Underestimating the Importance of Powerful Goals
Consider the following scenario…
You are a school teacher and during lunch one day you discover that someone you love (son, daughter, mother, father, best friend, etc.) has just been diagnosed with a rare disease and given less than 6 months to live.
The next day you learn that you can save their life if you can figure out a way to raise $1 million in the next 90 days. Considering the fact that the most you have made in one year is $42,000 this seems like an impossible challenge.
What would you say to this impossible challenge? When faced with the prospect of loosing a loved one most of us claim that we will do what ever it takes to save their life – even if it means raising more than 20 times our annual salary in the next 3 months. So, if we are all capable of overcoming what seem to be insurmountable obstacles why is it so hard to get your employees to make minor improvements at the office? Why can’t you convince that recent college graduate that they need to treat every possible customer with a smile and a firm handshake?
Because, your employees don’t see a connection between the stuff you require at the office and the things that are important to them. You haven’t set meaningful goals that inspire your staff to improve.
So, how do you change? I recommend a simple 3-step process:
- Set meaningful goals and clearly communicate them to your employees.
- Find out what motivates each of your employees and show them a connection between hitting your company goals and their individual aspirations.
- Reinforce your goals and this connection every single day! People get easily distracted and forget what’s important – it’s your job to keep them focused. Also, don’t fall into the trap of saying you don’t have enough time to set goals. You have exactly the same amount of hours in a day as Helen Keller, Alexander Graham Bell and Martin Luther King. Quit making excuses and make it happen.
- Does your company have clear and meaningful goals?
- Do you discuss these goals outside of the annual meeting?
- What if your employees were focused and excited about these goals?
