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Goals

Learn how to align your people and team around shared company goals and drive measurable results.

✨ Coming soon: Goals will be available for purchase as part of Trainual's operations suite starting May 19th, 2026. Get a head start by previewing all the goal features so you can start planning how you'll put it to work. 💪🤓


Big priorities deserve more than a spreadsheet. Goals give your team a place to set targets, track progress, and check how everyone's work connects to the bigger picture.


👉 Before you start: 

🗂️ Table of contents: Skip around to just the parts you need with these links.


Goals overview: 

What gets measured gets done. Goals give your team a shared view of what's being worked toward, how it's measured, and where progress stands right now.

🏅 The highlights? Goals help you...

  • 🎯 Create strategic company focus and guide decision-making with metrics.

  • 🤝 Align people and teams around actionable shared outcomes.

  • 🏁 Push critical initiatives across the finish line.


With goals, everyone knows what they're aiming for and has the hard data to prove they're getting there. Keep scrolling to learn how to build your first goal. 👇




Build a new goal: 

Five steps and your first goal is live! Let's walk through creating one together. 🤝

🔹 Step 1 → To begin, you'll need to set up some goal basics.

  1. Expand "Operations" from the left-hand navigation menu.
  2. Choose "Goals."
  3. Hit the "Create goal" button. 
  4. Fill out the basics.
    • Title. Give your goal a concise name that defines an outcome.
    • Due date. Pick the date this goal should be completed by. 
    • Owner. Choose a single owner. (This defaults to the goal creator; note that groups are not supported in the owner field.)
    • Parent goal (optional). Connect this goal with an additional objective, allowing you to track how it contributes to another goal outcome.

🔹 Step 2 → Choose how your goal will be measured.

To create a strong goal, you need to answer one question: How will we know if we're successful? 🤔 That's where choosing the goal type comes in. 

🧾 Type 🥅 Ideas for when you'd use it

Screenshot 2026-05-01 at 11.36.02 AM
Set and reach a target goal
>> When success means achieving a specific numeric value.

This tracking type is commonly used for growth or reduction goals.

💡 Examples:

  1. I want to increase my revenue by $X.

  2. I want to decrease churn by X%.
  3. I want to increase my customer base by X number of people. 

Screenshot 2026-05-01 at 11.36.41 AM
Maintain a goal within a set range
>> When success is defined by keeping a metric at a minimum,  maximum, or within a specified value range .

This tracking type is useful when success depends on stability.

💡 Examples:

  1. I want to keep my customer churn between X% and X%.

  2. I want to keep my monthly expenses below $X.

  3. I want to keep certain inventory levels above X units.


🔹 Step 3 → Decide how goal progress will be measured.

🎯 For target goals:

  1. Select how progress should be calculated for your target goal.

    • Cumulative: Use when progress should build over time as new results are added, like with revenue over a quarter or total sales over time.

    • Trend: Use when progress reflects the current value of the metric instead of a running total, like with churn rate or customer satisfaction.

  2. Set your goal's values.
    • The unit of measurement. 
      • Count (#).
      • Currency ($).
      • Percent (%).
    • The starting value number. Define your baseline so progress is measured accurately from where you began, not from zero by default.
    • The target value number. Set the goalpost for success so you can track how close you are to achieving your desired outcome.

 

🧰 For maintaince goals:

  1. Select how progress should be calculated for your maintaince goal.

    • Stay below. Use this when success means keeping a metric under a specific threshold, helping you avoid exceeding a limit.
    • Stay between. Best for when success means maintaining a metric within an ideal range, ensuring it doesn’t go too high or too low.
    • Stay above. For when success means keeping a metric above a minimum threshold, so performance doesn’t drop below expectations.
  2. Set your goal's values. 
    • The unit of measurement. 
      • Count (#).
      • Currency ($).
      • Percent (%).
    • The ceiling and/or floor numbers. Define the upper and/or lower boundaries for your goal, so you can clearly track whether your metric stays within the acceptable ranges.

🔹 Step 4 → Provide goal details and set visibility.

  1. Use the description box to summarize your goal.

    • Consider including:

      • The company outcome you want to achieve.

      • Any important context or background about this goal.

      • What success should look like by the due date.

  2. Decide which people and groups can see and track this goal.
    • Hit the "Share" button under the "Visibility" section. 

