--- title: "Defining Company Goals: How to Give Your Business Direction" description: "How to define company goals that truly steer: short- and long-term goals, stakeholder expectations, and a picture of your company's structure." type: "wissen" product: "cockpit" slug: "defining-company-goals" source_language: "de" target_languages: ["de", "en", "es", "pl", "tr"] published: "2026-06-10" status: "publish" faq_json: [{"q":"How do you set company goals correctly?","a":"With two time horizons: a short-term goal (what matters now, e.g. liquidity) and a long-term goal (where the journey is headed, e.g. profitability). Added to this are the expectations of stakeholders and a clear picture of your own structure."}, {"q":"Why do small companies even need formulated goals?","a":"Because unspoken goals don't steer. Only a recorded goal makes priorities decidable – for the team and increasingly also for AI functions that can align with the given direction."}, {"q":"What is the difference between short-term and long-term goals?","a":"The short-term goal determines what takes priority in the coming weeks and months; the long-term goal, what the company is steering toward overall. Both can be in tension – such as liquidity now vs. profitability later."}, {"q":"What do company goals have to do with AI?","a":"AI functions prioritize better when they know the company's direction. Goals stored in webRichtung cockpit serve as a guideline along which the platform's AI functions align – you set the direction, the platform follows."}, {"q":"How detailed do the goals need to be?","a":"To start, a clear short-term and a long-term goal are enough – that already has a noticeable effect. You can differentiate later: stakeholder goals, areas, and structures grow with it."}] language: "en" source_id: "wissen/unternehmensziele-festlegen" source_hash: "844ffbda601f63ca01579eadb02e4b0beef93d7e39a58a056e8832f48ffa080f" --- Defining company goals means answering two questions in writing: What matters now – and where is the journey headed? From these two time horizons, a short-term and a long-term goal, emerges the guideline along which decisions, priorities, and increasingly also AI functions can align. ## Why unspoken goals don't steer Most entrepreneurs have goals – in their heads. The problem: a goal that only exists in your head steers no one but its bearer, and even them only on good days. The team prioritizes by gut feeling, conflicting goals remain undecided, and every urgent request beats what's important. Only the recorded goal makes priorities decidable: "Does this help our current goal – yes or no?" ## Two horizons instead of a goal catalog Many goal systems fail due to overambition: twelve goals, four levels, no one looks at them anymore. The opposite is more effective – two horizons: - **The short-term goal:** What matters in the next weeks and months? A typical example is **liquidity** – staying solvent, collecting receivables, keeping fixed costs under control. - **The long-term goal:** Where is the company headed overall? For instance **profitability** – a business that sustainably earns more than it costs. These two goals can be in tension, and that is precisely their value: whoever knows both recognizes the conflict ("The discount brings liquidity but costs margin") and decides deliberately rather than by chance. ## Stakeholders: whose expectations count Goals don't arise in a vacuum. Three groups shape what your company should achieve: - **Management:** Who steers the company, with what guidelines? - **Shareholders:** Who owns it, what expectations exist – distribution, growth, substance? - **Employees:** Targets and personal goals in harmony – those who know where the company is headed are more likely to pull along. Making these expectations explicit prevents the most common steering problem in mid-sized businesses: that everyone "somehow wants the same thing," but each understands something different by it. ## Goals as a steering variable – also for AI Here comes a new reason to record goals cleanly: AI functions can align with them. In [webRichtung cockpit](https://www.webrichtung.de/module/cockpit/) you define your short-term and long-term goal in the Organization area – and the platform's AI functions can orient themselves to these goals: what your assistant prioritizes and suggests follows the direction you set – not the other way around. In addition, you map out your company's operational structure: products, locations, assets, suppliers, skills, and contracts. The more complete this picture, the more targeted the support. ## How to proceed 1. **Formulate both goals:** One sentence per horizon is enough to start. Better clear and short than complete and unread. 2. **Align with stakeholders:** Do the expectations of management and shareholders match? Clarify differences now, not in conflict. 3. **Make it visible:** Goals belong where the work happens – not in a drawer. 4. **Review regularly:** The short-term goal may change – that's its purpose. A quarterly look usually suffices. You don't have to map everything at once: even a clear short-term and long-term goal noticeably provides direction – the rest grows with it. How the tension between the two horizons concretely looks is explored in depth in the article [Liquidity vs. Profitability](/en/wissen/kurzfristige-langfristige-ziele.html).