Helping Employees Embrace Goals

Who needs goals?

Do goals even really apply to this job?

Who even cares about goals?

As we talk about goals with people, these are questions that might come up. Yeah, I know they're rhetorical, but let's try to answer them anyway.

First, what is a goal?

A goal is where you write down something that you want, and some kind of a plan for getting it.

So who needs goals?

Anybody who has something they want.

That's it. If you want something, goals are for you. Goals are the way you take things you want and start moving closer to bringing them into your life.

If people are reluctant to make goals in some part of their life, it's because:

1. They don't want anything in that part of their life. If somebody doesn't really want to make a goal at work, they probably don't really have anything more they want from work. Maybe all they're looking for is a paycheck, and since the checks keep clearing, now it's in their best interest to figure out how to do less to get that same paycheck, not more.

2. They're afraid they'll fail at the goal. It could be that somebody doesn't want to make a goal at work because they're afraid they'll fail at it. Either they won't be smart enough or strong enough or the customers will let them down, and then they'll look bad and feel like a failure, either in front of their boss or their co-workers. The consequences of that could range from embarrassment to being fired.

3. They believe they could succeed at the goal, but it would just take too much work. Sometimes people are afraid to take on new challenges, since they feel they're already working so hard before the goal even came up.

Let's look at each of these in turn:

1. They don't want anything in that part of their life.

There might be two reasons for this.

The first reason is that although the people might care passionately about some things, these things just aren't related to work. It's not that these people aren't motivated--these people are plenty motivated. They're just motivated by things besides work. They like to spend time with their family, they like to pursue their hobbies, they like to do other things.

A person like this might not care so much about how they look at work or what loss percentage their store is hitting--they're more concerned about the other priorities they have in their life.

For these people, finding motivating goals mean finding things that they can make happen at the office that will benefit the other things they're passionate about. For example, by keeping ahead of office tasks, it could free up their manager to be more flexible in scheduling to allow them more time to do the things they care about. Or getting a bigger bonus might mean more money to spend on their hobby. Or, increasing their skills so they can become more valuable to the company might mean a shot at a bigger salary increase come review time. Or, if they want to one day start their own business, helping them understand the principles of your business might help prepare them to become more capable of starting their own business.

Notice--none of these things are about what's good for the company or about what's good for the manager or about what's good for anybody except the employee. For a person to care about a goal, the goal has to be something they really and truly want, not just something we want, or something we think they should want.

The second reason for someone not wanting more out of work might be that they're just not interested in getting better in any area of their life.

Some people just don't think about the things they want. It might be because they're pessimistic and don't believe they could get it anyway. It might be because they've been taught that wanting things is greedy, and they should only think about other people. It might be that they're so stressed out by their problems that they don't even know how to start thinking about their problems, let alone thinking about solutions.

Notice what I did not say. I did not say it was because they were lazy. That's not to say that people aren't lazy. There's just usually a reason that they're lazy. Sometimes it's that they're lazy because they think someone else will always take care of them, so they don't have to try hard. But usually the reason is more personal and emotional, related to fears about what they cannot accomplish.

It's usually not that they're lazy, but just that they're looking for escape because of hard things they're going through.

People in this category might be motivated by goals that promise relief. For example, they might be motivated to take on projects that would mean less work for them later.

However, these people also need to be given hope that things can be better. That by applying a little bit of effort in the right areas, their life can get better.

Denis Whatley, a motivational speaker, says, "Losers try to escape from their fears and drudgery with activities that are tension-relieving. Winners are motivated by their desires towards activities that are goal-achieving."

For a person like this to start to be motivated by goals, they need to start focusing on what they want instead of about what they're afraid of.

2. They're afraid they'll fail at the goal.

This is a category I, personally, fall into a lot. Often, I'm afraid to make a goal not because I don't care about it, but because I care about it so much. If I try the goal, and it doesn't work, it would crush me. So I don't try, because on some level, I'd rather have the hope that I might do it some day then the crushing blow of having already failed at it.

This is often what keeps people from asking that cute person out on a date, what keeps people from starting that business they've always wanted, and what keeps people from writing that book they've always thought about writing.

