsey found that only 16% of companies that were committed to a multi-year process of digital transformation reported sustainable performance improvement.

• Ron Ashkenas is a coauthor of the Harvard Business Review Leader’s Handbook  and a Partner Emeritus at Schaffer Consulting . His previous books include The Boundaryless Organization , The GE Work-Out , and Simply Effective .
• Peter D. Moore is a business strategy and technology advisor specializing in helping companies compete in the age of digital disruption.

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General election latest: Starmer denies Abbott has been barred from standing for Labour - but decision still not made

Sir Keir Starmer has denied Diane Abbott's claim that she's been banned from standing for Labour at the general election. It comes after she had the whip restored yesterday, more than a year after she was suspended.

Wednesday 29 May 2024 13:15, UK

• General Election 2024

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Election news

• Starmer denies Abbott's barred from standing for Labour
• Veteran MP had party whip restored yesterday
• Sunak and Starmer to go head-to-head in first TV debate
• Labour extends lead over Tories in exclusive poll for Sky News
• Tories 'don't owe Rayner apology' after police drop investigation
• Explained: What Starmer's deputy was being investigated for
• Live reporting by  Ben Bloch  and Katie Williams

Expert analysis

• Ashish Joshi: Labour's key advantage in NHS battleground
• Tamara Cohen: Starmer allowing Abbott confusion to rumble on
• Gurpreet Narwan: Farage already has eyes on elections to come

Election essentials

• Trackers: Who's leading polls? | Is PM keeping promises?
• Campaign Heritage: Memorable moments from elections gone by
• Follow Sky's politics podcasts: Electoral Dysfunction | Politics At Jack And Sam's
• Read more: What happens next? | Which MPs are standing down? | Key seats to watch | How to register to vote | What counts as voter ID? | Check if your constituency's changing | Sky's coverage plans

 Sir Keir Starmer has said that veteran MP Diane Abbott has not been blocked from standing for Labour, and no decision has been taken.

The Labour leader was asked by broadcasters about Ms Abbott's claim that she would not be able to stand as the party's candidate in her constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington ( see post at 7.18 ).

But he replied: "No, that's not true. No decision has been taken to bar Diane Abbott.

"The process that we were going through ended with the restoration of the whip the other day."

The NHS, rightly, is a key election battleground. 

So it's no surprise Labour has targeted the health service early on in the campaign - and they have one big advantage over the Conservatives. 

It was under a Labour government that NHS waiting lists came down to a record low and satisfaction with the health service grew to a record high. 

Under a Conservative government, the opposite is true. 

But how achievable is Labour's target of cutting the 18-week waiting list within five years? 

Public health leaders have described the aim as "bold" and say it took Labour 10 years to do it the last time they were in power. 

Labour says it will do this by making thousands of appointments available at weekends and in the evenings. 

Making use of empty operating theatres is smart, some trusts are already doing this right now, but it all depends on the availability of a trained, willing and able workforce. 

Labour says no staff member will be forced to work extra shifts and can refuse without any comeback - but this is a workforce that is burnt out and stressed. 

Even if they wanted to help with this huge push, physically and mentally many might not be in a position to help. 

Labour also says it will spend millions raised through scrapping non-dom tax schemes on extra scanners and diagnostic equipment. 

That's great - but again, the crucial question is where will we find the staff to make these machines work.

We've just heard from Sir Keir Starmer outside a Labour Q&A event with medical students in Worcester.

As well as being asked about Diane Abbott ( see 12.14 post ), the Labour leader was asked about the newly-announced junior doctor strikes which will take place in the lead-up to the election.

Sir Keir said he was "shocked" that the government had allowed the situation to reach this point and added that a settlement should have been negotiated.

"What they've effectively done is kicked it the other side of the general election. That's unforgivable," he said.

Sir Keir said he did not want the strike to go ahead due to the impact on patients, and said it would fall to Labour to settle the issue if they were to be elected into government.

The head of the UK's biggest nursing union is stepping down to try to become an MP in the general election.

Professor Pat Cullen, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, has announced her bid to be elected as an MP for Sinn Fein in Fermanagh South Tyrone.

She became the public face of the biggest nursing strike in history last year, as she led her union through several months of walkouts over pay and conditions, often joining RCN members on picket lines.

'The honour of my life'

Prof Cullen said in a statement: "This was the hardest decision to make, and we have achieved so much in three very different and difficult years."

She said it had been the "honour of my life" to have served in the RCN and "to provide leadership every day to hundreds of thousands of hard-working nurses and healthcare staff who always prioritise the delivery of high-quality care to patients".

Paul Vaughan, who chairs the RCN Council, said Prof Cullen had been a "tremendous leader".

