We’ve been told winners set goals.
We’ve equated strategy with goal setting for decades. The management gurus tell us that the best set ambitious moonshots so we should too. We also need a process to cascade those goals through our business or our team won’t perform. They need these goals to connect to the strategy.
"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems."
— James Clear
Goals aren't the point.
Unfortunately, the emphasis on goals has resulted in excessive goal setting processes that devour time you don’t have. The resulting goals serve as linguistic posturing rather than useful direction. And the process creates a whole new list of things to do — on top of all the things you already had to do.
Moreover, overemphasizing goals can degrade employee performance, shift focus away from other important work, harm interpersonal relationships, corrode organizational culture, and motivate risky and even unethical behaviors.
Emphasize the design of your business instead. •
Does this mean you should never set a goal? No. You need to know where you’re going or it’s pretty hard to get there.
But goals are simply one management tool. Instead of emphasizing goals, focus on the design of your business. Your goals then become a way of managing your progress as you move forward — nothing more.
design something better
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Learn more about our approach and how we can help you make the most of your time.