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Setting goals and objectives is a very important part of our daily work life. They can be targets for sales, profit, safety, market share, staff turnover, absenteeism, stock price, etc. These objectives and goals are vital because they provide direction and prioritize behavior.
What management doesn’t really understand is how goals and objectives affect people’s behavior. There was a school of thought that suggested that every goal should have a “stretch” element because this would lead to higher performance. Unfortunately, the research showed that goals that were out of reach provided a considerable amount of demotivation and had the opposite effect of what they were designed to achieve.
Despite this research, we see the common use of aspirational goals and this is more common in the health and safety environment. We see many examples that exhort, “Zero accidents” or similar, such as “Zero damage.”
These goals are designed for people who are “at risk” in the workplace and, of course, this does not include executives on the management team. At this point there is a dilemma. The people who convey the message do not have credibility with the people in the workplace. Not only that, the message does not match your practical experience. They know that accidents and damages are the result of risk. Because it is their environment that they know so well, they know that it is impossible to eliminate all risks. Their assessment is generally that the messenger has no credibility and neither does the message.
This not only renders the aspirational message useless, it also further erodes worker confidence in management.
The answer is relatively straightforward. Engaging “at risk” people and getting them to set your goal. Make sure it can be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time. When it’s done, celebrate. Then repeat the process again. Make sure the person conveying the message is from the “at risk” group. They are likely to have much more credibility than someone on the management team. You may decide to use a union representative who has been chosen by your peer group and has a high degree of credibility.
Involving “at risk” people in setting their own goals delegates a degree of responsibility and accountability where appropriate. You also show respect and confidence in your knowledge and skills.