When your project isn’t going as well as it should be and the overall performance is lower than expected, you need to find a way to bounce back.
But how? If the status quo isn’t working, you need something new and bold — a stretch goal.
Like the name says, it’s a stretch. But, it’s one that can pay off greatly if you do it right.
So, what should you do in order to achieve a stretch goal? And should you even attempt one? Read on to find out!
What is a stretch goal?
A stretch goal is a difficult-to-achieve goal you set on purpose to push employees past their comfort zone and take performance and results to new heights.
The purpose of setting these goals is to get as close to the desired result as possible — along the way, you’ll improve productivity, get innovative ideas, and maybe even achieve the full goal and reap the rewards.
That “maybe” is key, though. By nature, these goals are difficult to achieve, so there’s always a good risk of failure.
And there’s the catch — if you want to be sure you’ll achieve a stretch goal, you need plenty of resources and good performance. In that case, though, you don’t really need to take risks in the first place. On the other hand, if your performance is low, you’re less likely to hit the goal — but that’s when you need a stretch goal most.
So, the best stretch goals are ones that give you benefits, even if you fail.
What’s the difference between S.M.A.R.T. and stretch goals?
Stretch goals are a less “smart” option, set to be more ambitious than realistic, while S.M.A.R.T. goals are focused on being clear and achievable.
In most cases, managers tend to go for S.M.A.R.T. goals rather than stretch goals.
By comparison, S.M.A.R.T. goals are:
- Specific,
- Measurable,
- Achievable,
- Relevant, and
- Time-bound.
The purpose of S.M.A.R.T. goals is to set clear limits and provide simple and straightforward objectives. Basically, they’re the safe option.
Stretch goals, on the other hand, push the boundaries of “achievable” and strive for higher results. Since they’re riskier, they’re considered less smart — however, they can set a strong foundation for future work.
What’s the difference between OKRs and stretch goals?
Stretch goals and OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) aren’t all that different — in fact, stretch goals are a part of OKRs.
OKRs are separated into 3 segments:
- Objectives — vague statements that represent qualitative goals, which can’t be directly measured (e.g., Make our software more reliable and improve user experience.).
- Key results — concrete, measurable goals that can also be stretch goals (e.g., Reduce bug reports by 70%.).
- Initiatives — tasks your team will complete to achieve the goal you set (e.g., Employ another software developer to the team.).
However, while key results can be stretch goals, they can also be S.M.A.R.T. goals. It all really depends on the type of objective you’re setting — if your OKRs need to be achieved, you should avoid setting stretch goals.
Stretch goals examples
To better illustrate what a stretch goal is, we’ve prepared a few examples across different industries.
Marketing stretch goals
- Increase response to Google advertisements by 50% in the following 4 months.
- Double your follower count on LinkedIn by the end of the quarter.
- Get at least 10,000 preorders for your new product launch.
Sales stretch goals
- Reach at least $10,000 in weekly profit for the next 3 months.
- Increase profit by 30% through upselling by March.
- Expand to a new market within a year.
HR stretch goals
- Increase team member satisfaction by 50% til the next employee satisfaction review.
- Lead a team building activity that’s followed by a 20% increase in work communication.
- Boost employee engagement scores by 30% in the following 3 months.
Software development stretch goals
- Implement a new software feature by the end of this quarter.
- Decrease bugs by 50% by the end of the month.
- Create a new software development plan in the next 40 days.
💡 Plaky pro tip
If you need help implementing stretch goals in the following industries, check out how you can use Plaky to lead projects in each of them:
How to set and achieve stretch goals in 6 steps
Setting stretch goals is far from an instant decision. You need to carefully think it through, decide on a plan, and be sure that it’ll pay off.
We’ve prepared 6 steps you absolutely must go through if you want to achieve your goal.
#1 Analyze where you are at the moment
Before you even plan a stretch goal, you need to consider if it’s the right moment for such bold actions.
You definitely shouldn’t pursue one if:
- Overall performance has been low.
