ABSTRACT
To achieve sustainable success, an organization must meet its overarching objectives over the long term while operating in an uncertain world. When developing a sustainability program, it is important to understand the organization's objectives and how they were established. This chapter focuses on setting objectives and goals in an organization. A mission statement is very important to an organization because it helps management increase the probability that the organization will achieve sustainable success over time. Sustainability objectives must be aligned with the operating objectives and directly support the strategic objectives. An organization's strategy is implemented at the operating level by defining work goals and developing action plans that help people reach these goals. A sustainability program can set strategic objectives only if there is a focus on sustainability that is embedded within the operational or functional levels, which support the strategic objectives at the highest level in the organization.
