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75 Types of Objectives

John Spacey, May 23, 2023

Objectives are targets that are immediately actionable. This can be compared with end-goals that may be more of a long term plan that's not fully actionable now. The following are common types of objectives including business, performance and personal objectives.

Business Objectives

Business objectives are included in strategy plans, business cases, project plans and performance targets. The following are the most common types of business objectives.

Revenue	Cost reduction
Profitability	Market share
Growth such as new locations	Competitive positioning such as product positioning
Customer satisfaction	Customer experience
Customer loyalty and retention	Quality improvement
Process improvement	Employee productivity and performance
Competitive advantage	Increasing outputs such as production volumes
Reducing waste	Using resources and capital more efficiently
Operational excellence such as fast response times	Business resilience such as information security
Reputation and social status such as brand recognition	Business optimization such as conversion rates
Risk management and risk mitigation	Solving business problems
Solving customer problems	Compliance
Culture such as service culture	More ...

Performance Objectives

Performance objectives are business objectives that are actionable by an individual. It is common for businesses to map overall business objectives to teams and contributors and to evaluate performance against these objectives. The following are illustrative examples of performance objectives.

Close sales	Automate work
Implement processes and procedures	Streamline processes
Resolve incidents	Fix problems
Build, sustain and manage relationships	Deliver projects
Deliver processes	Develop knowledge
Make decisions	Create designs
Deliver analysis	Do work
Engage and help customers	Deliver services
Optimize processes	Deliver communications
Pitch ideas and promote efforts	Document requirements
Lead change	Clear issues
Manage change such as projects	Manage practices
Measure and report	Deliver code and technical tasks
Complete processes	More ...

Personal Objectives

It is also common for people to set objectives for themselves which are targets to achieve something in areas such as career, school, family, lifestyle, social life, hobbies, travel, adventure or creative pursuits. The following are common types of personal objectives.

Studying and academic achievements	Fitness objectives
Dietary habits and food	Saving and investing
Buying a home	Travel and epic experiences
Work performance	Work visibility
Social status such as followers	Social experiences and relationships
Pursuit of hobbies	Diy projects
Pursuit of sports and recreation	Lifestyle objectives such as quality time with family
Creative expression	Life changes such as career change
Establishing or discontinuing habits	Starting a business
Personal productivity – getting things done	Mastering a talent
Making a decision	Participation in culture and community
Researching things	More ...

Objectives vs Goals

Objectives are actionable targets that you can achieve in the near term. End-goals are more long term things that may involve achieving hundreds of objectives. For example, an objective for a jazz performer may be to give a brilliant performance where an end-goal could be to get a recording contract.

Objectives vs Outcomes

Objectives can also be compared to outcomes that are real world results that are beyond your full control. Where a jazz performer has an objective to give a brilliant performance, an outcome is the reaction of the audience.

SMART Objectives

Objectives are typically designed to be SMART meaning that they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. All SMART goals are really objectives because they are immediately actionable by definition.

Next read: Examples of SMART Objectives

More about objectives:

Communication Objectives

Employee Objectives

Examples of Objectives

Performance Objectives

Personal Objectives

Quality