This is my last Business Rocks of the year. I know that it has been another hard, energy-sapping year for many, so I hope that you get the opportunity to rest and recharge your batteries over the next two weeks.
The period between Christmas and New Year is often a time both for reflection and for goal-setting. So, if you get the chance to consider your 2022 ambitions, let me ‘repeat’ my article from 12 months ago about creating and pursuing new goals……
Whenever I think about new goals, I’m reminded of the great line from the Dilbert cartoon, “Stretch goals are like stretch pants – they’re a sign that you’ve given up hope!”
In fact, there’s probably only one thing riskier than stretch goals and that’s overly risk-averse goals. While some leaders talk about ‘moonshots’ without the faintest idea of how they’re going to achieve their ambitions, others reduce their big goals into such tiny targets that they paradoxically reduce their chances of success.
One business I worked with was planning to enter a new market sector. The executive team had initially discussed a three-year sales goal for the niche that was equivalent to a 5% share. However, several directors were nervous about achieving the goal and so it was reduced –by nearly 80%! Unfortunately, the new goal was so small, so insignificant and so risk-averse that the initiative didn’t get the resources or attention needed to achieve even its limited sales targets. As a result, just 12 months later, the initiative was dropped.
To set a goal is to make a commitment. It is a message to yourself and others that you intend to make a difference. The truth is, though, that you will only get an organisation engaged around a goal if the level of commitment required is both meaningful and significant. And now, more than ever, we need ‘big think’ ideas and ‘big think’ goals
After all, who wants to focus their precious time and effort on helping someone climb the smallest hill, row across the narrowest lake or send a rocket to the nearest village?
Happy Christmas and all the very best to you, your family and friends, and all your ‘big think’ goals in 2022!
Off The Record: Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon and Yoko Ono
So, this is Christmas and what have you done?
Another year over, a new one just begun
And so, this is Christmas, I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
© Stuart Cross 2021. All rights reserved.