4 Q's - The Power of Goals

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Quintessential Thought

Without clear goals for teams, there are several challenges that can be experienced. They can fall into the trap of "just doing work," leading to lack of motivation. It is common for teams in this situation to work on multiple tasks simultaneously without making progress on any of them. This can result in team members becoming siloed in their knowledge, which can make the team fragile in the long run.

Goals for teams provide cohesiveness, reduce context switching, and amplify creativity of solutions. When there is clarity around the outcome, it allows more creative solutions than than an individual could come up with themselves. Goals also allow focus on the bigger picture and see how what we are doing contributes to the whole.

Quotes

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don't much care where--" said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat. "-so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation. "Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough.” - Lewis Carroll

"The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score." – Bill Copeland

"If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time." – Zig Ziglar

Quick Step

Ask several people on your team what your team’s common goal is. Did you hear similar or differing answers?

Decide on order of importance for your next period of time together as a team. Pick one thing that becomes your goal. Craft it so that is outcome oriented and flexible on implementation.

Question

Where has having unclear or non-explicit goals hurt us in the past?

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