If you make sharp choices and formulate them concretely, you will get a compact plan that fits on one page. That is the big challenge when you make a plan. Limit yourself to the essentials and choose! If you like woolly language and don't dare to choose, then OGSM is not for you. The letters OGSM stand for the four parts, but in English: Objective, Goals, Strategies and Measures.
OGSM: for sole traders and multinationals
In recent years we have guided many people and teams in drawing up OGSMs. From technical companies in the manufacturing industry to healthcare organizations, from result-oriented financial institutions to municipalities. The strength of OGSM in these organizations is:
- OGSM gives us inspiration and energy
- OGSM is concrete and measurable.
- OGSM forces us to choose.
- OGSM provides overview and logical coherence.
- OGSM helps us to get better and better.
Ambition (Objective)
The objective describes what you ultimately want to achieve, the big dream. Everything in the plan is aimed at realizing the objective.
A good objective first describes what you want to achieve. This is the why of your plan, the great goal. It indicates why the plan is important, why you are going to carry out the plan.
In addition, the objective states how you want to achieve the goal in broad terms. The objective thus provides direction for all those involved.
Goals (Goals)
You can ask questions about every objective, no matter how well formulated. That is why it is important to make the objective concrete and measurable.
The goals make concrete what you mean by the objective. What exactly does 'the most innovative', 'the highest quality' or 'the best employer' mean? With the goals you determine at the end of the ride whether you have (fully) realized the objective. So you can objectively measure success. With the goals you also determine how high you set the bar: when exactly are you satisfied?
Strategic Choices (Strategies)
The objective and goals describe the ultimate goal of your journey. The question now is: which route do you choose, from all possible options, to reach that final goal? The strategies describe this route. It is important that they match the challenges you face. These stem from:
- The strength of the team and the organization.
- The vulnerability of the team and the organization.
- The opportunities in the area.
- The threats in the environment.
Measures (Measures)
The measures form the fourth part of an OGSM. In the book Business plan on 1 A4, the measures are split into 'Dashboard' and 'Action plan'. We adopt this split, but use the terms Indicators and Actions:
- Indicators. To measure yourself and gain insight into whether you are achieving the right results.
- Actions. To clarify what you need to arrange.
The indicators and actions are linked to a strategy.
The indicators form a dashboard on which you can see whether you are moving fast enough and whether you are still on track. They show whether the actions are producing the right results, so that you can make adjustments in time by adjusting your plan.
The actions make very concrete what you are going to do to achieve the desired results (see the indicators) within the strategy.
Examples
Op ogsmindepraktijk.nl you can download two examples:
- A simple OGSM for taking a sailing trip across the ocean.
- The OGSM of the fictitious company Sunergie.
We give more examples in the book:
- The personal OGSM of an employee who wants to become a team leader in two years.
- The sales and marketing plan in which the marketing department describes how they want to be successful.
- The OGSM of an SME in the manufacturing industry.
- The OGSM of a municipality to make the housing market more balanced, more accessible and more sustainable.
- The OGSM of an organization in elderly care to give clients more control.
OGSM in practice
This article is a summary of a chapter of the book 'OGSM in practice'. More information can be found at ogsmindepraktijk.nl
Or order the book directly from management book of bol.com.
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