- There’s a lack of resources.
- Employees are demotivated.
- There’s a lack of team spirit.
- Confidence in the company leadership is low.
However, you should go for a stretch goal if:
- Your performance is strong.
- You have plenty of resources.
But, most of all, you should be sure your team is ready for this task — so talk to them. Introduce the idea, and be sure they’re ready for it. Plus, if you make the decision together, they’re more likely to follow through.
#2 Check your resources
Since these goals are so ambitious, they’ll eat away at your project resources — so, make sure you have enough.
First, check your finances. You have to be able to support your team through every trouble and expense that comes with high stakes. If you dive into a stretch goal without the right funds, you’ll be sure to fail — and maybe even go bankrupt along the way.
Then, check for other project resources. Do you have just enough for your current workflow? Or would you be able to cover for unexpected malfunctions, delays, or missing assets?
Don’t underestimate the importance of resource allocation — otherwise, you likely won’t achieve your stretch goal.
#3 Define the stretch goal
Now that you know you can perform a stretch goal, it’s time to decide what it will be.
But don’t define it by yourself — again, include your team in the process.
Now, just because these goals should be difficult, doesn’t mean they should be impossible. Instead, agree on a goal your team can achieve, and then make it a bit more challenging.
For example, “We can get to $100k sales revenue this week” turns into “Let’s try to get to $125k sales revenue this week”. So instead of getting demotivated, your team will think “If I could do the first option, I can put in a bit more effort.”
This sentence structure helps motivate your team and grounds your stretch goal as something challenging, but conquerable.
#4 Add time frames
Now that you have a goal in mind, it’s time to put it into perspective. You can’t simply state “I want this to happen” and not define a deadline — otherwise, you could just work towards it forever.
A stretch goal can be set with a shorter project deadline than usual to increase efficiency. Be careful, though! With too little time to reach the target, your team will become too anxious, and maybe even give up.
On the other hand, if your deadlines are too far away, it might make them too relaxed. After all, a little bit of anxiety is good — it makes people perform better than they otherwise would.
So, similar to defining goals, set timeframes by grabbing what your team is comfortable with and making it a bit more challenging.
#5 Define success metrics
All that’s left now is to make sure you’re on the right track — by setting key performance indicators (KPIs).
These success metrics will tell you how close you are to reaching your goal. Make sure you take into account that when it comes to stretch goals, progress is success, too.
For example, if you’re trying to increase sales numbers, your KPI will be “sales profit achieved”. If you get to that goal, great. But, as long as you pass an initial goal (in this case, it can be your average/max monthly sales), you can consider yourself successful.
You also need to make this clear to the project stakeholders — there’s a good chance you’ll fail to reach the stretch goal. Use KPIs to present a separate point of success to make sure your team stays motivated and your senior management sees the value of your goal.
Track KPIs with Plaky’s Chart view
#6 Examine results
At the end of your defined project timeline, you need to examine the results of your work.
If you’ve achieved the stretch goal — congrats! You just set a new status quo that’ll likely lead your projects into even greater success.
But, if you’ve failed, ask yourself:
- Did I achieve any KPI benchmarks along the way?
- Which lessons learned have I picked up?
- Did this experience help my team bond?
- Was my team working together effectively toward the goal?
- Did the result I did get set a strong foundation for future work?
If the answer to any of these questions is a “yes”, congrats again! The stretch goal was successful — just not to its full extent.
Examine what went wrong, where you can improve, and which part of your plan led to positive results.
Benefits of stretch goals
Stretch goals, scary as they seem, come with many benefits to your company and your team.
Some of them include:
- Improved performance — Tall goals will push your team to work harder and deliver better results, especially if you include a professional or financial reward.
- Increased motivation — If morale is low, ambitious goals give your teams something meaningful to focus on and boost motivation to achieve them.
- Promoting innovation — These goals require shaking up the status quo, which leads to out-of-the-box thinking and increased innovation.