Or, it might not be that the blow would be so bad for them, personally, but they're afraid of how it would look to other people. What would my boss think of me if I told him I'd hit a goal and then I didn't do it? What would my wife think of me if I didn't follow through on the goal she knew I made?

What's worse is that even when these people do try at a goal, they often go at it hesitantly. They don't really try hard, or they delegate as much as possible to other people. That way, they won't feel as bad or look as bad if it fails.

Worst of all, they actually, on some deep level, are almost glad when a customer or employee lets them down, because it gives them someone to move responsibility to, so they don't have to feel as bad or look as bad. These people will usually make mental notes about what people, things, or circumstances didn't come through, not so they can figure out ways to overcome them, but so that they can point the finger somewhere else if things aren't going right.

Literally, they stop focusing on achieving results, and start focusing entirely on their own feelings and how they look to other people.

These people need to follow the same solution as we talked about above. They need to concentrate on what they want. They need to concentrate on why they absolutely have to have it. If they can't get excited enough about the goal, then they need to pick a different goal that does motivate them like that. What is it that you want so bad, that you're willing to give it your all, even if it means you might fail? Focus on that thing. Focus on it so much that the thought of being without it becomes painful--that you can't bear the thought of not getting it.

"We change when the pain of same becomes greater than the pain of change."

We stay the same weight until the pain on our back or knees becomes to great, and then we start trying to change. We keep treating our spouse the same until they threaten to leave us, and the thought of losing them is too great and we change.

We can either wait until life or circumstances makes staying the same too painful, or we can create the motivating pain ourselves by focusing on what we truly want and how good things would be if we got it.

In other words, we will finally do the thing we're afraid to do only when we feel it is more painful not to do it than it would be to fail at it.

3. They believe they could succeed at the goal, but it would just take too much work.

Again, folks like this aren't so much lazy as they are unmotivated.

You've seen people on TV eat bugs, jump in water that might kill them, face life-long fears, even sing in front of Simon Cowell, all for the chance at money or fame or both. People will do incredible things they never thought they could do if the reward is right.

So it really isn't that the thing is too hard. It's just that the thing is too hard for what they feel they're getting out of it.

"It's not worth it to do the extra work. My manager doesn't notice. My manager only notices when I do something bad."

"It's not worth it to do the extra work. I don't get any credit for it anyway."

"It's not worth it to do the extra work. My store never bonuses anyway, so it's not like I'm going to get anything out of it."

Again, the problem here is that they've been disconnected from their true goals and desires.

It's not that they don't want to work. It's just that they don't want to work for what they feel they're getting out of it.

If you've ever had a case where either you or an employee used to feel excited about the job or really excel at the job, but then seemed to have lost the fire, this is probably the reason. There was something you or that person used to be getting out of the job, that you or that person just doesn't feel is there any more.

Most of the time, this thing is praise, recognition, and genuine appreciation for the work that they are doing, and the most common reason for this is that their work is not being seen on its own merits, but is only being compared to what they used to do. Since they're not being praised as much as they used to be, they're not working as hard, and since they're not working as hard, they're not being praised as much as they used to be.

See the cycle?

But of course, either person can break the cycle. The employee can resolve to step up and do more. Or, the manager can find ways to show appreciation to the employee again.

Which one should go first? Whichever one you are.

Summary

So for goals to work, they have to be related to desires of the people who have to accomplish them.

This means that managers should help employees make their own goals, and should know their employees well enough to know what desires their employees have, and incorporate those desires into the business's goals.

At first, figuring out goals your employees will care about can be as challenging, to a manager, as figuring out how to accomplish the goals.

However, as your employees see that you're trying so hard to make things happen that aren't just good for you, but are also good for them, they'll be more anxious to try even for goals that aren't so much about them, because they'll come to trust you, and trust that you are keeping their wants and needs in mind when you're making decisions.

In fact, the more you do this, the more your staff will feel genuinely invested in the success of the business in general.

So if you're meeting resistance, either from employees or in yourself, don't try to find the answers by trying to convince yourself or them how good goals are. Instead, do it by listening to yourself or to your employees, and figuring out what it is that you or they truly desire out of work. What they truly desire out of life.

As in so many aspects of life, the answer is in listening, not in talking.

Hope this helps.