Recently I have been involved in a visioning process and it reminded of the most common problem that occurs in organizations as they attempt to match their reality with their desires. Hours can be spent setting a vision, supporting it with a mission and checking it for validity against our values. Usually everyone will enthusiastically get involved in the process. Then comes the important task of setting some goals to make sure the vision promise is met. This stage is when the real work is set. Of course the onerous bit is agreeing the objectives or steps to the goal, the strategies to get to the objectives and the real cruncher the action plans. The action plans that everything rests on come unstuck when Fred/Jane is told; “you need to do xyz twice a day for the next six months and progress will be measured and your success assessed”. Suddenly Fred/Jane loses interest in the vision.
So sticking with the goals problem and bearing in mind what I have said, what are the main reasons we fail in our mission and what are the common mistakes we have to watch out for in the goal aspect of our plan?
Problem one: Often we do not spend enough time working on our most focusing on audacious or difficult goal. Why – easy more comfortable goals can seem more attractive as we get some form of payback in a much shorter timeframe with much less effort.
Problem two: No form of the “SMART” principle is used. SMART stands for “Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Time-bound” If this formulae is not applied to both the activities supporting the attainment of the goal and the goal itself the plan will be nothing more than some wishful thinking or useless navel gazing.
Problem three: Not correctly defining our compelling reasons the goal and not gaining agreement of the implementers of the action plan that the goal is worthwhile for all stakeholders. The goal must clearly be understood and valued in terms of the accepted vision and mission. It is critical that the goal setter clearly defines the benefits so it inspires those take the actions to stay committed to their tasks. Of course not clearly defining the downside and consequence of not achieving the coal can be part of the problem. We must explain both sides of the coin.
Please come back for part two of “Goal Setting is Just the Start of the Real Work”
8 comments
Recent Career and Resume Tweets by Ric « orglearn career & resume resources says:
October 12, 2011 at 11:17 pm (UTC 0)
[...] 67rictownsend rictownsend Goal Setting is Just The Start of the Real Work >> orglearn.orgbit.ly/ntSP9l …and unfortunately sometimes the end of it. 67rictownsend rictownsend “Power [...]
John Thomson says:
October 18, 2011 at 12:18 am (UTC 0)
These are great points, Ric. My pet peave in goal setting is when organizations fail to solicit input from all the people who are stakeholders in the goal before sharing the “final” plan. There’s nothing more frustrating than a flawed plan that people won’t consider amending because it’s already been released as final.
Vincent Palmer says:
October 18, 2011 at 9:42 am (UTC 0)
Agreed … It’s true if the team is starting with unrealistic visions, as you said, it can also be be the beginning of the end.
I Also agree with John Thompson about plans not taking feedback into consideration…
Andreas Wiedow says:
December 23, 2011 at 12:24 pm (UTC 0)
What’s your suggestions to ‘solve’ Problem #1 for . . . easy optioners ?
rictownsend says:
December 23, 2011 at 2:25 pm (UTC 0)
Break the goal into milestones and just get started towards the first milestone…
Bob Warren says:
December 23, 2011 at 12:56 pm (UTC 0)
Have a Super Friday and a Fantastic Happy Holiday Weekend
Kevin says:
December 23, 2011 at 1:07 pm (UTC 0)
awesome
Liz says:
December 23, 2011 at 6:05 pm (UTC 0)
Happy holidays to you! ; )