...or is the goal of the day after tomorrow already outdated tomorrow?
Do you know this?"Whether I am here today or not, it doesn't make a difference! I have no idea at all how we should ever achieve that, it's too far away from me!" "They came up with that at the green table again, it has nothing to do with me!"
These are statements I encounter daily in my consulting practice. Employees and managers who don't really know the goal behind an action. Employees with whom annual discussions are held that are not genuine dialogues. Often these discussions are only held because the HR department will ask in a few weeks whether the discussions have taken place. This has little to no entertainment value for either the manager or the employee. On the contrary, a conversation is conducted according to a predetermined scheme, and if a specific bonus is tied to achieving a goal, then the bargaining begins, like at a Turkish bazaar. There is little to no room for real development, new ideas, the quality of collaboration, or discussing mistakes (from which one can learn). And if the goals have changed during the year, but the employee discussion only takes place once a year without any adjustments made during the year, then, well, the purpose of such annual employee discussions becomes highly questionable.So, what can be done differently? Not that you misunderstand me, I am a big fan of employee communication, diverse dialogues, and genuine exchange. Exchange that motivates employees to truly engage and make the task their own. And when I talk about incentives, I am not primarily thinking about monetary incentives, but about conveying meaning, involvement, and appreciation.
Take a moment to ask yourself, when was the last time in your personal life that you went the extra mile for a goal. When were you willing to overcome resistance, take risks, and learn from mistakes? When did you truly take responsibility for achieving something? And how can you evoke these emotions in your employees, turning them into co-entrepreneurs?
We are all familiar with the SMART goal-setting method:
Goals should be specific, measurable, attractive, realistic, and timely in order to be achievable. So far, so correct, but in a world that is volatile, constantly changing, and where the goal set at the beginning of the year seems outdated by the 2nd quarter, this is no longer sufficient. Therefore, I would like to add another SMART concept for you:
S stands for "specific" as concrete as possible.
Companies like Oracle, Twitter, or LinkedIn have long been using this within the OKR method. They define their objectives company-wide and assign measurable key results to them. Successes are measured at regular intervals and new OKRs are defined.
The new additional S stands for "simple". Well-crafted visions and goals derived from them, which truly guide management behavior, provide long-term orientation. Through the vision (Who are we when we have achieved our vision?), the mission (What is the deeper meaning of our actions?), and the strategy (How do we get to where we want to go?), employees know what is expected of them and how the company aims to align itself in the long term. Managers often wish for more "entrepreneurship" from their employees, meaning more initiative, more innovative ideas, and forward-thinking. However, without an implemented vision that is not replaced with each new board, as well as management's willingness to truly align their actions visibly with the employees, this wish remains difficult for employees to implement. How can I align my actions when there is a lack of orientation and thus security?
A vision formulated as simply as possible (e.g. HSV plays in the Bundesliga again by 2020 at the latest) is then specified and broken down to the team or to each individual player. For the team, the goal could be: On average, less than 1 goal conceded per game next season. And for the individual player, depending on their position, this could mean: Improve defensive performance or increase the percentage of won duels by x percent. This simultaneously fulfills the M for "measurable". The new additional M stands for "courageous" and ambitious: The comfort zone should be left, and risk aversion avoided. At Google, a goal achievement rate of 60 to 70 percent is considered optimal. This is only possible if goal achievement, as is often the case here, is not linked to bonuses or promotions. Instead, the reasons for possible failures should be examined together, and how to deal with them in the next step. This should be formulated positively (hence the A of "attractive"), because that's how our brain works. To create a pull and mobilize our energies, our brain wants to know what it should focus on. So, it should move towards something new instead of away from something that isn't working. The new additional A stands for "agile": Management and leaders are there to organize and develop collaboration, continually create conditions that allow for addressing constant new challenges and changing requirements. This also applies to goal setting. Stay in conversation with your employees, ensure that they can set ambitious goals for themselves. Just as in the agile Scrum method, the sprint goal for the respective sprint is defined by the team itself. This is then perceived by the team and the individual employee as "realistic" (hence the R, but you probably already knew that). A killer for goal achievement are goals set from above that seem so unrealistic to employees that they immediately disengage. How often do I hear from sales teams: "The last goal was already unrealistic. We really mobilized everything and only managed to achieve it through a tremendous effort at the expense of our quality. Now another 20% increase - where is that supposed to come from?" Therefore, the new additional R stands for "reverse". Goals should not be broken down in a one-way street from the top down, but they should be negotiated. Each employee should ask themselves how they can best contribute to the company's success or overarching goals in their area of influence - and align their ideas with their supervisor. For this to succeed, transparency is necessary. This is represented by the new T (in addition to the timeliness). For example, at Google, goals are publicly visible so that every employee potentially knows at all times about the goals of their colleagues. How often in a work context does one want to present a project idea but does not receive approval from key stakeholders? When everyone knows what their colleagues are working on, what difficulties they are currently facing, and how their work contributes to the company's goals, this can greatly strengthen values such as meaning, security, and belonging. And aren't these the values that need to be strengthened to face the challenges that digitalization often makes seem so threatening?
