Opening the strategic goals workshop

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You can adapt this to your own voice, but the framework should remain. Print this and keep it in front of you. Part one is what you say; part two is what you ask.

Workshop overview

	Activity	Owner
1	Set the context	Founder
2	Present financial goal	Founder
3	Pressure-test financial goal	GLT
4	Define quality goal	GLT
5	Define culture goal	GLT
6	Calibrate the strategic goals	GLT
7	Craft the Annapurna Vision statement	GLT
8	Pressure-test the statement	GLT

The opening script

Opening the session

Thank you for making time for this session.

Today we’re stepping out of day-to-day operations to focus on something much bigger: the direction of the company over the next three years.

We’ve started building the structure that will allow this business to scale. We’ve assembled the Growth Lab Team and clarified responsibilities in the GLT Charter.

Now we need to answer the following strategic question:

Where is this company actually going?

The purpose of this session is to define the three strategic goals that will shape the next stage of the company’s development.

These are not operational targets for the next quarter. They are the destination we are building towards.

Once we define them, they will anchor the Strategy Map we build in the next phase of the Scale at Speed course.

Explaining the three-goal framework

Following the Scale at Speed framework, we are here to define three strategic goals:

A financial goal. A quality goal. And a culture goal.

The financial goal defines the scale of the ambition.

The Quality BHAG defines the extraordinary improvement we want to make in the quality of our work and our customers’ experience.

The Culture BHAG defines the exceptional organisation we want to build for the people working in it.

Together, these goals define the kind of company we are becoming.

In Scale at Speed these are called BHAGs — Big Hairy Audacious Goals. The term describes a goal you cannot reach by simply doing more of what you already do.

That’s the test we’re applying today. If we could hit these targets by working harder inside the structure we already have, they aren’t the right goals. They should be difficult but attainable — big enough to require us to change, credible enough that we can commit to them.

Framing the financial ambition

To start the discussion, I’ll present a financial goal for the business.

It’s a starting point.

The role of the Growth Lab Team is to challenge it, test it, and refine it if needed.

If the goal can be achieved simply by pushing harder within our current structure, then it isn’t ambitious enough.

But if it feels completely unrealistic, then we need to understand why.

What we are looking for is a goal that creates structural tension — one that forces the company to evolve.

Framing the discussion culture

As we go through this session, I’d like us to approach it with a few principles:

First, we should think from the future backwards. Imagine the company three years from now, operating successfully at a much larger scale.

Second, we should aim for clarity rather than perfection. The goal is to define a destination we can commit to, not to predict the future with precision.

And third, we should be honest about what would need to change in order to reach that destination.

Because defining these goals is really about answering a deeper question:

What kind of company do we want to become?

Transition to the financial goal discussion

With that context in place, I’d like to begin by presenting a financial goal I have in mind for the next three years.

After that, I’d like us to pressure-test it together.

— end of script —

Facilitation prompts

Use these to steer each step. The team captures their answers in the workshop tool.

Workshop principles

• Think strategically, not operationally
• Challenge assumptions openly
• Focus on the destination, not the route
• Prioritise clarity over perfection

Remember: this workshop defines where the company is going, not how it will get there.

Pressure-testing the financial goal

Discussion prompts for the GLT:

• What would have to change for this to be possible?
• What breaks in our current structure?
• What capability gaps appear?
• What would we need to stop doing?
• What assumptions might be unrealistic?

Capture the notes, then record the final agreed financial goal.

Defining the quality strategic goal

Ask: What would be an extraordinary, customer-noticeable improvement in the quality of our work three years from now, and what would prove that we had achieved it?

• Client satisfaction score
• Customer retention
• Error rates
• Product quality benchmarks
• Industry accreditation

Record the chosen metric and the target level.

Defining the culture strategic goal

Ask: What would make this an exceptional company to work for three years from now, and what would prove that people genuinely experience it that way?

• Employee engagement benchmarks
• Management capability development
• Retention targets
• Employer recognition
• Internal NPS

Record the chosen metric and the target level.

Calibrating the strategic goals

Test each of the three goals against all five criteria. A goal should pass all five before it is locked. If it fails one or more, refine it.

Test	What it means
Structural change	Would achieving this require the company to operate differently?
Measurable outcome	Is the goal defined by a clear metric or observable outcome?
GLT ownership	Can the GLT take responsibility for driving this goal?
Organisational energy	Does the goal create excitement rather than anxiety or indifference?
Strategic relevance	Would achieving this significantly strengthen the company?

Crafting the Annapurna Vision statement

Bring the three BHAGs together into one clear statement. Write it in the present tense, as though the three years have already passed.

Structure: By [date], we are a company with [Financial BHAG], [Quality BHAG] and [Culture BHAG].

Example: By December 2029, we are a business generating 15MLN in gross profit, with a Client Satisfaction Score above 95 per cent and a place on The Sunday Times Best Places to Work list.

Pressure-testing the statement

Before locking the statement, ask the team:

• Do the three goals describe one coherent company, or three separate ambitions?
• Does this describe a different company from the one that exists today?
• Does it describe the destination rather than how we will get there?
• Would someone who does not work here understand what we are aiming for?
• Does it feel uncomfortable but believable?