By Tomos Evans , Wales reporter

Welsh First Minister Vaughan Gething is set to face a motion of no confidence next week.

Mr Gething has only been in post since March but his government has since been through what he described as a "difficult" time.

The motion of no confidence has been tabled by the Welsh Conservatives, the largest opposition party in the Senedd, and is set to take place on 5 June.

Mr Gething has faced questions over a controversial £200k donation to his leadership campaign from a man convicted of environmental offences.

He has refused calls for the money to be returned, and remaining funds have instead gone to "wider progressive causes".

He has said the donation was within the rules but has commissioned a review of future political donations.

Mr Gething was also accused of having misled the COVID Inquiry after a text message emerged in which he said he would delete messages in a ministerial group chat.

The first minister insisted the messages related to internal Labour Party matters.

He then sacked Hannah Blythyn, a minister in his government, for allegedly leaking them to the media - allegations she denies.

Victoria Atkins has called for Labour to condemn a decision by junior doctors to strike during the election campaign.

In a post to X, the health secretary said the announcement of fresh strikes from 27 June to 2 July "on Labour's health day shows this was only ever political and not about patients or staff".

She said the decision was a "highly cynical tactic", adding: "This Conservative government has taken the tough decisions to keep public spending down to bear down on inflation, which is now back to normal.

"Labour would be in the hands of their union paymasters - meaning more spending and higher taxes."

Junior doctors are striking as part of their long-running dispute over pay, the British Medical Association said (see more in 11.14 post).

Our political correspondent Tamara Cohen just spoke to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer about the row surrounding Diane Abbott.

He says she has not been barred from standing for the party at the election, despite reports suggesting otherwise yesterday and the veteran MP claiming they were true (see pinned post).

But by saying no decision had yet been made, and likely wouldn't come until next week, Tamara says Sir Keir's "allowing this to rumble on for several more days".

Ms Abbott's supports "in this confusing situation, feel she has been poorly treated", says Tamara.

"Even though who disagree with Diane Abbott's politics feel she has a legacy in the party as the first black woman MP and there's a desire for her to be rehabilitated."

A reminder that Ms Abbott was suspended over a year ago for a letter she wrote for The Observer newspaper, in which she suggested Jewish people don't experience racism but rather prejudice like redheads.

She swiftly apologised and retracted the comments, but only had the whip restored yesterday despite a party investigation reportedly concluding several months ago.

The next question is about how the Labour Party will attract to mature students to train in the NHS, particularly maternity services, and also standardising care practices across the NHS.

The question comes also against the backdrop of the findings of a landmark inquiry that found good care for pregnant women "is the exception rather than the rule" ( more here ).

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting says: "One of the things that I'm awake at night thinking about is the state of maternity services and the impact that's having on mothers, babies, and the staff in the service who are leaving in numbers, which is, frankly, terrifying."

Part of the solution is recruiting more midwives, and he says Labour has a plan for that.

Another part is getting "the balance right" between allowing staff to adapt and innovate, while also ensuring there are national and consistent standards across the country.

That concludes the Q&A with Sir Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting.

Sir Keir Starmer is asked what he is willing to do to support homeless people back into housing and abolishing poverty in the UK.

The Labour leader says the country's homelessness issue at the moment is "terrible" and has got "a lot worse." 

"We have to tackle it," he says, adding that work is being done in areas with Labour mayors in place, such as Manchester with Andy Burnham.

Support can include putting a roof over someone's head but also mental health care, Sir Keir says, noting that Labour has pledged to improve mental health in the homeless community.

He says it's "not unusual" for his teenage children to see a homeless person sleeping in the street now, and says it is a "really terrible place for us to have got to".

Next, the Labour leader is asked about the Cass report, which found that there is "remarkably weak evidence" to support gender treatments for children ( more here ).

Labour has committed to implementing the report's recommendations, but the audience member states that it has been criticised by LGBT organisations, and so asks why the community should trust them.

The shadow health secretary defends the party's position, saying: "I think if implemented properly, the Cass review can improve health care for trans people, particularly trans young people."

Wes Streeting says many trans people are waiting too long on waiting lists, and when presenting for care, are "not receiving the holistic care that they need".

"I think effective treatment in this area can be the difference between, not just being life-changing, but being lifesaving."

'Toxic' political debate around trans issues

He says understands the "fear" in the LGBT community, saying there was a "toxic" political conversation that "has made trans people feel unsafe and not included and disrespected".

It is Labour's job to fix those, he says, and ensure trans people can receive comprehensive care.

He adds that if the Cass review is implemented in the way it was intended, it could be "transformational".

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