      Screenshot 2026-05-01 at 12.34.33 PM
    • Add specific users or groups via the search bar for those who should be able to view and comment on this goal, or add the "Everyone" group for view-only access at a company-wide level .

    • Click the "Add" button to apply your choices. 

🔹 Step 5 → Publish your new goal. 

Hit the "Create goal" button to launch your newly minted goal! 🚀


Manage your existing goals: 

Keep your goals current! Here's how to log progress, make changes, and clean up.


📈 Log progress on a goal

  1. Click the title of a goal to open the detailed goal view.

  2. Find the record bar at the bottom of the progress chart.

  3. Enter the new value to log.

  4. Select the date for this entry.

  5. Hit the "Record" button.

Screenshot 2026-05-01 at 12.12.12 PM


✏️ Edit logged progress on a goal

  1. Click the title of a goal to open the detailed goal view.

  2. Select any data point from the progress chart.
  3. Take an action on this entry: 
    • Change the numerical value and hit the "Save" button to apply it. 
    • Use the "Delete" button to remove this entry. 
    • Make no changes by clicking the "Cancel" button. 

Screen Capture on 2026-04-12 at 14-57-18.gif


🖌️ Edit goal details or archive a goal

  • Click the three-dot menu (⋮) next to any goal to...

    • Edit. Change the title, description, due date, owner, parent goal, goal type and definitions, or visibility.

    • Archive. Remove your goal from active viewing, while preserving its historical data, by archiving it. Any archived goals will be listed under the "Archived" status filter.


❌ Permanently delete a goal

  1. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) next to any goal and select "Edit."

  2. Hit "Delete goal" at the bottom left of the pop-up window.



📝 Please note: Once deleted, a goal and its historical data cannot be recovered. Consider archiving instead to keep records of your past goals.


Check and comment on a goal: 

Once a goal is created, both goal owners and viewers can check in on progress, review activity, and leave comments in the detailed goal view.


📖 View a goal (as a viewer or owner)

Click the title of a goal to open the detailed goal view.


👀 What will everyone see and be able to do?

Screen Capture on 2026-04-10 at 15-34-49.gif

  • Current progress. Where the metric for this goal stands right now.
  • Goal definition. The goal metric you're aiming to reach (or stay within).
  • Last entry. The month and date of the last recorded goal activity.
  • Progress chart. A visual timeline of recorded goal progress with color-coded status indicators that indicate: Not started, off track, at risk, on track, and done.
  • Visibility. Who has access to this goal (both the owner and watchers).
  • Child goals. Any goals connected to this one. 
  • Comments and activity. A shared space to leave or review comments, check for status changes, and overall, stay aligned on how the goal is progressing.
    • Everyone can filter or search comments and activity by:
      • View: Filter all activity, comments only, or goal activity only.
      • Date: Filter results to this week, past month, past year, or all.
      • Search: Click the search icon → use keywords to locate specific comments or goal activity.


👁️ What will only owners be able to see and do?


  • Record progress. Goal owners can log new values to existing goals at the bottom of the progress chart. Check out step-by-steps here. 


Filter the view of your goals: 

Use these filters at the top of your goals landing page to quickly find and organize goals.

🔎 Owner

"All" to display every goal you have visibility into.
"Me" to show goals you directly own or are assigned to.


🟡 Status types

Active. Not started. On track.  Off track.
At risk. Done. Archived.  


👥 People & groups

Filter goals by specific people or groups that have visibility into them.


Tips and additional resources for goals: 

🎁 Bonus learning

Explore these extra materials to expand your understanding of how to set goals.

  • ♟️ Strategy guide: [[⏳ Coming soon]]
  • 🔔 Webinar invite: [[⏳ Coming soon]]


FAQs:

Should I use goals for my personal career growth or development goals?
Goals are built for company goal-setting. Things like company objectives, team targets, and individual goals that ladder up to operational priorities and targets. We suggest touching base with your manager to best tackle personal growth together. 🌱


Are goals available on the Trainual mobile app?
Not yet. But this is on our roadmap. Stay tuned! 🛣️


How can I submit my feedback and ideas about features?
If you'd like to share your thoughts about the operations suite or think of something else you'd like to see added in the future, send us your feature requests and ideas.


Learn more about Trainual: