Increasing sales, cutting costs, entering new markets, improving the customer experience, developing new products, and enhancing employee efficiency.

All of these goals seem worthwhile.

But what happens when a company decides to pursue all of them at the same time?

Having too many goals may seem like a sign of ambition, but it creates a less obvious problem: resources, time, and employees’ attention are limited. When everything becomes a priority, it becomes difficult to know what the actual priority is.

Among the topics covered in Dr. Mehran Hafizullah’s strategic management course at Al Yamamah University are strategic objectives (Strategic Objectives), which transform a vision and mission into goals that are more specific, measurable, and actionable.

A Good Goal Is More Than Just a Wish

When a company says, “We want to become better,” it does not give employees a clear standard to work toward.

That is why the course addresses a range of characteristics that strategic objectives should have: they should be specific, measurable, relevant, realistic, and time-bound. They may also include financial and nonfinancial goals, and help direct employees’ efforts toward shared aims.

For example, there is a difference between a company saying it wants to “improve the customer experience” and specifying a clear outcome it wants to achieve within a particular period.

In the first case, there is only a general direction; in the second, the organization has something it can work toward and measure.

But the course highlights another important point: having too many goals can lead to a loss of focus.

This is where the paradox emerges.

Each new goal may seem logical when considered on its own, but bringing together a large number of goals also means distributing resources, effort, and attention among them.

Imagine a company with ten major priorities that then asks its employees to treat every one of them as the most important.

Which one comes first when they conflict?

Where should the budget and time go?

What can be postponed?

These questions reveal that setting goals is not only about what the company wants to achieve, but also what it chooses to focus on.

When Choosing Becomes Part of the Strategy

Ambition is not measured by the number of written goals.

One company may have a long list of initiatives, while another may have fewer priorities but a clear understanding of where to direct its resources and how to measure its progress.

One of the concepts presented in the strategic management course is that strategic objectives help direct employees’ efforts toward shared aims, and can also provide a basis for incentives and rewards.

But their value begins to decline when the list becomes so long that the direction is no longer clear.

The strategic question is not always:

What else do we want to achieve?

Sometimes the harder and more important question is:

What deserves to be a priority now... and what can wait?