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Creating Effective Goals

Apr 28, 2020

Creating Effective Goals

Best Practices

Who does this guide apply to?
  • School Admin
  • Portfolio Admin
  • School Super Admin
  • Educator
  • Portfolio Super Admin
Innovare Impact Measure:
  • Develop a Theory of Action
  • Apply a Driver Diagram when setting goals
  • Complete 1 Goal, Cycle, and Action in Inno™
Setting effective goals is a critical component of leadership and continuous improvement in any organization. In this section, we will show you how Innovare leverages improvement science and organizational management best practices in order to support you, our partners, to have a measurable impact on the people you serve.
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“Just as nature takes every obstacle, every impediment, and works around it [...] - so, too, a rational being can turn each setback into raw material and use it to achieve its goal”
Marcus Aurelius
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An organization that wants to improve must not only collect but also use the data it has to impact positive and sustainable change. After careful data analysis, you and your team should develop a plan and set goals that set the strategic direction of your organization for the next cycle of improvement, allocate resources and align people to achieve results.

At Innovare, we use proven improvement science methods to support leaders set the right goals and ensure their organizations implement a process of continuous improvement. Two main components of our impact playbook are a Theory of Action and a Driver Diagram.

Here’s an example of a Theory of Action developed by one of our partner organizations:

Theory of Action
As you can see, a Theory of Action or “ToA” is a logical if-then statement that summarizes the inputs and outputs of an organization’s strategy. A ToA articulates clearly the goals you and your team will achieve by breaking down the relationship between inputs and outputs in your work.
What’s a Driver Diagram?
Illustration of the structure of a driver diagram

A driver diagram is a visual representation of a system of improvement. It was originally used in the healthcare industry to facilitate strategic planning and is now a common tool of well-known leaders of improvement science methods such as the Carnegie Foundation.

In a nutshell, driver diagrams are graphic organizers that can facilitate goal setting conversations in teams and can help individuals at various levels of an organization better understand how their work is aligned to the greater aim.

Bonus practice: The 5 whys protocol
Asking yourself “Why” 5 times in a row may not seem like the most sophisticated approach to problem-solving. However, by starting with some baseline data, asking why, and iterating the process several times, asking yourself “why” each time you come up with an answer, you may start to uncover some not so apparent drivers or root causes of your problem. Try it out at your next leadership meeting. This could prove to be a very useful tool for you and your team to focus conversations, set goals and implement successful plans.
Image showing an example of the 5 whys so that you can break down an aim
Resource Links and Additional Tools
Internal Tools:
External Links:

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