Send to Kindle

Setting goals is important. If you don’t know what you want, you won’t know when you get there. There are other cliches to describe goals and goal setting, but what we need is something actionable. Keep the following in mind as you set goals:

• I am still ambivalent on whether goals are invented or discovered. My bias is “discovered” but you also have to adjust to circumstances, so do both and converge towards a set of goals that are meaningful for you.
• Goals evolve from your sense of purpose (vision and mission) and is a deep reflection of who you are (values). Hence my bias towards “discovery” of goals. If these elements are missing, make sure they are in place so you have an “anchor” to validate and explain your goals.
• Goals will give you (need to give you) a competitive advantage, hence you need an idea of your competitive advantage and position in the marketplace. Industry benchmarks are useful to know how others are looking at “performance” in your industry. This is the “invention” part of the goals.
• Goals may not have anything to do with your current capabilities. Hence the need for a big, hairy, audacious goal. In fact, the more audacious, the better.
• Goals will help you build capabilities. I should say, build “targeted” capabilities. This will focus and prioritize your scarce resources on what’s important.
• Goals will help you take better and faster decisions. No more dilly dallying!
• Goals must degenerate into targets, a more tactical and tangible measure of progress.
• Goals evolve and get refined over time. Clarity is cool, so don’t hesitate to clarify goals. It is productive as well.

Goals will energize the team and bring unity and cohesion. A sense of purpose will draw people into work and invigorate them when the going is tough. Having “meaning” in what you do is really important. Especially if you are a knowledge worker.