Defining Winning Breakthrough Goals with Strategic Coaching

What are Breakthrough Goals?

Breakthrough goals are not the same as vision. Vision is the “north star” that drives achievement. Yet, vision alone is not sufficient to enable results. Great strategies start with a compelling vision that drives people towards achievement. Translating vision into reality means leaders need to flesh out the catalytic stepping stones to get there. This is where the breakthrough goal comes into play.

In a strategic coaching conversation, whether one-on-one, or with a team of senior decision makers, the key question to ask – What is your most compelling breakthrough goal? – may sound simple, but it gets people thinking.

What we are talking about here is not a mission statement or an aspirational sentence. In the book Coaching for Breakthrough Success (CBS), authors Dr Peter Chee and Jack Canfield explain that a breakthrough goal is a “quantum leap in progress”. Think of it like a 50-yard pass to score a touchdown, or a screaming shot into goal during football. Instead of passing the ball around the field making incremental progress, it propels people and organizations far ahead in one stroke.

Such goals often are bold enough to inspire, practical enough to pursue, and powerful enough to rally people toward a shared purpose or future. Organizations lacking such a focus may find their resources and talent disconnected and out of sync. But, when one exists, it becomes the starting point for decision-making, innovation, and execution for sustainable results.

You want to set a goal that’s big enough that in the process of achieving it, you become someone worth becoming. — Jim Rohn, entrepreneur & author 

Why Breakthrough Goals Matter

Organizations with a clear, transformative objective gain three critical advantages:

1. Direction: It provides a clear target that people in the team can rally behind.
2. Motivation: It fuels commitment by showing people why their work is impactful.
3. Focus: It filters out distractions and ensures energy and resources are invested where it counts.

LEGO is a good example. The company was going up against intense competition with video games dominating playtime in the early 2000s. With children’s attention moving away from the physical world to the digital realm, business suffered.

The turnaround came when the vision turned from “to sell more bricks” towards inspiring and developing the builders of tomorrow. This newfound clarity gave the organization, and the people working there, direction, purpose, and meaning. Even so, the organization needed to take concrete steps to transform them into today’s most valuable toy company. LEGO entered into non-traditional categories, like movies, and engage in strategic partnerships with established intellectual property brands including Star Wars. Each of these bold moves was the quantum leap for making the vision tangible.

Even smaller organizations can benefit from this clarity. For instance, a family-owned logistics company’s original goal was “increasing delivery efficiency”. Nothing wrong with it, yet it could’ve been zippier. Putting some thought, the owners, with the inputs of the teams, reframed the objective to “making same-day delivery possible for every small business in our city.” This gave the team a mission they could connect with and managed to grow their client base sustainably.

The Anatomy of an Effective Breakthrough Goal

A powerful breakthrough goal is more than just an ambitious target; it has distinct characteristics that enable it to rally teams and drive change:

• Emotionally resonant: The goal connects with people on a human level. It taps into a shared desire to solve a meaningful problem or realize a better future. Think of the logistics company’s shift from “efficiency” to “helping small businesses succeed.” One is a metric; the other is a mission.
• Forcing a new approach: A true breakthrough cannot be achieved by simply working harder or optimizing the current system. It inherently demands innovation and pushes teams to abandon old assumptions. It requires them to ask, “How can we do this differently?” rather than, “How can we do more of the same?”
• Clearly and simply stated: It should be easy to understand and remember. So clear, in fact, that anyone in the organization can repeat it and explain why it matters. Vague jargon or complex metrics kill momentum before it can even build.

When an objective combines a compelling mission with a demand for innovation and is stated with absolute clarity, it becomes a true catalyst for transformation.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid in Defining Breakthrough Goals

Just because someone labels a goal as “breakthrough” doesn’t automatically make it one. Many leaders fall into traps that leave their objectives looking courageous on paper but ineffective in practice. Here are five potential pitfalls to avoid.

1. Too incremental to count as a breakthrough goals

People sometimes mistake stretch targets for breakthroughs. For example, aiming for a 5% cost reduction or a modest market expansion may be useful, but may not be transformative. True breakthroughs shift the game.

Think of Netflix moving from mailing DVDs to providing video streaming services. This redefined not only the organization but created an entirely new industry. Incremental goals keep people in the race; transformative ones let them build the track.

