The Step That Comes Before Setting Annual and Quarterly Business Goals
Most people think annual planning starts with goals.
It doesn’t.
And if you’ve ever walked away from a planning session feeling energized…only to watch those goals quietly fall apart a few weeks later, this is usually why.
The real work comes before goal-setting.
I recently wrapped a five-hour annual planning session with a long-term Director of Operations (DOO) retainer client, and it was one of those rare meetings where you can actually feel clarity settle into the room.
Not excitement.
Not hype.
Clarity.
And it all came down to how we approached planning, especially what we did before setting quarterly goals.
Why Most Annual and Quarterly Planning Falls Flat
In many businesses, planning looks like this:
Brainstorm new goals
Pick ambitious quarterly priorities
Commit to execution
Hope the team can “figure it out”
The problem?
Those goals are often created in isolation - disconnected from the real issues the business is already carrying.
When that happens, quarterly goals feel:
Reactive
Overwhelming
Or oddly disconnected from day-to-day reality
This isn’t a motivation issue.
It’s a planning issue.
How We Approached Planning Differently
Before we talked about the future, we grounded ourselves firmly in reality.
Here’s what we reviewed first:
Revenue vs. expectations from the past year
The biggest project wins across the team
What actually moved the business forward
The CEO’s draft annual goals for the year ahead
Every unresolved challenge still affecting the business
That last piece is critical.
What Is a “Long-Term Issues List” (and Why It Matters)
We follow the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) framework in this business.
One of its core tools is the long-term issues list - a living list of recurring challenges, bottlenecks, and unresolved problems that don’t go away on their own.
These are the issues that:
Keep resurfacing quarter after quarter
Quietly slow execution
Create unnecessary pressure on the CEO
Or block momentum in subtle ways
Most teams either ignore this list or glance at it briefly before moving on.
We did the opposite.
The Step That Comes Before Setting Quarterly Goals
Instead of inventing new priorities, we reviewed every unresolved issue the business was still carrying.
Then we:
Narrowed the list down to the 19 issues that are still actively shaping the business
Ranked them as a team
Used that ranking - alongside the CEO’s annual vision - to select 8 clear priorities for Q1
Only after that did we finalize quarterly goals.
This is the step most teams skip.
The OBM Lesson Most Founders Miss
Here’s the deeper operational insight underneath all of this:
Strong quarterly goals aren’t invented.
They’re chosen.
They come from two places:
The real, unresolved challenges a business is already living with
The direction the founder genuinely wants to go
When quarterly goals are disconnected from either of those, execution becomes harder than it needs to be.
But when goals are rooted in reality and aligned with long-term vision, something shifts.
What This Planning Session Actually Produced
This meeting didn’t end with a long to-do list.
It ended with:
Clear priorities
Aligned ownership
A Q1 plan that feels ambitious and grounded
Most importantly, it gave the team confidence that the work ahead actually makes sense.
That’s the difference between planning around problems and finally planning through them.
What This Looks Like in My DOO Role
This is a big part of the work I do as a Director of Operations.
My role isn’t to set the vision - that belongs to the CEO.
My role is to:
Create structure around that vision
Surface unresolved issues before they derail execution
Guide teams through grounded, realistic planning
And help businesses focus on the work that actually matters
Sometimes that looks like EOS-style planning.
Sometimes it looks like launch leadership.
Often, it looks like helping a founder stop carrying everything alone.
Always, it’s about turning clarity into traction.
A Question for You
As you think about your own business…
How are your annual and quarterly planning conversations going right now?
Do your goals feel grounded and focused - or do they feel like they were created out of thin air?
If the latter, it might not be a discipline problem.
It might just mean you’re skipping the most important step.
About Victoria de Keizer
Victoria is a Certified Online Business Manager and the founder of Keizer Virtual Solutions, a boutique operations and systems consultancy supporting impact-oriented professional service businesses - including consultants, coaches, and growing firms.
With a calm, grounded approach to operational leadership, Victoria helps founders and firm leaders design and steward systems that support sustainable growth, strong client delivery, and healthy internal operations. Her work spans client onboarding and CRM builds, full operational ecosystem design, and long-term operational partnership.
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