9 Critical Aspects to consider when Setting Goals in the Organization.

Goal Photo by Markus Winkler from pexels-markus-winkler-4052198

We're nearing the end of the calendar year. New Years Resolutions and new goals are going to be set.  These goals will hopefully make us happy and improve the quality of our life - conditions apply.

I have just finished reading the book 'Flow' by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, which is about how to achieve happiness (Is Happiness on your Goalsheet?). One of the essential requirements is to set goals for yourself that test and stretch your skills, strengths and talents (psst... not your weaknesses).  I am not benefiting from the book sales in any way, but please do read it, as it will give you really good insights.

You have to set goals to get ahead in life.  This is true enough, but really no one tells you how to do this.

Then you are also told to find your passion or purpose. Again, no one can really say exactly how this is to be done.

Sometimes, goals get confused with purpose.  Here's a superbly lucid distinction I found by Prof. David Clutterbuck, who said

"The difference between Purpose and Goals is as follows: 

    Purpose  = envisaging the world we want to live in and our role in bringing it about.
    Goals      = the actions and decisions that will help to create that world."

So effectively, there are three challenges about setting goals:

1. How to define and set goals.
2. How to ensure that your goals serve (align with) your purpose.
3. How to ensure that working on your goals will give you satisfaction and joy.

This is a bigger problem if you happen to be a manager or leader and have to set goals for others.  When it comes to setting goals for others, especially in the corporate world, goals are handed down because you hold a particular position that is based on your  job description.  There is little, if any, discussion about the 'how' of the goal.

Here are my thoughts about setting goals (whether setting them for yourself or your team / organization):

	Question	Why this matters?
1)	What is the "why" for the goal to exist?	You are committing scarce and expensive resources to an activity that is expected to bring some benefit to the organization.
2)	How exactly is the goal being defined?	Will the goal be understood in the same clarity and context as when it was set?
3)	How is the goal being measured?  How will we all know when or if the goal is achieved?  Where and what do we have to look at in order to know this?	These are critical for course correction during our journey to the goal, otherwise there is a strong chance that we will miss our goal. We don't really want to be like Christopher Columbus.
4)	What are the various steps required to accomplish the goal?  How much control does the employee have on these steps?	Goals are comprised of complex tasks and sub-tasks.  To execute each task successfully and within deadlines means supporting the employee a great deal, especially in the areas where they don’t have control on outcomes.   An awareness of this helps us understand whether the goal being assigned is realistic (particularly under stringent timelines) or not.
5)	Are these steps / sub-tasks of the goals aligned with the employee's strengths?	Let’s take an example – if an employee is assigned a customer interfacing role, but has great skills in analytics and doesn't enjoy people interactions very much, that employee is doomed to both failure and frustration on the job.  Because of this, the manager will also fail in achieving his goals, along with a host of other complications, not to mention possible loss of customers.   When the tasks are aligned to the employee’s strengths, there is research showing that there will be superlative performance and the employee will be more engaged at work.
6)	How much impact / influence is expected from external factors (current and future), including business & political environment, on the accomplishment of these goals?	This is about awareness of market sensitivities and their possible impact on your customers (current and potential) or suppliers / vendors or both. If we can anticipate these correctly, how flexible are we / can we be to take advantage and ride these waves towards meeting our goals?
7)	Does the employee have any control on        these factors?  If so, to what degree can they influence or impact these factors to get an effective outcome?	Here's another example: If the employees requires some software upgrades or some approvals which would improve their productivity, then the longer they are without it, the longer it will take them work effectively to reach their goals. When you make an employee responsible for achieving goals where they have no control on the factors affecting the goals, then you end up creating frustrated employees. These employees will either leave the organization, which is not a good situation, or will stay and turn toxic, which is terrible for the other employees.
8)	What support can the immediate manager and the leadership team provide to the employee to achieve these zero-target goals?  How will they ensure that they will provide     the support sufficiently in time?	This follows from the above question especially since it is unlikely that all employees have control on their budgets. As a leader / manager, your success is tied to your teams successes and the same applies to failures - yours and theirs.  It would be strange to get a high rating for yourself as the HOD and rate people in the team as low.  This is your best opportunity to build trust with your team.
9)	Will this support be included in the         immediate manager and leadership teams' goalsheets? What will be the criteria for measuring this goal here?	This tends to get missed out in many leaders and managers.  If asked, you can be told that it is implied and doesn't need to be explicitly stated.  Also, just stating it without saying how it will be evaluated is ineffective.  This needs to jointly brainstormed for clear articulation.  I think articulation of this will help to develop a robust organization and department, else why make that person manage a team?

As you can see, these questions can be used to analyze and review any types of goals, including zero-target goals.

You might say "aside from the time involved, I'm not fully sure how to go about doing this". Here's the thing - to really do this well, we're going to need other skills like 

• Research, 
• Analysis, 
• Teamworking,
• Articulation, 
• Influencing.  

You may also need a coach or a consultant along with some of your colleagues to help you walk this journey.

The bad news - you may not have all these skills up to the required ability within yourself.  

The good news - you may find them within your team members.  

This is how you get your weaknesses to complement your colleague's strengths.  

When you use your strengths to support someone who has a weakness where you have a strength; and they do the same for you, then you are collaborating effectively while engaging as a well-knit team.

By the way, I'm sure you realize that these skills are required on the personal front, whether you are buying a house, making weekend plans, vacation, hosting a party, and so on.  I'll be happy to assist you in setting your goals and making 2022 your year to shine. Write to me on ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com to set up a meeting or call me +91-9820155778 for an appointment.

I wish you all the best in making 2022 a productive and goal completion year.