Monday, September 17, 2012
Are stretch goals yet another management absurdity...
It goes without saying that many large enterprises are very mature in making absurdities a best practice. Today, I will comment on the notion of stretch goals...
Stretch goals can be terribly demotivating. When stretch goals seem overwhelming and unattainable, they sap employees' intrinsic motivation. The enormity of the problem causes people to freeze up, and the extrinsic motivator of money crowds out the intrinsic motivators of learning and growth.
Isn't it fascinating how stretch goals are championed in otherwise risk adverse cultures? I wonder if the sub-prime crisis was a stretch goal in encouraging someone to achieve higher return without supposed risk?
Have you ever noticed that stretch goals are particularly encouraged by champions of Capability Immuturity Models (CMMI) and the Project Management community (PMI)? Likewise, you will almost never find an IT executive that came from an architecture background championing something without a foundation. The rationale may be that stretch goals like project plans are so divorced from reality as to be unreal.
Another perspective says people are already stretching themselves. Whether this is in playing sports, learning new musical instruments or languages or even taking on a big home improvement project. The art for the employer is to find the conditions in which individuals will want to make this kind of discretionary effort during company time.
Whenever stretch goals are defined, what percentage of the population manages to achieve them? without wreckless behavior? you get my point. Goals need to be ambitious but not stretched. Anyway, shouldn't we spend more time helping employees understand what works and what doesn't rather than focusing on stretching/guessing?
| | View blog reactionsStretch goals can be terribly demotivating. When stretch goals seem overwhelming and unattainable, they sap employees' intrinsic motivation. The enormity of the problem causes people to freeze up, and the extrinsic motivator of money crowds out the intrinsic motivators of learning and growth.
Isn't it fascinating how stretch goals are championed in otherwise risk adverse cultures? I wonder if the sub-prime crisis was a stretch goal in encouraging someone to achieve higher return without supposed risk?
Have you ever noticed that stretch goals are particularly encouraged by champions of Capability Immuturity Models (CMMI) and the Project Management community (PMI)? Likewise, you will almost never find an IT executive that came from an architecture background championing something without a foundation. The rationale may be that stretch goals like project plans are so divorced from reality as to be unreal.
Another perspective says people are already stretching themselves. Whether this is in playing sports, learning new musical instruments or languages or even taking on a big home improvement project. The art for the employer is to find the conditions in which individuals will want to make this kind of discretionary effort during company time.
Whenever stretch goals are defined, what percentage of the population manages to achieve them? without wreckless behavior? you get my point. Goals need to be ambitious but not stretched. Anyway, shouldn't we spend more time helping employees understand what works and what doesn't rather than focusing on stretching/guessing?
Saturday, September 15, 2012
A deeper look into why people quit their employer?
It has occurred to me that some people are full of shit. They bitch and complain about the lack of opportunity their employer affords them but never seem to reflect on the fact that they weren't savage in the pursuit of better opportunities...
Stop waiting to be spoonfed opportunities to grow. If your job if filled with unsatisfying administrivia, then you seriously need to ask yourself why haven't you developed push-back skills. Do you know that it is extremely possibly and even in many situations easy to just say "no"?
Yes, it is true that yourleadershipmanagement has the duty to find opportunities to leverage the strengths of the people reporting to them, but reality states that they may be either too busy doing administrivia themselves or simply consumed by trying to survive themselves.
Don't get it twisted when it comes to outsourcing and the additional burden it places on you, especially when you have outsourced your own career path to someone else. As for me, my boss and others around me know that I aspire to be a "fellow" and that I want assignments that lead me towards this goal. When it comes to me, there is no mystery...
| | View blog reactionsStop waiting to be spoonfed opportunities to grow. If your job if filled with unsatisfying administrivia, then you seriously need to ask yourself why haven't you developed push-back skills. Do you know that it is extremely possibly and even in many situations easy to just say "no"?
Yes, it is true that your
Don't get it twisted when it comes to outsourcing and the additional burden it places on you, especially when you have outsourced your own career path to someone else. As for me, my boss and others around me know that I aspire to be a "fellow" and that I want assignments that lead me towards this goal. When it comes to me, there is no mystery...
