Thomson Reuters Institute

Define your strategic goals

Ambition setting: A creative warm-up to unlock shared purpose

Begin your strategic planning journey by establishing true clarity and forging a direct connection between your legal department’s goals and the broader business objectives. This section of the Value Alignment Toolkit moves beyond traditional goal setting, encouraging teams to unlock creative thinking and build genuine alignment around what success looks like for them.

Through a collaborative, visual approach, you’ll engage your leadership team in envisioning the future — not just with words, but with images and stories that resonate. By surfacing shared values and aspirations, you’ll lay the groundwork for meaningful, actionable goals that drive real impact. We’ve designed the resources here to help you move from abstract ambitions to clear, measurable outcomes, ensuring your department’s strategic direction is both inspiring and practical.

Downloadable materials:

  • Ambition-setting explainer
    Discover the concept and rationale behind ambition setting — a creative warm-up exercise that brings your team together to envision your department’s future through images rather than words. Learn how this approach unlocks shared purpose and builds buy-in for your strategic vision. 
  • Ambition-setting exercise
    Access a step-by-step guide for running the ambition-setting workshop, including preparation tips, facilitation instructions, and adaptation ideas for groups of any size. This exercise helps your team select images that represent their desired achievements, fostering consensus and providing the raw material for translating ambition into actionable goals.

You've defined your vision — now turn it into action. Use the materials below for ambition setting to shape clear strategic goals, then return to the toolkit to begin developing the metrics that will measure your progress.

Have questions or feedback?

We’d love to hear from you! If you have any questions or comments about the Legal Department Value Alignment Toolkit, please reach out to us at TRI@thomsonreuters.com.