Culture
By the time you read this, we are already at least a month into 2017. And by the time you read this, my assumption is that you have already fallen short of your resolutions. We do this to ourselves often. Not just in our personal lives, but in business as well. We create expectations and, in doing so, we create the recipe for shame.
I would propose to you that this is a function of the tools themselves. In theory, what we hope to achieve with goals is some form of calibration. We want something tangible toward which we can aspire. However, when this theory meets reality, humans make a mess. If I were one who was prone to conspiracies, I may even posit that shame is a design of the tool and not a flaw. Because there is nothing human about setting external, mechanical measures of your organization. Among the reasons why goals are a waste of time:
- You set goals because you think you are supposed to. By their nature, goals are an area ripe for passive-aggressive creative nonfiction. We set goals because we were told to. So, under compulsion, their existence is arbitrary at best.
- If they have any aspiration, your goals are not achievable. This leads to a doom loop or hypocritical behaviors like erasing 2016 at the top of the document and making it read 2017. This is deflating to you and your team.
- You don’t actually manage external outcomes. You can work hard to manipulate the circumstances that surround your business in an effort to achieve a goal, but you have no control of the future or the market or how your employees feel about you. Those items that are usually the fodder for goals are outside of your true influence.
- We jump to goals when there is a lack of vision. As of late, there is a love affair in the business world with strategic planning — an art form that is valuable. However, planning and goal setting is only meaningful in the context of a compelling vision. Otherwise, this practice would be making mortar without sand.
Dilbert creator Scott Adams is perhaps the most strident in his assessment of goals. In his book, “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big,” Adams claims “goals are for losers.” Instead of focusing on goals, Adams implores readers to instead create systems that improve your chances at success. This posture is compelling because it focuses less on the external and more so on what behaviors will change you, your team and thus the world around you.
Get out of the shame loop and create a daily list of wins you and your team can celebrate.
As an example, growth of revenue is a common goal. What you did not account for, however, was the statically unlikely market dip for your largest customer or for illness striking your business development leader. These are elements outside your management. And, honestly, so is revenue.
With the same desire, you can set in motion a set of habits — ones most likely to generate the percentage of increase in revenue you desire. These can be as simple as calling on three former clients every week or, God forbid, reading some book every month to sharpen your leadership. These are achievable, simple and can be completed regardless of circumstances. If you can find the winning habits for your business, you can create agility and a language for your team that is compelling and keeps everyone challenged. That posture leads to increases in revenue.
The list of winning habits is ubiquitous. And it is so because it is the way that humans actually learn and achieve. But a great place to start would be Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” (Note that it is not titled the “Seven Plots and Schemes of Highly Manipulative People.”)
So put those resolutions down. Get out of the shame loop and create a daily list of wins you and your team can celebrate. You will create the kind of business results beyond what you can mechanically manufacture in a planning meeting.
Check out the full article in the February issue of Small Business Monthly.