Setting Specific Goals and Objectives

• How can we further strengthen our goal-setting process to ensure that we have annual goals and objectives that are:
  • Related to our process of engaging PWLE
  • Selected by PWLE and/or community-focused?
  • Aligned with department and/or organizational priorities?
• How are we using data and findings to inform our process for setting goals and priorities related to engaging PWLE?
• How can we create accountability mechanisms (e.g.,  grant reporting requirements) that support meaningful follow through on goals and objectives for engaging PWLE?

• Set goals and objectives that address both the process of engaging PWLE and the outcomes that result from their involvement. Goals can be considered across three broad categories:
  • Process-focused goals aim to improve the process of how an organization works with PWLE. Examples include increasing advisory council membership or retention, enhancing representation on standing committees, or supporting PWLE in building skills like storytelling.
  • Organizational impact-/outcome-focused goals reflect how engaging PWLE improves the organization’s ability to deliver on its mission through service design, care delivery, program outcomes, equity, and more. This could include goals like increasing patient engagement with portals, enhancing provider access,  or strengthening care management support.
  • PWLE and community impact goals capture how engagement benefits PWLE and the broader community. These goals can include supporting PWLE to pursue their priorities, improving wellbeing, or achieving personal milestones such as obtaining housing or completing educational programs.

• For guidance on tracking and measuring your goals see:
  • Process measurement and improvement 
  • Understanding the impact and outcomes of engaging PWLE

• Staff members leading work with PWLE play a key role in shaping goals and objectives and guiding the goal-setting process by  connecting conversations across the organization and the community.
  • Use metrics and data for your work with PWLE to identify areas for process improvement.
  • Review feedback from advisory committee meetings and community conversations to inform community-focused and process-aligned goals.
  • Collaborate across teams and departments to identify shared priorities and discuss  how engaging PWLE can directly support organizational goals.
  • Understand your organization’s overall goal-setting process in order to understand how goals for engaging PWLE fit within it.
• Gain leadership buy-in. This is essential to ensure goals reflect shared priorities between the organization and PWLE.
  • See: Engaging executive leaders for strategies for engaging and gaining buy-in.
• Include goals and activities related to engaging PWLE as outcome measures for grants and contracts. This creates accountability, helping to ensure proper tracking, resource allocation, and reporting.
  • If you don’t work directly in fundraising or development, schedule a meeting with colleagues who do to explore how activities and outcomes related to engaging PWLE are reflected in funding proposals. There are often opportunities to strengthen planning for how you engage PWLE in these early stages of program development.

Stephanie Burdick, a person with lived experience, discusses considerations for organizations as they engage PWLE in goal setting.

National Health Care for the Homeless Council routinely includes engagement with PWLE as a deliverable for grants and contracts.

“ All our cooperative agreements with the Health Resources and Services Administration state that we will include consumer subject matter experts, or that we will have consumers sitting on specific organizational committees. And so as we report to funders, we have to check and see if we made that outcome. So by making it an outcome, we then are required to not only internally check it, but we’re required to report out to our funders that we did it. That’s a big way that we hold ourselves accountable, is we write it into grants. We [try to] write it into every grant, every activity that we do. When we measure the effectiveness of that activity, or I report out on how that activity went. How did consumers inform? How did they participate? How did they lead? How did they guide? How did that go? And so that’s probably in the real day to day, nitty gritty of how we measure. I can’t report on that grant without reporting on consumer engagement and thoughtfully considering, did I do that? How am I going to prove that I did that? What did I say that activity would look like? Did it look like that?”

Community Health Plan of Washington has annual member advisory committee (MAC) goals focused on “maturation,” which means they have a target for at least 75% of MAC members to report an understanding of how their input influences programs and policies, and the implementation of at least two member-driven initiatives.

• What processes do we use to ensure PWLE meaningfully inform our organizational goals and objectives?
• How do we balance and navigate different priorities between our organization and PWLE in our organizational goal-setting process?
• How can we deepen the involvement of PWLE in our organizational goal-setting process?

• There are a number of approaches to engage PWLE in developing organizational goals and objectives:
  • Provide context upfront – To everyone, but especially to PWLE who may be less familiar with the organization or the goal-setting process. Share information about the steps in the process, major constraints, relevant context, timelines, who is involved, and each person’s roles and responsibilities.
  • Start with a brainstorming session – Include either a mixed group of participants (e.g., PWLE, department heads, staff.) or a session exclusively for PWLE, such as advisory committee members or other community residents.
  • Follow with prioritization and refinement – Work to align on goals that are both feasible and impactful.
    • This requires transparency about organizational constraints and strategic priorities as well as enough flexibility that PWLE feel their perspectives are genuinely acknowledged and considered.
    • A prioritization matrix and/or the SMART goal framework can help to narrow the list of goals and clarify necessary specifics. This work can be led by staff and may continue to involve a smaller group of PWLE, such as those in leadership roles on advisory committees.
• Engage PWLE in the organization’s overarching process for annual goal-setting This requires attention to:
  • Timing – Schedule goal setting conversations and meetings with advisory committees when organizational goals are being developed.
  • Communication – Ensure committee members understand organizational priorities, the goal-setting process, timelines, and their role in the process.
  • Preparation – Provide multiple ways for PWLE  to review draft documents and to understand the context and details necessary for meaningful involvement.
• Prepare to overcome some common challenges when engaging PWLE in goal-setting by:
  • Addressing the power-imbalance – Even with collaborative intentions, PWLE often experience that staff still drive the agenda. Staff should have transparent conversations about varying degrees of influence, decision making power, and responsibility.
  • Providing appropriate context – It can be challenging to participate in a process that is unfamiliar. Staff liaisons play a vital role in supporting PWLE and shaping opportunities for PWLE to have meaningful involvement and impact.
  • Staying flexible – Goals can change  due to unforeseen circumstances or new priorities. This can mean that staff may need to revisit goals with advisory committee members and PWLE, practicing transparency and managing potential frustration or disappointment.

Stanford Health Care’s Patient & Family Advisory Councils (PFACs) set annual goals that are typically member-selected and driven. These goals often focus on improving the PFAC itself, supporting the patient community, and aligning with departmental patient experience goals. For example, one PFAC focused on peer mentorship and connecting patients, while another aimed to bring staff and patients together for events. Departments may share their goals and PFACs then develop objectives based on that input. The organization also uses a prioritization matrix to identify viable goals.

“For heart transplants, we have a very involved and dedicated PFAC that has been around for several years. We do an annual goal-setting process as a group — we have staff members, staff member advisors, and then the patient and caregiver representation, too. The overarching goal of our PFAC is to improve the heart transplant patient experience, so our annual goals are usually focused on that. For instance, we set a goal to improve the accuracy of the other providers that are listed in our electronic health record system because our transplant physicians will send a letter after the clinic visit to the referring visit. But our patients let us know that sometimes the doctors listed in [the electronic health record] were outdated or inaccurate, and that was frustrating for the patients and confusing to have these letters sent to doctors that aren’t even following their care anymore. So now we’ve been working  with our team to update and streamline our process, which has enhanced the patient experience.”