This is the time of year when people start thinking about their “goals” for 2022. So I thought I would republish one of my most popular posts.
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I don’t have “goals.” I don’t believe in “goals.” I don’t allow the people I work with to have goals.
Wait – what? I don’t have goals? I thought all good organizations had goals. What about that famous study that showed that graduates who wrote down their goals were more successful? Heck, Brian Tracy wrote a famous book called “Goals!”
Here is the problem with goals – the word is confusing. It can mean all sorts of things to different people at different times.
“My goal is to be a famous author”
“My goal is to finish my book this year”
“My goal is to sell 5,000 copies of my book”
Do you see the difference in each of these “goals?” One goal is obviously aspirational, one is a project and one is a measurable result.
The problem with an organization having goals is that too many times, the organization creates goals – some of which are aspirational, some are projects, and some are measurements. I eliminate this confusion by not having any goals.
I call a “goal” by what is really is – a vision, a result or an initiative.
Visions are aspirational statements – dreams of where we want to be or what we want to achieve. For example, one of our vision statements is this: “A Company We Love – foster a values-driven culture that empowers and rewards it employees.” This is one of five aspirational statements we have about my organization, along with “Drive Success” (vision for client success), “Excellence Everywhere” (vision for service delivery, efficiency and continuous improvement), “Lead Through Our Values” (vision for leadership) and “50 in 5” (vision for financial success).
Results are measurements that indicate if we are achieving our vision. For instance, in the “Company We Love” vision, we have measurements that include total compensation, involuntary attrition and employee engagement. We believe that doing well on these results is a good indicator that we are doing well in creating a Company We Love. Results are measurements that can be compared to something – a target, a benchmark or over time.
So how do we achieve these results? Through Initiatives. Initiatives are projects that change the capability of the organization. For example, in order to understand our employee engagement, an initiative to create the survey would be undertaken. Other initiatives may include implementing a new technology platform, improving the efficiency of a process or documenting how a process is performed.
So now you know why I don’t have any goals. Vision, Results, and Initiatives – not goals.