While stretch Goals can be
useful in forcing people to break old rules, and do things better, they’re
worse than useless if they’re totally unrealistic, or if the people who haven’t
met them aren’t given the chance to debate them beforehand and take ownership
with them
-
From the book Execution by Ram Charan and Larry Bossidy
I’m currently reading this book 'Execution' and came across this
line. I was reminded of a time during
my corporate stint when the management decided to set targets for the next year
at a number that was 3X of the previous year without any discussion or debate
with the teams concerned. The various heads didn't receive any inkling on how the target was arrived at, or the basis for it. While they continued to drive their teams towards this aspirationally stretched
target, one could see that actual energy was missing – because they didn’t own
the targets. A key reason for this was that the targets were considered unrealistic, and
not in sync with market conditions.
Why am I writing about this now? The world is in a state of chaos thanks to COVID 19, and with social distancing norms, lockdowns and travel bans world wide, many businesses don't know if they will survive this. Without this crisis, there’s a tendency among some managements to
grudge the permission of leave among their employees, irrespective of the
reason for the leave. With the current
lockdown in India and other parts of the world, business is pretty much at a
standstill. In India, the government has asked organizations not to lay off employees,
and pay their dues. Employers will
naturally be considering how to make up their lost business when things return to
normal. They will feel that they have to
push their employees extra hard since there’s a lot of catching up to do. And the first thing they will do is increase
the targets above the norm in an effort to make up for lost time. It could be a stretched goal or an aspirational goal. Such targets are
usually handed down, with a minimum of discussion. The discussion on “how
to reach the goal” is not open or encouraged, since "there's no time because there's so much to do". This is one example of how it looked in a Dilbert cartoon strip (Thanks to Scott Adams for his kind permission).
In a world economy which is
already slowing down since the past 6 months, such a strategy that doesn’t take this
into account when setting these new goals, is going to get limited results or find
the strategy backfiring. A limited result would be
akin to wanting to win a hundred meter race that is being held at a height of
15000 ft above sea level. It is extremely tiring and draining and things will
only get worse from there, if persisted.
A strategy that backfires would mean that -
- The unrealistic aspirational target can demoralize the employee morale
since they may get a feeling that the organization doesn’t care for them or
their work-life balance
- The demoralization is further accentuated when the “how”
of a stretched / aspirational goal is not articulated sufficiently.
- The stretch /aspirational goals may encourage employees to "do what it takes to get it done", and may indirectly encourage unethical behaviours (small and large). This will negatively impact the quality of the output, and the culture of the organization.
- Employees at all levels (who are also quite smart) will quickly
recognize that the target is quite unrealistic (they do know what stretch
targets really are), and would do their work at a little above lip service to
save their jobs. In other words, they will be quite disengaged, which doesn't serve the organization well.
- Excess stress will hit those who are working
wholeheartedly on the target, leading to burnout and perhaps more unplanned leave, if
not resignations due to high work pressure or layoffs for not meeting the targets.
- The organization’s systems and processes will be heavily strained, causing errors, a dip in quality out and service, possible breakdowns and further delay in meeting the targets.
What’s to be done? I’m not advocating low targets – every business
owner / organization knows their own industry well enough to do this task. I also encourage stretch targets because they can help you to grow, and it can be very enjoyable and satisfying if the tasks are aligned to the strengths of the employees.
Here are some guidelines which could be useful:
- Be realistic when setting the goal. Start with “Why” – as Simon Sinek advised.
- In today’s times especially, one person will NOT have all the answers. So do engage a neutral, external Facilitator to enable your HODs and their immediate reports to have meaningful discussions on ‘HOW’ the targets will be realized, and pool their knowledge and resources to make it happen. You may even decide to invite your vendors for a part of this meeting, especially when discussing support for the execution of the goals. Use this opportunity to include review dates, specific milestones and so on.
- Encourage and support interdependent behavior – which is about knowing their strengths and balancing their weaknesses with the strengths of other employees, as this will enhance their performance. This becomes easier if your team has undergone their individual Clifton #Strengthsfinder assessment and have this clarity.
- Ensure that there is clarity on what support (lead generation, training, manpower and other resources) will be provided by the organization and what will not be provided.
- Ensure that performance reviews are human, practical and based in compassion (not to condone negative behaviour) across the organization.
- Ensure that performance reviews are solution-oriented and focused on business outcomes, instead of blame games.
- Don't go overboard with designing an elaborate rewards mechanism, and do ensure that people are rewarded for consistent results born of collaboration and innovation. One person can't know it all OR do it all.
As you can see, this is going to take time, which you may feel that is not worth the investment. I would submit that it would be more costly (financially and otherwise) not to take this approach. I would also like to point out that this approach will positively impact the employee engagement within your organization, because they will feel feel trusted, and involved in the future of the organization, rather than turning up to office for a paycheck..
Want to know more? I'd be happy to have a call on +919820155778 to discuss more with you. Or you can leave me a note at ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com
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