- Strengthened teamwork — With a common challenge, your team members will quickly realize the value of teamwork and support each other more effectively.
- Financial advantages — Whether you fully or partially achieve a stretch goal, you’ll get either direct value (e.g., through more sales) or indirect value (e.g., through new knowledge or cost reduction).
Challenges of stretch goals
While stretch goals can bring lots of benefits, there are also some downsides to consider. If done at the wrong time or in the wrong way, they can be more of a hindrance than a help.
Be wary of:
- Frustration and burnout — Stretch goals that are too ambitious can lead to frustration, work overload, and burnout in teams. To avoid this, break down your goal into actionable steps, and practice proper workload management.
- Unethical behavior — When team members are put in stressful situations, they might resort to unethical behavior like mistreating their coworkers. That’s why you must foster a culture of integrity and trust before you even attempt a stretch goal.
- Lower-quality results — If your goals are more focused on quantity than quality, your teams will be, too, leading to lower-quality results. When setting a stretch goal, you need to promote value over numbers.
- Skill gaps — Stretch goals can be difficult (or even impossible) to achieve if your team doesn’t have the right skills. Make sure your team members are properly trained and give them opportunities to learn before you take on a daunting task.
5 tips for surviving stretch goals
Aside from the necessary steps for setting stretch goals, there are 5 additional tips to keep in mind.
You should be set for following your goal if you:
- Consult with employees — Carefully negotiate the target with your employees. That’ll both increase their motivation and ensure that you’re setting the right goal.
- Be realistic — You should push the limits of your team, not break them. So, you need to stay realistic, since achieving the goal will drive your team to work even harder.
- Break up the goal — Make sure you’re tackling your goal the right way by breaking it down into actionable steps, and then breaking those down further into tasks and even subtasks.
- Provide support — Be there for your team by communicating regularly and providing additional funding or resources they need.
- Encourage with bonuses — You should tie the stretch goal (or even certain benchmarks in the goal) with salary increases or bonuses, so your team has even more motivation to pursue them.
Make stretch goals seem easy with Plaky
With such a difficult road ahead of you, you need something you and your team can rely on.
You need a simple, powerful project management tool — Plaky.
Break down your goals easily with Plaky’s clear hierarchy and:
- Boards — Use boards to break down goals in Plaky, and keep all tasks you need to achieve it in one place. Create a dedicated board for each stretch goal to keep track of your progress and isolate specific task results.
- Items — Keep all task data clear and accessible in Plaky’s items and assign each item to a user to foster trust and transparency. Help your team easily figure out who’s working on what and how they contribute to the overall goal.
- Subitems — Subitems are a simple way to break down ambitious tasks into simpler, more manageable steps. Plus, subitems inherit all fields from their parent items, so you can store just as much data in them and increase clarity.
- Custom fields — Plaky’s fields allow you to chase any type of goal, since you can fit them into any industry. With them, you get a structured overview of all project data, so no info gets lost in the hectic work that awaits you.
Plaky also makes sure your team will stay on the same page and collaborate effectively.
Your team members can leave comments to each other, communicating with ease and leaving info for anyone else who needs it. This way, you promote a culture of open communication and avoid working in silos.
You also need easy access to the project plan — as well as any other documents you need to achieve the goal. So, simply use Plaky’s file sharing feature to keep them organized and sorted by the tasks they refer to.
But most of all, you need something to make sense of the hectic environment stretch goals create. So, with Plaky and its affordable paid plans, you can use:
- The Gantt view — Get insight into your entire project timeline, and make light work of bottlenecks, gaps and overlaps between tasks, or sudden changes to the schedule.
- The Chart view — Stay in the loop on project progress and results, and use the chart setting to check out specific info, e.g., manage your team’s workload.
- Automations — Use automations to get rid of manual tasks. Since the task at hand is already difficult enough for your team, with this option, you can take away some of their burden and avoid burnout.
Tackle stretch goals the right way — lead your team to success with Plaky!
