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.

How Do I Develop My Strengths

This article was first published on my LinkedIn Profile on 28 Nov 2017. I'm publishing it here with a few additions.

Being a Strengths Strategy Coach who uses the Clifton #Strengthsfinder, I often get the above question. There are other variations such as, "Which of these 34 strengths must I have so that my company recognizes that I'm a manager and promotes me?" or "My strength of Communication is ranked at No. 18, but People say I am a good communicator - what's going on?" or "I don't have the Strategic talent in my top 20 rankings of my strengths - can I be a leader"?

The Strengthsfinder assessment provides 2 reports, one is a ranking of your Top 5 Strengths, the other is a ranking of all 34 Strengths. These 34 #strengths exist (born) in each of us; the catch is that it exists in various degrees. Hence the ranking is important to understand why some strengths are easy to use and some difficult. It's not really about which strength to develop, but more fruitful to focus on the ones ranked 1 to 15. Why is it like this?

Imagine a long cylinder open only at the top, containing your strengths which are in the order of your Strengthsfinder assessment Ranking starting from No 1 (at the top) to No. 34 (at the bottom). Because of the opening at the top, it is easier to access the strengths around the top of the cylinder. Chances of success are high. Accessing Strengths which are lower and progressively closer to the bottom is difficult. It will prove time-consuming, frustrating, because you will not get the results you require.

Now, what if you think of each strength as similar to a tool? Just as a multi-blade (or Swiss) knife has many tools which can have more than one use, our strengths, too, can be used in ways that will manifest as different behaviours, especially when combined with other strengths. That's correct - a strength alone or a combination of 2 or 3 strengths for different things (within limits). Let's look at Ideation, which is about being fascinated by ideas, and connecting disparate phenomena, thus generating ideas. These ideas can show up in art, music, food, or even planning. If Ideation was to be combined Futuristic (being inspired by the future i.e. possibilities) and Communication (ability to put thought into words), the person may be able to easily articulate futuristic ideas very vividly - if these strengths are ranked within the top 15. There could be other ways in how these strengths will show up, so that's why we Strengths Coaches spend time to understand our client in detail.

You may be aware that the 34 strengths are distributed among one of the four #domains, Strategic Thinking, Executing, Relationship Building and Influencing.

Strategic Thinking strengths are about planning, analyzing and making decisions. Executing Strengths help to turn ideas into reality. Relationship Building strengths help forge relationships. Influencing strengths help to sell your ideas.

Considering the above brief explanations of the domains, we know that we would love to be proficient in all four domains, in both personal and professional life. However since we are born with talents in different measures, it would be futile to try to develop each of the strengths. Here's the thing - Strengths are dormant talents which we practice (some naturally, some deliberately, and ignore others). They each need to be worked on (deliberately practiced) in order to become strengths. In deliberate practice, you need to be completely focused in learning the skill, removing all distractions as much as possible (put away your phone).

Anyone who has spent time in deep concentration on a particular task or activity knows that focusing so intensely takes tremendous energy. This level of practice will be effective for you, if carried out for 60 - 90 minutes continuously, maybe a little more. Beyond this time, your practice will start developing errors. You will know this because your mind and muscles will announce this to you. So it's not the hours you put in, but what you do as you are practicing, and how you rejuvenate after practice sessions. As you can see, it would be quite time consuming to try to develop all 34, and more effective to focus on the top 15.

So, to develop your strengths, you should start by :-

• Taking the Strengthsfinder assessment and going through the report
• Identifying tasks that you're good at
• Identifying which of your strengths positively enhance these tasks,
• Being aware of your weaknesses, so that you ensure that they don't get in your way.
• Then practice using those strengths (just like athletes practice - and the professional ones use a coach)

Let me share a personal example - My top 5 Strengths are Individualization, Learner, Ideation, Relator and Self Assurance. I use my Individualization and Relator to build relationships with new and existing clients, Learner and Ideation to help me research and design training and coaching interventions. Further down the top 15 strengths, I have Intellection, Strategic, Input, Analytical, Arranger strengths which supplement my chosen career as a Strengths Strategy Coach and Trainer. Using my strengths in this way, ensures I am always excited and happy about what I do - whether in my work or in daily life. You can see my article "Strengths Based Career Conversations" on this aspect.

Some Strength Descriptors (You can download all 34 here from the Gallup Strengthscentre):

Intellection - People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.

Maximizer - People who are especially talented in the Maximizer theme focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb.

Arranger - People who are especially talented in the Arranger theme can organize, but they also have a flexibility that complements this ability. They like to figure out how all of the pieces and resources can be arranged for maximum productivity.

Individualization - People who are especially talented in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.

You will definitely require the help of a Strengths Strategy Coach to help you identify your strengths through your behaviours, and then plan to consciously use the strengths in your life (Possibility Thinking). This is not easy as it sounds because you are now starting to break years of habit which have made you work on your weaknesses and ignore your strengths (Deficit Thinking). But the important thing is that you step out of your comfort zone to decode, and then practice on improving your Strengths. Reach me at +919820155778 or ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com if you have questions or to schedule a discussion.

A truth about organization culture

 This is an #OrganizationCulture fact that I learnt quite early in my career.

Researching your potential reporting manager before interviewing or joining would be most insightful.

#strengthsdecoder #training #learninganddevelopment #strengthscoaching

Article - From a career path to a Career Portfolio

 This is an amazing article that tells you to build a career portfolio, not a career path.

From the article - "A career portfolio is different in that it is not a physical entity or system. It’s a new way to think about, talk about, and — most importantly – craft your professional future in order to navigate our ever-changing world of work with purpose, clarity, and flexibility."

I strongly agree with it because of the huge experiences and learning this would provide.  I also know that not everyone will opt for this, because it involves being curious and taking risks.

Read the article here

Diwali Greetings 2021

 

Facweek feedback - Difficult Conversations

 As I mentioned in my earlier post that I had done Four sessions during #facweek.

Here's the feedback from the second topic I covered for two corporate organizations in two sessions of 90 minutes duration.

Feedback from Belden Technologies

Feedback from DXC Technologies

Article - What makes a Good leader? (my hint: Strengths-based and Situational Leadership)

Here's an excellent read on what can help a leader excel as a #leader. The article talks of the leader being able to leverage both his #strengths and his team's strengths, which in turn leads to better results. Read on... here

Feel glad that I am a #strengthscoach and a #situationalleadership certified trainer.