I strongly believe and advocate that in order to achieve our goals, both in personal and professional life, we need to learn how to set goals. I know that what I am saying may seem simple, but many people think that setting a goal is just writing down what they want to achieve on a piece of paper and that's it, it's done, but they don't realize that it is a more complex process.
For example, in the workplace, when we set a goal for the team to be achieved by a certain deadline, we need to identify and map out the paths we will use to accomplish it. And for that, we need to know the level of difficulty and whether we – alongside the team – have the necessary tools to put the theory into practice.
However, for me, the problem is precisely when we reach the goals too easily or too quickly. You must be wondering: isn't this something positive? Not always. In some cases, it can demonstrate the employees' commitment to achieving the expected result, but in others, reaching the goal with such agility may mean that it was a lazy target given the team's potential.
A goal I consider lazy is one that we are almost 90% sure we will achieve, regardless of the path or tools, but we insist on setting it so we can check it off at the end of the year and say it was accomplished. This behavior should no longer be adopted by companies, as it gives the false impression of a challenge being met, when in fact, there was no challenge at all.
The importance of having clear and ambitious goals is not a new topic. From 1979 to 1989, Harvard University asked its graduates: Have you set clear and written goals for your future? Have you set the plans to make them happen? Only 3% of graduates had clear, written goals with action plans; 13% had goals but did not have them in writing and also did not have action plans to achieve them. The other 84% had no specific goal, except to finish the school year and enjoy the summer.
Ten years later, in 1989, the researchers interviewed the same people again. They found that the 3% who had clearly defined goals and plans in writing earned, on average, ten times more than the other 97% combined! In other words, this only shows the importance of what I am saying, and that ambitious goals can indeed make a difference in the results we expect to achieve.
This is a concept embedded in a management approach that adopts OKRs – Objectives and Key Results – because it helps you avoid lazy goals and set more ambitious targets. Of course, I am not saying to put things that are impossible to accomplish, but from the moment we raise the level, we start to explore different skills.
OKRs will be very helpful in this process, as working with shorter cycles, usually three months, makes it possible to identify potential errors that may arise in the strategy execution plan. In this way, it is feasible to recalculate the route, always remembering to work towards results, with focus and clarity to meet the goal within the previously established timeframe.
As Steven Kotler says, some goals are impossible, but others are impossible until someone achieves them. Focus on these!
Are your goals ambitious or lazy?
