From a Room Full of Opinions to a Shared Set of Priorities.

Created by LPA’s Sustainability + Applied Research Team, the Goal-Setting Card Deck gamifies early stakeholder alignment, turning vague aspirations into specific, measurable priorities that designers can return to at every milestone.

Building consensus before design begins so teams spend less time revisiting later

Stakeholders often arrive with narrow and conflicting ideas and no framework for exploring and prioritizing them. The conversation quickly turns to design features before understanding the outcomes those decisions are meant to support.

The result? Misalignment, scope drift, and designs that may look impressive but fail to support the people using them.

Our tool solves for that.

The Best Projects Start With Goals.

The Method

It’s Easier to React Than to Articulate.

Most tools ask open-ended questions and put the burden on clients to find the words. The card deck presents a broad set of outcomes to respond to instead. Saying yes refines the vision. Saying no is just as valuable.

The Philosophy

Outcome-Based, Not Solution-Driven

The cards are organized around outcomes — not space layout or systems selections. This allows teams to find alignment and understanding early, minimizing potential conflicts later.

The Framework

Categories That Scale from Person to Planet

The deck is organized around a sustainable framework with 4 categories: wellness, experience, community, and performance. 73 goals across 14 topics take a holistic view, from individual wellbeing to collective experience to the performance of the building, site, and ecosystem.

The Steps

A Process Built for Alignment

Identify — Let the cards reveal what the project is really about. Prioritize — Vote, debate, decide. This is where real understanding happens. Define success — Agree on what success looks like so you can measure it later. Document — A shared record that travels with the project.

The Timing

Use It Early. Reference it often.

Facilitated by your project team with all engaged stakeholders in the room. Sessions run under an hour or extend to a full-day workshop — for any project size, type, or scale.

“I’ve never felt something was done so thoughtfully. I need a deck like this to organize my life.”

Pooja Bhakta, Cofounder, Do Better LLC

Interested in the Goal Setting Card Deck?

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this a workshop or a tool?

Both. The deck provides a structured framework for discussion, while the workshop process helps participants explore, debate, and prioritize competing goals together.

Why not just ask stakeholders what they want?

Because people don’t always have the language to describe what they’re really looking for. When asked what they want, stakeholders often reference specific spaces or features they’ve seen elsewhere, which often reflect underlying needs that haven’t yet been articulated. The framework helps participants uncover and prioritize those goals before committing to design solutions.

Can the deck be used for any project type?

Yes. Because the focus is on human and environmental outcomes, rather than specific building types or features, it can be used across workplaces, schools, campuses, healthcare environments, community projects, and more. As the context shifts, the solutions to achieve outcomes will as well.

Who should participate?

It depends on the goal of the session. If you’re gathering input, it’s helpful to include anyone impacted by the project. If you’re making decisions, it’s important to include the people responsible for making them. The strongest conversations often bring together a mix of perspectives—leadership, users, operations, project teams, community members, and designers—so priorities are informed by more than a single point of view.

How long does a session take?

It depends on the project and the level of discussion desired. Some teams use the deck in a focused 20–30 minute exercise, while others spend a half-day or full day exploring priorities in greater depth.

Do we need a trained facilitator?

No. The deck is designed to be intuitive and self-guided, with instructions, prompts, and facilitation tips included. That said, people with facilitation training often feel more comfortable guiding discussion, navigating differing viewpoints, and keeping conversations productive.

Is there anything on the back side of the cards?

The back of each card includes strategies and supporting ideas that may help achieve that goal. These examples are intended to make abstract concepts easier to understand and discuss during the goal-setting process. They can also serve as useful references later in the project as design decisions are being evaluated.

What happens after the workshop?

The prioritized goals become a living document that the team can refer back to throughout the project. They help guide design decisions, keep stakeholders aligned, and provide a framework for evaluating whether the final outcome is meeting the original intent.

What is the benefit of contributing project goals to a larger database?

Contributing project goals helps build a broader understanding of what different projects, organizations, and communities are trying to achieve. Over time, this collective knowledge can reveal emerging trends, highlight similarities and differences across project types and regions, and strengthen the evidence base that informs future design decisions.