2. Too unrealistic to pursue

On the other extreme, some goals sound inspiring but are not grounded in reality. Declaring the intention to “triple market share in six months” without the systems, talent, or resources in place demoralizes rather than energizes. A genuine objective stretches people out of their comfort zone but still sits within the realm of possibility.

3. Too disconnected from the larger vision

Breakthrough goals should act as stepping stones toward a greater vision. If they exist in isolation, like chasing fads or trends, they are likely to dilute focus and confuse people.

For instance, a healthcare startup with a vision to “make quality care affordable” may undermine itself if its main focus is simply to “launch an app because competitors have one.” A powerful aim works best when it clearly accelerates the broader vision.

4. Too vague to drive execution

Some goals sound bold but lack clarity. “Be the market leader” or “disrupt the industry” grabs attention. Yet, these may leave teams asking, what does that actually mean for us? Without specificity—defining which market, what disruption looks like, and how success will be measured—a major objective risks becoming motivational wallpaper rather than an execution compass.

One way to climb out of this hole is to adopt the SMARTEST approach when setting goals. This ensures that goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound, Engaging, Satisfying, and Team-based – therefore turning a vague statement into an actionable plan.

5. Too isolated from values and strengths

An objective that ignores an organization’s core values or strengths is unlikely to sustain momentum. For instance, if a company with a reputation for craftsmanship suddenly sets a goal focused solely on mass production, it risks alienating both employees and customers. Similarly, if an organization that prides itself on community service shifts toward purely profit-driven goals, trust is likely to be eroded. Goals gain credibility and staying power when they build on what the organization already does well and remain consistent with its deepest values.

Breakthrough goals have the potential to be genuine catalysts for profound change. Yet, they risk becoming planning exercises if they are incremental, unrealistic, disconnected, vague, or misaligned with values and strengths. Strategic coaching is an effective approach for leaders to avoid these traps. Such coaching conversations can help ensure objectives are bold and grounded to inspire teams while keeping the effort on effective execution.

Strategic Coaching Questions

In the next coaching conversation or session, challenge leaders to stretch their thinking with questions that move from vision to breakthrough goals:

1. What would success look like in three to five years if there were no limits? (opens up expansive, visionary thinking)
2. Which part of your vision makes your team’s eyes light up? (identifies the most energizing element to build on)
3. What bold move, if achieved, would create a quantum leap toward that vision? (shifts from vision into a breakthrough candidate)
4. What strengths, resources, or values can we leverage to make this possible? (grounds the goal in reality and alignment)
5. What is the single next step we could take in the next 12 months to bring this to life? (translates it into immediate, tangible momentum)

These questions should help move leaders beyond incremental thinking and into breakthrough territory.

Read more: 60 Key Questions to Ask as a Mentor

Beyond Definition: Championing and Communicating the Goal

Identifying a breakthrough goal is a pivotal moment, and yet it is not the finish line. A target on paper has no power; its energy comes from the leaders who champion it. Once a direction is set, strategic coaching enables leaders to address the critical next steps:

• Communicate relentlessly: Such a goal cannot be a one-time announcement. Leaders must weave it into the fabric of the organization – in town halls, team meetings, and one-on-one conversations. Every decision should be framed in the context of how it serves this central aim.
• Model the commitment: The team looks to its leaders for cues. When those in charge visibly prioritize the goal with their time, resources, and decisions, it sends a clear signal that the initiative is real. This alignment between words and actions is key to cultivating the trust necessary for everyone to passionately pursue the new direction.
• Inspire teams & remove obstacles: A quantum leap requires creativity and risk-taking. As such, leaders must empower their teams with the autonomy to experiment and find new solutions. Equally important, they must actively identify and get rid of the bureaucratic hurdles or resource constraints that could slow momentum.

Going for the Quantum Leap

Defining a transformative goal is a process of clarity, courage, and alignment, not a fire-and-forget process. Strategic coaching provides leaders with the structure and accountability to confront these big questions and identify answers beyond incremental gains.

At the next leadership roundtable, don’t just ask what targets need to be hit. Ask instead: What is our most compelling breakthrough goal? The answer may just be the first step toward transforming the organization, the people, and communities it touches.

You need lofty goals. Then cement it with a great work ethic. — Jerry West, NBA legend

Other resources you might be interested in:

• 5 Executive Coaching Goals Leaders Need for Success
• Executive Coaching: Building High-Performing Leaders
• Coaching People Who Don’t Want to Be Coached