Three leaders and I were sitting around the dinner table discussing the challenges of leading in a very large and growing company when the person to my left asked me the following question: “When we get big, i.e. cross a certain size, what do we need to pay attention to that we are not currently paying attention to?” It was one of the best questions I have been asked this year.
As I explained that evening, a growing company can become intensely focused on project management at the operational level. This will result in a lack of strategic clarity and strategic development.
Second, senior leaders in companies that grow quickly will only be told what people think we want to hear, not what we should be hearing. This in combination with less and less connection and communication with front line staff and front line supervisors is a dangerous combination.
Third, quoting Ron Heifitz, “leaders die with their mouths open.” With growth, leaders can get caught in a constant information send mode and not spend enough time listening, learning and reflecting.
Fourth, many leaders of growing companies get so busy that they do not stay in touch with their mentors, their families or their friends. The result of which is that they loose access to perspective, love and support.
Finally, many leaders of rapidly growing companies forget that goal setting is the master skill. And the goal of a growing company is to set goals that people own, understand and will execute!
From my vantage point, goal setting has become more and more problematic during the last couple of years. The first problem is that the word “goal” means so many different things to so many different people. There is rarely consensus on the meaning of this term. And when we use a word within a group that is interpreted in many different ways, the outcome is confusion and frustration.
Next, everyone talks to me about the importance of having SMART goals, i.e specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time based. However, awareness about SMART goals does not mean we actually set SMART goals. Many times our SMART goals are not very smart.
Third, for someone to be successful in creating and executing a goal, there needs to be two things in place: an understanding of why this is the goal which is not very common, and ownership of the goal. The later is equally rare because ownership only happens if there is a safe space for ownership to take place.
We as leaders have to recognize that safe spaces for goal ownership have to take place long before we set a goal. We also have to remember that executing a goal will requires us to step outside our comfort zone, and in this place the first thing we often feel is uncomfortable and incompetent. Now there is a loosing combination of feelings.
So, this week as you begin setting goals for the coming new year, think about goal setting as a four step process, namely preparing to set a goal, setting a goal, executing a goal, and evaluating a goal. This framework in combination with the above thoughts is the first step to effective change and long term success.
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