Strategies are often aspirational, usually lengthy documents that communicate insights and plans — but rarely with prioritization clear enough to meet the needs of executional teams. It’s also common for leaders to struggle when asked point blank for prioritization clarity, because “everything is a priority.”

Starting with “What’s most important” means we start with a blank page and identify priorities from there instead of starting with a list and prioritizing it.

If a goal, initiative, or project doesn’t come up during a “What’s most important” conversation, that doesn’t mean it’s not important — plenty of run-the-business work won’t be top of mind — but it does mean that it’s not likely a critical growth, transformation, or innovation effort that demands an OKR.

When strategies do clearly identify what’s most important, they rarely answer the important next question:

“Why does that matter?”

That question and its answer provide vital information to guide implementation — clarity that teams can use to inform their decisionmaking. Aligning on the “why” also gives everyone in the organization a better understanding of their shared purpose, and helps connect the dots on why the work matters.

It’s rare to see objectively measurable goals as a routine part of strategic implementation plans. When goals are present, they often lack sufficient detail — are they mandatory or stretch goals? Are they truly measurable (and instrumented for measurement)?

For an analogy: in athletics, teams are fundamentally aligned through focus on the “win” they’re aiming to achieve. They work together toward objective progress goals to inform training and preparation, toward readiness to “win.”

In business, too often, teams receive an assignment or kick off a project with a brief that’s focused on activity — what’s to be done — and the only progress data is the subjective estimation of percentage complete.

When businesses set and align goals like a sports team, they align on what might be incredible to achieve (what “winning” might mean); and what progress benchmarks they’re aiming to achieve — and which signal whether they’re on or off track (in the form of empirically measurable progress goals).

Aligning on what it might mean to succeed wildly lets teams build their map toward the same destination, together.