Joined-up Goal Setting Part 2 of 4 – PACER

In part one we looked at the Golden thread and how it should inform all of your objectives and activities. Part two of this article will explore PACER, a useful model to help define and refine our objectives.

Using Models to help define Objectives - PACER

This model effectively considers the wider environment and impacts when setting objectives. PACER – introduced to Adie by Judith Lowe of PPD Learning – ensures objectives meet criteria for being “well-formed”. These criteria state goals must:

• be stipulated in positive terms (“wants” rather than “don’t wants”. If we set goals according to what we don’t want, our attention and energy is still with what we don’t want.)
• have clearly defined means of measuring achievement and timescales
• be initiated and maintained by the person or group desiring the goal (rather than by/for some other person or group)
• preserve the positive by-products of the situation as it stands i.e. if there are some positives in your current situation, ensure your new goal does not make these worse
• be appropriately contextualised to fit the organisational (or personal) “eco-system” i.e. all of the connections we have and people or things that depend on our activity

If an objective does not satisfy the “well-formedness” criteria – through PACER, SMART or some similar model – it is not a goal, it is a wish. Once we have created an objective, we can ensure it meets these criteria by applying the PACER test. We do this by asking the questions below:

It is often easier to begin with a goal statement and run that through the PACER test below. An example could be: “I would like to increase the number of clients I have.”

P = Positive:                        Does it state what specifically I/we want?

A = Achievement:               How will I/we know you have it?

(means of measurement)    How will I/we you measure it?

                                                What will I/we see, hear, smell, taste, feel or count?

                                                How would someone else know I/we had it?

C = Context:                         When (in what situations) do I/we want it?

                                                When don't I/we want it?

                                                With whom? Where?

                                                When do I/we want it by?

E = Ecology:                        What would happen if I/we got it?

                                                If I/we get what I/we want, what would I/we lose?

In the wider organisational environment:

                                               ·    What will happen if I/we achieve this?  

                                               ·    What will happen if I/we decide not to pursue this goal?

                                               ·    What will not happen if I/we achieve this goal?        

                                               ·    What will not happen if I/we decide not to pursue this?

                                               ·    Is this representative of the explicit / implicit values?

R = Resources:                    Can I/we initiate and maintain it?

                                                Internal

                                                ·    What do I/we need/want e.g. knowledge/skills /attitude?

                                                ·    What internal resources will help me/us?

                                                ·    How can I/we get longer-term support?

                                                External

                                               ·    Where can I/we look for external resources?

                                               ·   Who can help me/us?

                                               ·    How will I/we find sufficient time in my/our schedule?

                                               ·    What material resources will I/we require?

If your objective strategic, personal or has implications beyond the goal itself – e.g. to colleagues, other departments, existing stakeholders, family, etc – the thought process required to create a PACER outcome means you are likely to come out of it with a robust and sustainable result.

Our activities are directed by our senses and how we choose to express our desires. To some extent the words we choose and the questions we ask drive how we experience the world. Every question we ask focuses our attention in particular direction.

PACER forces us to go beyond just “goal setting” and drives our focus toward our desired goal. PACER questions concentrate our attention on elements beyond just achieving the goal on to the implications – for us, others and our organisations – of achieving or not achieving those goals, the resources we will need to achieve them and the pleasure and benefits of achieving them, thus helping to build our motivation.

Asking the context and ecology questions also helps us retain motivation. Our unconscious can be our greatest best ally and will work towards where it is focussed.

For example, if we are a company seeking to increase its number of customers to 15 by the end of the calendar year, this – by some measures – might seem like a well-structured objective. It states what is required, there is a clear measurement and a clear timescale. However, will we take anyone as a client or are there businesses, industries or sectors with which we cannot work while maintaining our integrity? Would increasing to this number mean we have to neglect some existing customers? Is our staff team large enough? These types of questions arise automatically when using PACER.

When writing objectives, avoid words and phrases like “try”, “end of the year”, “shortly”, “should”, “could”, “probably”, and “as soon as possible”. These are generic, daily jargon, almost meaningless and likely to be interpreted differently by different people. Well-formed goals say what you are going do, how you are going to do it, by when and how you will know you have succeeded.

SMART Objectives

PACER is excellent for strategic objectives, “life” objectives and “umbrella” objectives (those objectives that overarch a departments work or have many smaller objectives leading to the achievement of that one big objective). If we look at the analogy of an umbrella, the spokes that keep the umbrella up, are the smaller manageable tasks that will cumulate to achive the umbrella.

Once we have ensured our objectives pass the PACER test, a number of shorter term task focussed goals or particularly long timescales may emerge. In these situations, the most effective approach is usually to break it down into manageable tasks, identify the steps needed, work out how long each step is likely to take and agree completion dates. Each one will in themselves, have to be SMART and all added together, will create a pathway to achiving the main objective. A tool that will be crucial in keeping track of the progression of all of these steps will be milestones with regular review dates throughout the lifespan of the “umbrella’” or overarching objective. SMART, which we will look at in part three, is an excellent tool for describing these tasks.

Test it for yourself. The next time you have to set an objective for yourself, your team or team members, test out PACER and see how it works for you. And if you’re having problems reach out to us. You can email us at [email protected] or tweet at @InfintBlaze_HD and we’ll be happy to speak with you.

For more information about “the human”, see part four and our other articles, including “Journey Back to Being a Mensch” and “Emotional Intelligence”.

It's worth remembering the words of renowned Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer Pablo Picasso: 

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”

Further reading:

About InfinitBlaze Consultancy

Adrian DeCoursey – Adie to his friends – is a strategic advisor and executive coach to CEOs, boards and leadership teams. He is also an international consultant, leadership coach, author and trainer. In a career spanning over thirty years, he has worked with the UK and foreign governments, corporate banks, the not for profit sector and a variety of other organisations. His non-consultancy roles have included marketing director, culture & change director, deputy chief executive and non-executive director.

Judith Hammer is a multi-lingual, international learning and development professional with 20 years-experience in consulting, designing and delivering L&D initiatives/solutions to all staff levels in a variety of international and UK-based companies. Her non-consultancy roles have included head of learning and development for hotels in London and HSBC Bank in Switzerland.