Autumn is the season of performance reviews and aim-setting conversations in many organizations. Leaders and team members sit down together to look ahead: Which priorities should guide the next year? What results do we want to achieve? What development is needed?
Too often these conversations feel like a formality. Numbers are entered, projects are listed, indicators are defined. Yet if we pause for a moment, we realize: aims are more than measurable outcomes. They provide orientation, they create clarity – and at their best, they give meaning. That is what makes the difference between leadership that merely allocates tasks and leadership that truly motivates and connects.
Many studies confirm this: people want to do work that has purpose. When we know why we are doing something, we bring more energy, initiative, and creativity. Purpose is not a “nice to have” – it is at the core of leadership.
This is where aim definition becomes crucial.
The Coverdale Aims Grid – Four Questions for a Complete Aim
In aim definition, purpose plays a central role. In the Coverdale Aims Grid, we distinguish two levels:
- the operational purpose: Why does the concrete result matter?
- the strategic purpose: Why does this result matter for the bigger picture?
But purpose alone does not make an aim complete. Three more questions are needed:
- For whom? Who benefits, who is affected, who has a stake?
- What? What exactly should be achieved as the result?
- How do we measure success? Which criteria show that the aim has been reached?
Only when all four questions are answered – Why, For whom, What, and How do we measure success – do we arrive at a clear and meaningful aim definition.
The Different Meanings of Why
In English, we use the same word – Why? – for very different intentions. This is where misunderstandings often arise.
- Sometimes Why? is about reasons. It looks backwards, and the answer usually starts with because…. (Why is this task necessary? – Because our client asked for it.)
- Sometimes Why? is about purpose. It looks forward, and the answer begins with in order to…. (Why are we developing this new module? – In order to reduce processing time and strengthen our market position.)
- And then there is the skeptical Why me? – which is not really a search for meaning at all, but usually resistance: I don’t want to do it.
As a leader, it helps to become aware of these nuances. Too often, we answer a Why? with justification, starting with because…. That keeps the conversation in the past. If instead we hear Why? as an invitation to talk about purpose – and answer with in order to… – we move the dialogue forward, towards meaning and motivation.
Aim-Setting Conversations as an Opportunity
Right now, in many organizations, aim-setting meetings are taking place. They are more than appointments to tick off on a calendar. They are opportunities to give direction, to provide clarity, and to create meaning together.
If you walk through the four questions of the Coverdale Aims Grid – and if you consciously respond to Why with in order to rather than because – aims become more than metrics and deadlines. They become shared commitments that motivate and connect.
Leadership becomes effective where it creates orientation and meaning. Aims are not only achieved – they are also understood.
So perhaps this is the question to keep in mind during this season of reviews and agreements:
👉 Why are we doing this – in order to what?
Recent Comments