Mistaking goals for strategy occurs when a leader throws out a big stretch goal and attempts to motivate and inspire his troops into making it happen with no real plan or strategic advantage to accomplish the goal. Motivation and inspiration are keys in any organization, but setting stretch goals without creating a tactical plan for reaching those goals is bound for quick, if not immediate, failure. To put this in a sports analogy, the underdog can win. But, the underdog must have a much better strategy to defeat a better, stronger opponent. They must find a way to capitalize on their strengths and work around their limitations. Without a great strategy, the underdog will likely perform just the way they are expected to - and lose the game.

Leaders often quote Jack Welch or sports analogies when they are forcing stretch goals with no plan. True, Jack Welch asked his teams to "reach for what appears to be the impossible" but he also said "if you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete." 

Setting unreachable goals is one of the worst things you can do to your team. It kills motivation and kills your credibility as a leader. In the minds of your people one of two things happened: 1) You actually thought the goal was achievable and the results show that you clearly know nothing about your industry or your organization's abilities or 2) You set your team up for failure. Neither of these conclusions are a coat that you want to wear, so you must avoid this trap at all costs!

Here are four steps to avoid the trap of setting stretch goals as strategy:

1. Accountability.  Put an individual in charge of each strategic objective. If you'd prefer to put a team in charge make sure that each member of the team understands that they are personally responsible for achievement of the team's objectives. There must be consequences for failure.

2. Responsibility.  Make the people who are accountable for reaching the objective in charge of creating the plan. This will save you a ton of time and the boredom of listening to countless excuses about why the plan could have never worked in the first place.   

3. Timelines.  It is rare that an executive or manager will sign his name to a plan that he is not confident he can meet.  The manager will state that he cannot meet the objective or that he needs additional resources.  Be sure that the plan has short term milestones to force any problems out early. 

4. Follow Up. We as leaders are notorious for our short attention spans. You must prove to your team that this plan was not a fleeting fancy, but a strategy that you intend to see executed. To do this you must check in on your team regularly. Use the short term milestones we set in step 3 to check in on the team, see what progress they made and what you can do to make them more successful.

 

About Curt Fowler

Curt Fowler is the President and Founder of Fowler & Company, a business advisory firm founded to help its clients maximize the value of their organizations. Curt is a Certified Public Accountant and earned his Masters in Accountancy from the University of Georgia. He also earned an MBA in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School at Northwestern. He has spent 20 years studying and learning from some of the best businesses in America including Verizon, Sara Lee, Cox Communications and many more.