Business

Consulting Questions: What Is OGSM Development?

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By Admin Desk

In business consulting circles, the OGSM model offers wayward companies and organizations a chance to recalibrate and get their plans back on track. Best of all, it does so in a way that makes sense, encourages teamwork, and avoids demoralizing actions that send your employees looking elsewhere.

But just what is OGSM and how do you put it to use for your organization? (Hint: the OGSM part stands for objective, goals, strategies, and measurements.) Let’s cover each one in-depth!

Objective

The OGSM model starts with setting an overarching objective that you hope to accomplish. An objective should always be looked at singularly. That is, you don’t want to combine objectives in a single OGSM.

Instead, create a new OGSM chart for each objective that you hope to accomplish. That keeps things simple for your team as they pursue the milestones and strategies that will need to be undertaken to accomplish it.

Goals

If you are putting together an OGSM model template PowerPoint presentation to show off to your team, then the goals will be the milestones that you need to hit along the way to your objective. Goals can and should be in the plural.

If the objective is big enough to be an objective, it’s going to require progress along the way. Break that progress down step-by-step with a deadline for each.

Strategies

Strategies are what you are going to use to accomplish your goals. Think action plans! Some goals may not require many actions to accomplish while others will demand a multi-step approach.

The great thing about the OGSM model is that it allows you to see the relationships between your goals and strategies side-by-side. It can also get sizable organizations like early OGSM adopters Procter & Gamble (P&G) on the same page with their pursuit of goals and stay on track no matter what personnel changes might come into play.

Measures

The last part of understanding what is OGSM is the metrics, or measurements, that you will use to determine if the goals are being maintained. Measurements can come in many different forms, from dollars saved and spent to personnel retention to units sold. Determine the most appropriate measurement for the goals you’re targeting and stand by those.

Flexibility 

We’ve covered the four tenets of OGSM. Now it’s time to talk about the two additional items you may want to add to your execution of it. The first is flexibility.

If you’re following OGSM as it’s intended, you’re going to notice things along the way that lead you to either better strategies than you had planned or weaknesses in the ones you have chosen. OGSM allows you to make note of those opportunities and make changes along the way.

Seek Direction

Secondly, OGSM will give you the opportunity to see gaps in your organization that you might not have recognized initially. As business consulting firm Arch Point Consulting lays out, nine out of 10 companies fail to execute their strategies. Many times, that failure is because they don’t have the proper personnel and skillsets in place or they are misusing the talents and skillsets they have.

Following the OGSM Model Gives You Control Over Growth

Using the OGSM model will keep your team on track with the objective, goals, strategies, and measurements that matter to your organization. Consider putting it to use if you want to bolster efficiency, productivity, and results. For more business-related tips and information, check out some of our additional posts!