Why goal-setting is so hard? It’s hard because in most occasions, our goals are vague, not fully defined, resulting in unclear action plans and routines to keep us accountable.

Our goals need a clear direction, alignment of efforts, and a systematic approach to drive progress and success. This is where goal-setting becomes imperative.

By setting specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals, organizations create a roadmap for success, providing a sense of purpose and direction for teams and individuals. Goals serve as a guiding light, aligning efforts, fostering collaboration, and motivating teams to strive for excellence. They enable organizations to track progress, identify areas for improvement, and ultimately drive better business ROI. Now, let's explore how Asana's Goals feature can revolutionize your goal management approach and empower your organization to achieve remarkable results.

Asana Pyramid of Clarity

5 proven strategies to hit your goals with Asana

• 1. Follow the Goals Hierarchy:

The hierarchy of Asana Goals allows you to create a structured framework where goals can be linked as parent or sub-goals. The depth of this hierarchy depends on your organization's size and preferences. Each goal can be categorized as a Company-wide Goal or a Team Goal. Company goals align with long-term objectives, while team goals focus on shorter-term milestones that contribute to the overall mission. This flexibility caters to organizations of all sizes and diverse usage scenarios.



• 2. Clarify Objectives and Key Results:

In the context of Asana Goals, the term "Objective" is synonymous with a goal you aim to achieve. For now, let's consider a Goal or Sub-Goal in Asana as an Objective. However, it's crucial to note that the OKR methodology requires goals to be accompanied by Key Results, which serve as measurable metrics for evaluating goal attainment. Asana's documentation may not explicitly highlight this distinction, but understanding it is vital for effective goal setting.

Need help with defining your company’s objectives and key results? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. Let us know and our team of work management experts will get back to you with an easy to implement strategy that will help you achieve your targets without fail.



• 3. Distinguish Key Results from Sub-Goals:

Within Asana's Goals feature, a Sub-Goal serves a dual purpose: it can represent either an Objective (a Goal) or a Key Result. To avoid confusion, it's best to differentiate Key Results from Sub-Goals clearly. When a Sub-Goal represents a Key Result, prefix its title with "📊 KR: [Title of Key Result here]." For Sub-Goals that represent actual Goals or Objectives, state the title without any prefix, unless specified otherwise.



Align your organization with Asana

• 4. Define Your Organization's Mission Statement:

While Asana doesn't currently offer a dedicated space for the organization's mission statement, you can strategically utilize the first Goal slot for this purpose. Create a standalone, top-level Goal and prefix its title with "🤝🏾 MISSION: [Mission statement here]." This approach allows you to clearly highlight your mission while reserving the subsequent top-level Goal slots for goals that align with the mission.

• 5. Streamline Goal Entry:

Asana's Goals feature doesn't currently support reordering goals through drag and drop. To optimize your goal entry process, it's advisable to plan and perfect all your goal titles and their order in a text editor beforehand. Then, systematically copy and paste each goal into Asana, starting with the top-level goals. Ensure that you enter goals in reverse order, with the mission/goal appearing at the top. When adding Sub-Goals or Key Results, maintain a top-to-bottom order for consistency.

In a nutshell:

Asana's Goals feature offers a robust platform for implementing Objectives and Key Results, making it a valuable tool for achieving organizational missions. By leveraging these capabilities and following the best practices outlined above, you can enhance your goal management process and drive remarkable outcomes. Utilize Altudo’s free ebook, "How to effectively manage your team’s workload" alongside these suggestions to set your teams up for success. To see Asana in action, contact us and our team will get in touch with you for a detailed product demo.