The Top 10 things you need to know about Enterprise Goal Setting!

The Top 10 things you need to know about Enterprise Goal Setting!

Category: Management, Staff Development, Projects, Delegation, Leadership (AE93)

Originally Submitted on 8/28/97.

There are many critical factors that make up great strategy and decision-making policy. These ten issues are important when deciding how to use goal-setting strategy in your enterprise.

1. LIVE BY THE GOAL--DIE BY THE GOAL!

There are many paths to the top of the mountain grasshopper. Using goals is but a step along one of those paths!

2. ENTER THE PARADOX OF GOAL SETTING...

Goals have a place in our lives and in our organizations, BUT as grandma says, "too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing." So enter into the paradox of goals. WE MUST UNDERSTAND the differences between open and closed systems. In closed systems, where outcomes are clearly defined, setting goals can be a productive thing. In open systems, where cause and effect are "dislocated" and unrecognizable we have to be careful with outcome goals v. performance goals.

3. OUTCOME GOALS v. PERFORMANCE GOALS

The difference is critical. Many managers and leaders use the two interchangeably and therefore TAKE the huge RISK of creating circumstances where "conditions BEYOND the control of the goalee (non-hockey player) enter the picture and destroy the link between effort and outcome/performance. This is what DEMING railed about throughout his career. These variables created conditions where responsibility for process performance no longer was in the hands of the person for whom the goal was set! THEREFORE, set performance goals rather outcome goals in open systems and if you don't know what you're dealing with, stay away from outcome goals because they preclude the field of infinite possibility by obstructing one's view!

4. GOALS IN A FIELD OF INFINITE POSSIBILITY?

I am definitely treading on hallowed ground so permit me some levity here. I am convinced that we need not abandon goal setting in Complex Adaptive Systems, YET we need to be really artful in our understanding that everything is connected. If we run around deconstructing reality into little bits and pieces, making goals here and goals there without the CLEAR understanding that everything is connected, then we endanger the goal-setting process, the enterprise and sustainability! (BTW, humans are complex adaptive systems)

5. GOALS & COMPLEXITY

In the study of complexity, it is becoming more evident that more and more levels of stratified complexity are occurring (and have been occurring) over time. Each level of complexity therefore requires somewhat different leadership. Remember complex adaptive systems are made up of complex adaptive systems and are made up of complex adaptive systems. With each level of stratification, we need to understand that goals may have to change or they solve one problem and create a dozen more. This is a major dysfunction of unbridled goal setting. Maslow said, "he who works with a hammer thinks everything is a nail." This is clearly warning that on some levels a traditional goal-setting strategy will suboptimize the system. Is we block out all emergent conditions because we are "narrow-focused" on a particular goal, we are less than optimal in our outcomes...all the way to disasterous!

6. GOALS & Autopoiesis

AUTO - PO - WHAT?! Autopoiesis is a term which is becoming more in vogue for the erudite. What it means simply is "self-referrent." Autopoietic systems know through "past knowledge." They refer to themselves for interpretations. Reality for the system becomes socially constructed. Humans can be autopoetic and self-referrent. When we start flashing goals about, which is in fact, information, autopoietic systems take that information and refer to their stores of knowledge and either accept, deconstruct/interpret or reject this information. Take a "single cell." That cell is open to energy, but closed to information and control. Otherwise, it wouldn't retain its identity, that of a cell. I think humans are very much the same way--open to energy, but often closed to information and control. Goals set out mechanisms for control, therefore when they fail to match the self-referrent systems values, they are rejected or deconstructed/interpreted and very little deep change occurs. That's why so many people seem unaffected by the enterprise goals because the goal-setters haven't take the time to check for alignment so goal-setting strategy fails and gets a bad rap to boot!

7. Goal-setting strategy & The QUANTUM LEAP GOAL

Quantum leap goals are paradoxical. If the entity using the QLG doesn't think it is possible then it is a self-defeating cause. However, in the presence of likelihood it can create the stretch required to reach into highly rewarding states. Often goal-setting gets a bad rap because, "those hammer people" think everybody can do it! While the likelihood exisits, the probability of failure is often too great and the whole goal system goes in the trash.

8. Goal-Setting and INERTIA

This is major problem as I see it. We take on a few goals and we build inertia and think that goal-setting is the answer to everything--remember Maslow! The ART of GOAL-SETTING is knowing when and knowing when NOT to use goals as a primary strategy. Sometimes, you just need to let it happen and while that certainly is a goal-setting strategy, too few people really know when to say when.

9. GOALS AND HIERARCHY

The real problem is goal hierarchy. Here's a quote from one of my favorite editors, R. Dante Vilardi, Managing Editor, www. Innovation line.com, " According to a Cambridge Information Network survey of more than 100 ITexecutives, innovation and strategic development activities are often pushed aside in favor of more immediate administrative concerns such as human resources, operations and user support. 54 percent of the executives surveyed cite strategic development and business innovation as the number one area they wish they could devote more time to. A close second is finding time to interact with customers and business partners. Not surprisingly, executives instead find themselves muddled in "time burners" such as administration, operations, project management and daily business support." (contact: Sarah DeMore, Cambridge Information Network at emor@ctp.com ) YOU SEE, people are unclear on why they are doing what they are doing and they are trading URGENCY for IMPORTANCE. Understanding the hierarchy of importance for goal-setting is critical at this stage.

10. LIVING WITHOUT GOALS!

Anybody who tells you that you can live without goals is probably pretty wise. However, in our modern day world, we will suboptimize much of what we do in organizations if we fail to focus. So again we see the paradox of goals. The deployment of goal-setting strategy is key. You don't brush your teeth all day long do you? No, because we have found that brushing after meals and before bed time is effective in reducing cavity production. In the same vein, we need to clearly understand that goal-setting strategy IS A PART of our strategy and NOT ALL OF IT. Besides, accomplishing goals leads to flow and flow is nice, says Mihail.

About the Submitter

This piece was originally submitted by Mike R. Jay, Happeneur, Executive Coach, writer and consultant, who can be reached at topten@leadwise.com, or visited on the web. The original source is: lots of failure and my need to figure out the world Oh, and it will debut as a DMBA Strategy at some point.

This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright, contact, and creation information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit context. For other uses, permission in writing from CoachVille is required. Questions: email topten@coachville.com

Visitors:

Please use your browser controls to close this page & return to the selection page, or click to return to Top 10 home page.