Goal Prioritization & Roadmap to Success

[maggiewinters]

Part I: Goal Prioritization

Build consensus around one top-level goal, followed by two secondary goals. Also helps different stakeholders agree on goals we want to achieve but aren't focused on quite yet.

Part II: Roadmap to Success

Creates tactics to reach each goal and graphs them over time, giving a clear picture of a few key steps to reaching the goals we've just agreed on.

Why

When we have ten goals, or a myriad of stakeholders with different priorities, this exercise can help clarify where efforts should be focused in the short term and in the future, and agree on clear steps that team members can take to get there.

Time Required

5 minutes of prep to customize the exercise
45 minutes during the workshop

How to do it

Exercise One: Goal Prioritization

1. Edit the template.
2. Edit the groups. Having 3-4 groups is ideal.
3. Allow about 5 minutes for groups to write down their goals. If too many goals, you can ask groups to cull down to the top five goals per group.
4. As each group writes their goals, tape a two-up on the whiteboard.
   • Y axis: "Nice to Have" (bottom) + "Must Do" (top)
   • X axis: "Hard" (left) + "Easy" (right)
5. Have one rep from each group read each goal allowed and graph it on the two-up.
6. Take a 5 minute device break so facilitators can rewrite goals on letter sized sheets for readability and curation.
7. Bring the groups back to dot vote.
   • First round of voting, one vote per person. Everyone should use the same color dots. This will reveal the primary goal — a single goal we'll all agree on.
   • Second round of voting, two votes per person. Everyone should use a different color dots, previous votes should not be counted. This will reveal two secondary goals.
   • Tertiary goals are all other goals that received a vote. Non-voted goals move to the bottom of the priority list.

Exercise Two: Roadmap to Success

1. Take the goals from the previous exercise, and assign a new group to each goal.
2. Each group should take 5 minutes to write down tactics to reach their goal.
3. Before sharing, each group should cull down to their top three tactics.
4. While the groups write, tape a matrix on the wall similar to the attached reference image, graphing each goal on a time scale (now, soon, later, or customize to a more appropriate timeline).
5. Each group should share their tactics and place them on the time scale taped on the wall.
6. Consensus? Discussion?

Pro-Tips

1. Cut small strips of dots in both colors; each person will only need max 2 dots in each color, so offering three dots is helpful (but they don't need a whole sheet).
2. Some people are passionate about different goals. Offering the option to switch groups based on interest (for Roadmap) can increase excitement.

Examples

Keynote Template:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ldYD22kLGZPL4yEgTGe__BSuGEynSvJM/view?usp=sharing

Whiteboard Example: