“We finished the year in fine form,” Yolanda announced. “We met all of our goals with some to spare”.
“Good, now what?” I asked.
“We’re going to have a party,” she smiled.
“Yes, and then what?” I pressed.
You’re never happy, are you?” Yolanda pushed back. “I know where you are going with this.”
“Arriving at your destination is the end, and it is fine to celebrate the mark. But what is your journey? What’s next? That is the call to adventure.”
“You made it halfway through the year. You should have your numbers by now. How did it go?” I asked.
Max grimaced. “You know we have done pretty well in the past, so we wanted to see if we could scale this thing up. We had a firm target, and we were firing on most cyclinders. But we only made 75 percent of goal. I can’t put my finger on one specific thing, seems like a bunch of little things.”
“Let’s start with sales,” I said.
“Sales were good, contracts in hand, but a good portion of the projects sit in backlog. We just couldn’t get the work finished so we could bill it.”
“So, let’s look at project management,” I nodded.
“That’s where some of the problems began. There were mistakes in the handoff meeting between estimating and project management. We didn’t discover the mistakes until we were in the field. We were short some materials. Man hours were estimated too tight, so we had crews that got stuck on one job, when they were supposed to start another job. Once the schedule started piling up, we got further behind. Then a permit didn’t come through. None of this is dramatic, but it all adds up, and so here we are.”
“One of the biggest problems in a company trying to scale is handoffs,” I nodded. “You can have one or two core systems that do great, but you have to get ALL your systems in sync. Work moves sideways through the organization. First place to inspect is the handoffs, where work moves from one function to the next.”
Question:
You said the first step in planning is NOT goal setting. But when we plan, we sit around the table and set goals. What did we miss?
Response:
The biggest problem in planning is the “shoot from the hip” goal setting exercise. Setting goals are important, and there are two critical steps that come first.
In my younger days, my alarm would go off at 3:30a. In a groggy stupor, I would sit up and reach for the clock. Something kept me from sailing it across the room. Something kept me moving, out of bed, lacing my shoes for a 15 mile run to the beach and back. It was NOT the goal of running 15 miles. In fact, the thought of running 15 miles at 3:30a was about as negative as I could think.
I was training for a marathon. And the one thing that moved me forward was NOT the goal of 15 miles for the day, not even the goal of completing the marathon. The only thing that moved me forward was the vision of me, crossing the finish line.
The first step in the planning process is to create a clear and compelling vision. It is the only tool, for the manager, to paint a picture of the future, to create enthusiasm and excitement in the team to go forward.
Yes, I was quite dapper, hair in the wind, tape across my chest, crowd cheering me on, slim in my running togs. Shoes laced, out the door, training for a marathon. The first step in planning is to create a clear and compelling vision.
From the Ask Tom mailbag –
Question:
It seems that long term goals are hard to articulate. In setting long term goals, would you agree that they are by nature more ambiguous? Should we worry less about being precise?
Response:
A long term goal, by its nature?
Five years ago, our one year goal was a five year goal. What has changed in the four years between?
The goal has taken shape, become clearer, better defined, more concrete. It has also taken turns and twists, met with contingency and unexpected, yes unintended consequences. It is now more certain, less left to chance. Murphy has less time to play.
It is the Time Span of Intention, the most important judgment for a Manager, to determine those things necessary in the future.
Ambiguous?
Precise?
Krista had a sheepish look on her face when I asked to see her list of goals for the next three months.
“I don’t really have a list,” she said. “I mean, I know what I am supposed to do. I keep it in my head.”
“Then how do you organize your list, if you don’t have it written down? How do you share your goals with other people? How do you change and update them? Most importantly, how do you make decisions about goals?”
“Well, when I started this job, my manager explained things to me. I had a job description and I signed off on it. Is that what you mean?”
“How long ago was that?” I asked.
“About two and half years ago,” she replied.
“Your customers have changed, your market has changed, technology has changed, regulations in your industry have changed, your team has changed. Do mean that your goals have NOT changed in two and half years?”
“My mother taught me that if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself,” proclaimed Judith, repeating the sage advice she learned in her youth.
“Interesting,” I replied. “Why do you think your mother said that?”
“Well, people just never do things the way we expect them to be done.”
“And, why is that?” I wanted to know. “Why do you think they might miss the quality standard?”
“I don’t know,” Judith replied. “I tell ’em what to do, they just fall short.”
“Did you explain what the project should look like when it’s done?” I pressed.
Judith paused. “I just told them to get it done.”
“So you told them what to do, but not how well or by when?”
“Shoudn’t they be able to figure that out?” Judith sighed.
“I assume they did figure it out, it’s just what they figured is different than what you figured. Didn’t your mother also tell you if you don’t like what’s for dinner, you should say something sooner?”
“I thought I was very clear,” Marianne grimaced. “It was important for the team to understand and take ownership. This is a very important team goal.”
“Describe what you see?” I asked.
“Their words are supportive, but their actions are passive. There is no skip in their step, no sense of urgency, no critical eye for detail. It’s as if they are just going through the daily motions.”
“You described the project, what you are trying to accomplish. Whose goal is it?” I wanted to know.
“Well, it’s a team goal,” Marianne explained, sounding like I should have figured that out on my own. “I need the team to work together, support each other, cooperate. That’s why it’s a team goal.”
“Have you ever heard that if it’s everyone’s accountability, it’s no one’s accountability?”
That was a stumper to Marianne. A slow burn in her brain. “So, I have to single one of them out?”
“If it’s not the team’s goal, whose goal is it?” I repeated.
Marianne did not like the realization. “If it’s not the team’s goal, it must be my goal,” she flatly stated.
“And, if that’s the case, what changes?”
“You have a team meeting,” I describe. “Someone has to talk and it’s not you, because no one listens to you. So, who talks?”
“My team?” Gordon answered slowly.
“Yes,” I nodded. “You describe the essence of the vision and the performance Standards. The team sets out the action plan.”
“But my team may not know what steps to take and besides, it will take too long to get them all to agree,” Gordon protested.
I nodded and smiled. “I didn’t say that your team would get there quickly. Sometimes you have to go slow now, so you can go fast later. You need your team, involved, engaged, thinking, solving problems and making decisions. You are not going to get there by telling them what to do.”
Gordon was skeptical, “But, what if I am not getting what I want?”
“If you are not getting what you want, then you are asking the wrong questions.”
“First of all, who’s goal is it?” I asked. Gordon was perplexed. His memo to the team fell flat and he needed their cooperation to complete the project.
“Well, it’s my goal, but it’s their goal. I gave it to them,” he explained.
I sat still. Gordon finally broke the silence. “Okay, it’s my goal.”
“And your job is to get your team engaged to achieve your goal. How can you do that? I gotta tell you. I looked at the project specs and the deliverables and the milestones aren’t that exciting.”
“Well, yes, but when the project is finished, overall, it will be quite an accomplishment. That’s how I described the vision in my memo,” Gordon continued.
“And you think a memo is the best way to engage your team? This is not Mission Impossible. Your memo is not as exciting as a tape that self-destructs.” I stopped and let Gordon stew for a bit. “No one listens to you, no one reads your memos. Yet, you need them to cooperate to achieve your goal. How are you going to do that?”
From the Ask Tom mailbag –
Question:
I would like to roll out a goal-setting program for my team. Management by objectives (MBO) is a process where everyone in the company is required to set annual goals. I think it will go a long way toward results based performance.
Response:
The big failure of MBO is the focus on annual goals. If you look at the sequence below, you can see that MBO is appropriate for only a small slice of your workforce, and some of the most important goals and objectives are beyond two years.
Goals Framework and Timespan
Goals and objectives should cascade through the organization starting with the longest timespan goals first, most often from the CEO. Each successive layer should have shorter timespan goals that support the goals from the layer above. You can also see, based on timespan, that longer timespan goals are more strategic (conceptual) in nature, and that as timespan falls below 3-4 years, those goals become more tactical, below 1-2 years, exclusively tactical.
While we have a general orientation toward marking our lives in annual timeframes, goals and objectives require a more specific orientation in the timespan of each role.