Checking in with Your Community Goals

Setting community goals at the start of the year is a valuable exercise—but it’s only step one. The real value comes from regularly reviewing them, ensuring they remain aligned with both your community’s needs and your company’s direction.

If you haven’t read our article on Setting Community Goals for the Year Ahead, start there first—it outlines a simple framework to build strong, aligned goals. Then come back here when you're ready to check in on your progress.

Whether you’re halfway through the year or approaching the end of a quarter, now is the time to pause, evaluate, and recalibrate if needed.

Here’s how to check in on your community goals in a way that’s structured, honest, and impactful.

1. Revisit the original goals

Start by reviewing what you set out to achieve. For each goal, ask:

• Is this still aligned with our community vision?
• Is it still relevant to the company’s current priorities?
• Have we made measurable progress?

This isn’t just about tracking outcomes—it’s about ensuring your goals still serve a purpose. If something no longer feels relevant, note it. Clarity is more valuable than sticking to a plan that no longer fits.

2. Track progress—even if it’s not linear

Look at both the quantitative and qualitative indicators of progress. That could mean metrics like engagement rates, event attendance, or member retention, but it also includes anecdotal wins or community feedback.

Ask yourself:

• What data or feedback shows that this goal is moving forward?
• Are we seeing early signs of impact, even if the final results aren’t there yet?

Progress often comes in phases—acknowledge the momentum where it exists.

3. Align with your team (and beyond)

Goal reviews are a great opportunity to re-align internally. Bring your team into the conversation, and if possible, connect with key cross-functional stakeholders too.

Discuss:

• What’s working well?
• Where are we blocked?
• Are there opportunities to better connect this goal to company initiatives?

This step helps ensure you’re not operating in a silo—and keeps your work visible across the organization.

4. Decide what needs to shift

Based on what you’ve learned, place each goal into one of these categories:

• Continue – The goal is relevant and progressing. Stay focused.
• Refine – The goal is still valid, but needs adjustment (e.g., timeline, tactics).
• Retire – The goal no longer aligns with current priorities or capacity. Replace it with one that does.

It’s not about giving up—it’s about being strategic. Adjusting a goal is a sign of responsiveness, not failure.

5. Document and communicate the changes

Once you’ve made your decisions, update your documentation and communicate changes to relevant stakeholders.

This builds transparency, maintains alignment, and helps others understand where community is contributing value—especially as priorities shift.

You can keep it simple:

• Share a short update on progress and any adjustments
• Highlight a few key learnings
• Reconfirm what success looks like for the next phase

Looking ahead

This check-in process shouldn’t be a one-time effort. Building in a rhythm of regular reflection—monthly or quarterly—can make your goals more useful and your strategy more adaptive.

We’ll be sharing a template soon to help structure your goal reviews. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, if you haven’t already, read our full Community Goal-Setting Guide to revisit the foundations. Because strong goals aren’t just well-written—they’re well-managed, too.