Sharing goals

Ralph Waldo Emerson once described enthusiasm this way: “Every great and commanding movement is the triumph of enthusiasm. Nothing great was ever achieved without it.”

Managers need to help their people define their personal goals. They can then help them interpret the relationship between these personal goals and the organization’s goals. People who see a direct correlation between their personal goals and their contribution to the accomplishment of the organization’s goals will be enthusiastic and have a large stake in helping the organization reach its goals.

Implicit in this simple concept of interrelated goals is the relationship between trust and confidence. Trust and confidence are only developed after a period of time spent together. It requires honest sharing and accountability to each other. Warren Bennis and Bert Nanus, in their book Leaders, tell us that “trust is the emotional glue that binds followers and leaders together.”

Accountability means that it is necessary to have written standards that directly relate personal performance to the goals of the organization. By achieving these work standards or exceeding them, the individual should directly see how it would advance organizational goals. The individual also needs to know that the organization will reciprocate, with compensation or opportunity, to help him reach his personal goals. When individual performance is linked directly to organizational results, motivation is both intense and self-initiated.

“The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a foot long enough to put the other somewhat higher.” - Thomas Huxley

If both parties agree on the paradigm outlined above and the individual still does not perform, it is often simply a lack of ability or competence. Training can help develop abilities and skills. However, if training does not help, it is best to replace the individual. Keeping an individual on board who cannot perform will ruin their self-esteem and inhibit the development of other people working with them. It will also hinder the progress of the organization.

Using charts

Charts are a good way to monitor your progress toward personal or organizational goals. Good charts give you a better perspective than stacks of data since a chart is basically a picture that shows you where you have been, where you are right now and where you are going. Charts will develop an emotional involvement much faster than a stack of computer data. Yet, the precise performance measurement is often distilled from these data sheets. You need to get it out of the stack of paper and onto a relevant and current chart.

Pay particular attention to the trends that charts show. This way you can catch exceptions before they become a crisis. Ideally, every person in an organization will have a performance chart that shows if they “win” or “lose” each day, based on a measure that directly relates to the organization’s primary goals.

Thomas S. Monson said it well: “When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.”

Playing games

People will put more effort into playing a game than they will into work. There are certain characteristics about games that people like. We keep score and all the players know how to keep their own score. The rules are clearly defined. Feedback is usually immediate. Finally, you always know what has to be done to win.

An emotional dynamic takes place that excites and energizes people during games. Think of the last two minutes of a closely contested hockey game. The energy unleashed is simply electrifying! But can you imagine the atmosphere if the rules and the method of keeping score changed each period? There would be confusion, complaining, frustration and even more fights. Well-designed games and contests are a great way to build teamwork and tap into dynamic energy from your people.

I suggest that you develop charts, games and contests for all levels of your organization. Make the type and format consistent with the style of the group. And make it fun. The rewards will be higher productivity, increased profits and improved teamwork. Desire plus goals equal results. We all want to be successful and that positive desire should be channeled into specific goals.

Individuals need goals. Organizations need goals. Management needs to be sure that there is a blending of these two groups of goals. A great way to keep score in this game of achieving goals is to use charts that are updated personally by each individual player. Keep the charts simple and make it fun.

Dr. Jack Weber tells us, “The bottom line is that leadership shows up in the inspired actions of others. We traditionally have assessed leaders themselves. Maybe we should assess leadership by the degree to which the people around leaders are inspired.”