How to Manage Company-Level Objectives to Drive Organizational Success

Turning Company Goals into Action with Ownership, Tracking, and Adaptation

By Alex Ford, CEO and Founder

Setting clear objectives is only the first step in aligning your company for growth. The real challenge lies in managing them effectively to ensure they drive organizational success. Without strong execution, even the best-laid objectives are little more than window dressing. At the heart of this challenge is creating a framework that brings together multiple teams to achieve what are often cross functional objectives, which is far more difficult than just giving one of your leaders a handful of OKRs.

For company objectives to truly work, they need to be more than just aspirational statements—they must be embedded into daily operations, tracked with discipline, and adapted as needed.

The CEO as the Champion

A company’s objectives are only as strong as its leadership’s commitment to them. The CEO must own the process, ensuring objectives remain a top priority for team leaders despite the day-to-day challenges and distractions that come with running a business. This is achieved through constant cheerleading, reinforcement, reporting, and accountability.

This means:

• Communicating objectives clearly and consistently to all stakeholders.
• Tracking and reporting progress regularly.
• Breaking down silos, removing blockers and aligning teams toward execution.

When managed well, objectives create what every CEO wants: a focused, accountable, high-performing leadership team that can work together to achieve incredible progress.

How to Drive Execution

1. Assign Clear Ownership

Every objective needs an owner responsible for driving its execution. However, what is different about company-level objectives is that they often require cross-functional collaboration. Define:

• Who leads and owns the objective?
• Which teams contribute?

For example, an objective like “Restructure pricing to drive growth” might be led by the Head of Product but supported by:

• Sales (providing customer feedback and executing the rollout).
• Customer Success (developing retention strategies).
• Finance (modeling pricing impact).
• Marketing (crafting messaging and positioning).

2. Identify Key Results and Performance Indicators

Essential to tracking and creating accountability around objectives is developing the key results that need to be achieved to meet an objective. I find it helpful to break them into two types:

• Metric-based KPIs, which includes ongoing metrics impacted and objective specific targets
• Initiatives completed, which could be larger sub-projects or smaller tasks

For example, key results for a new product feature launch would include multiple metrics and initiatives. Metrics might include change in Average Customer Value (ACV), as measured by increase in AVC per new sale over a specific period of time, or number of times that feature has been sold – either bundled with new sales or upsold to existing customers. 

Initiatives could include milestones such as a beta product release, press release posted or marketing launch completed. 

3. Implement a Strong Tracking and Reporting System

Objectives should be reviewed regularly; I suggest at the very minimum meeting monthly with your executive team and quarterly with your board and company. Use a system to track progress, whether that be Excel-based or a software tool, and adjust course as needed.

A simple but effective tracking method is a green/yellow/red status system, where:

• Green = On track.
• Yellow = At risk, needs attention.
• Red = Off track, requiring immediate action.

Leaders should review objectives in weekly executive meetings and quarterly check-ins to assess progress, resolve blockers, and adjust goals as necessary.

4. Drive Accountability

Accountability is what turns objectives into results. As CEO, your job is to remove blockers, set clear expectations, and ensure follow-through. This means:

• Reinforcing ownership: it should be clear who owns each objective and they should be empowered to succeed.
• Tracking progress: use weekly leadership check-ins and a simple red/yellow/green status system.
• Tying performance to incentives: bonuses and reviews should reflect execution, not just effort.
• Making tough calls: if someone consistently fails to deliver, address it early, whether through coaching or finding a leader who is a better fit.

A culture of accountability drives execution; without it, even the best objectives are just talk.

5. Keep Objectives Aligned with Business Priorities

To remain relevant, objectives must evolve alongside the company. Regularly assess whether current objectives still align with:

• Revenue and growth goals.
• Product strategy and market shifts.
• Operational improvements and efficiency.
• Your exit strategy
• External factors like M&A, partnerships, and regulatory changes.

6. Avoid Objective Creep

One of the biggest pitfalls in managing objectives is overcomplication. If an organization goes from five objectives to fifteen, focus is lost. Stick to high-priority objectives – no more than seven or eight. Naturally, each of your teams will have additional domain or function specific objectives. But the more those objectives cascade from your company objectives, the better.

7. Celebrate Wins and Reinforce Progress

Objectives should inspire momentum. Recognizing and celebrating milestones reinforces alignment and keeps teams motivated. Whether through all-hands meetings, internal newsletters, or leadership updates, make progress visible and meaningful. Better yet, come up with a fun year end bonus.

Final Thoughts

Managing company objectives isn’t just about setting them—it’s about driving execution. With the right ownership, tracking, and adaptation, objectives become a powerful force for scaling a company and aligning teams toward what truly matters.

For CEOs and founders, this isn’t just a management exercise—it’s a fundamental leadership responsibility. Done well, it leads to a high-performing, accountable organization that executes with clarity and purpose.