Setting the Goal is Just the Start
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At some time of the year, most organizations spend time focusing on setting goals. It is a common practice that is understandable – you don’t need me to give a list of reasons why goals are valuable. And yet, for most organizations (and many individuals), the track record of achieving the goals that are set isn’t so good. There are reasons for this, too – and many of those reasons can be overcome. That’s why it is time to move beyond goal setting.
The Problem isn’t the Goal
There is plenty of advice about how to set your goals, starting with the way to state them (Googling smart goals gives you over 78,000,000 results, and searching for goal setting on Amazon gives you over 10,000 results.)? If we have good advice about how to set goals, why aren’t we better at achieving them???
There are two big causes of our failure rate in achieving goals – and neither is about the goal (or how you write the statement) itself.
The first is attaching a reason or purpose to the target.? Without a compelling reason why, the odds of overcoming the obstacles and staying focused and motivated are not in our favor.? Plenty has been written about this.? As important as that is, it isn’t the focus of this article.
The second is that we treat the effort taken to determine the target as an end itself. This is especially true with the goal setting process in organizations. Much time and effort are spent in identifying, clarifying, and finalizing the goals – to the point that it feels like a big accomplishment to have the words on paper.? All that effort can, without a clear head and informed leadership, lead us to a collective deep breath when the goals are approved.
Setting the Goal is Just the Start
Goal setting is important. But we don’t set goals as an end, but as a beginning. Ultimately, we set goals to improve our chances of reaching those destinations. When we set a goal is when we are most clear about what we want to achieve (and hopefully why we want to get there). That time is when we are in the best psychological position to plan our approach to reach that target. Too often we set a goal in a moment of inspiration, without laying out a plan to help us achieve that desired outcome.
Here is where this leaves us - we know how to set goals and we know how to build plans.? Yes, we could perhaps get better at each of these skills, but the more important insight is to do these two things together, like this:
Moving Beyond Goal Setting
Moving beyond goal setting means building the goal achievement plan as soon as the goal is set. Rather than giving you a template for building your plan, make sure your plan addresses and answers these ten questions:
Setting and planning for your goals isn’t enough – you still need to go to work.? But if you go to work with a clear goal and your answers to these questions, are you more likely to reach your desired destination?? The answer is clear.? That’s why it is time to go beyond goal setting.
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A version of this first appeared on my blog.
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Have a great week – The resources below will extend this article and support you in getting Remarkable Results.
You are Remarkable!
Kevin ??
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2 年Kevin Eikenberry thanks for writing about this topic with so much insight! I believe the action steps you outline are so important. Particularly preparing to overcome barriers is an important one. From behavior science we also know that making these implementation plans also helps you to reflect back on the goal to see if it is feasible and the process of being more specific makes the goal more realistic. So often people are overly confident about the ease of setting goals and assume willpower is the only component needed - No thanks to slogans like Nike's Just Do it. Some additional steps I recommend are creating specific times for working on the goal, monitoring progress visibly so that the tracking itself reminds you to do the goal, finding ways to anchor or prompt the behavior as we tend to simply forget to practice new behaviors, and also celebrating small steps. I have some guides here https://www.drjacquelinekerr.com/behavior-change-guides And I look forward to your interview with Alex Budak. I loved his book.
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2 年Good article, Kevin. Two of your points; ?What will success look like, and visualize the result, are the keys to personal goal setting. And, if the leader really wants to see success from the team. People will put the most effort into what will benefit THEM. Just the way it is. If they can see themself in the new home, new car, paying off the mortgage, etc. the goal is halfway accomplished.