How to Set Team Goals That Actually Get Hit

If your team is missing targets while working harder, or good people are burning out and leaving, the problem is often not effort. It is how goals are being set and owned. My coaching work is built around performance, and each engagement is split into Sets: Session A unpacks the current reality, the facts and the mental models at play; Session B moves beyond that and sets goals that create genuine motivation and accountability.

There have been countless articles written about goal setting: SMART, SMARTER, Stretch, and so on. Most say the same thing: how to set a goal. They do not get to the crux of why most people fail to reach their goals. I am talking about goals across all walks of life: relationships, business, personal development.

With that in mind, here are my six tips for improving your chances of actually achieving goals.

1) Have a good idea of where you want to end up and how that will feel

A visualisation, a draft of a newspaper article written in the future that describes your success, or a mind map of the benefits of being successful all help to identify where you want to end up. A clear picture of what success looks like makes it easier to keep your eyes on the prize when you encounter obstacles that could pull you off course. I liken it to Batman firing a grappling hook to climb a wall. Having a secure idea of his end point and a line to pull on makes the climb far easier, and no doubt he feels better for reaching that hook.

2) Identify why this goal is important to you at an emotional level
Many people set goals because they rationally feel they should. Asking yourself why this goal is important to you gives you a WHY. A goal that matters to you is far more likely to be achieved than one that does not. It sounds straightforward. So why are so many people stuck in jobs they are apathetic about, or worse, that they hate? If your company's goals are not important to you, the rest follows.

At a personal level, "because I want to be thinner" is a less compelling reason than "because I want to run around with my children and see their happy smiles as I chase them on the beach." Being emotionally connected to a goal is a far more powerful motivational tool than milestone achievement or fiscal liquidity. Ask yourself: why do I want this?

3) Work out what you need to do to get started: what are the first three steps?

Strategies take a long time to pull together, and Gantt charts and project plans can be tedious. They have their place, but getting started in a thought-out way is what counts. List the first three steps you will take in detail, and how those steps fit together, and see the difference. Three steps are manageable to conceive (Tim Ferriss talks about chunking goals down), and if you cannot plan the first three steps seamlessly, it may be worth revisiting points one and two to check the validity of your goal. Completing those first three steps also tends to build the motivation to continue. A running coach I met once said that whilst a client's overall goal might be a half marathon, the first three steps are always:

1. learning basic running techniques,
2. being able to run 5km every day without resting,
3. finding a running buddy to keep them honest.

I have never forgotten it.

4) Plan contingencies for risks and barriers to your success

Many slimmers and "resolutionists" set goals such as losing 30lbs/15kgs in three months. Businesses set targets like "grow 5% this quarter" and then wonder why they fall short. Failure often comes down to not having considered birthdays with cake at work, rainy weather that makes the gym unappealing, or in business, market shifts, competition, or political events. Planning ahead for what you will do when someone brings your favourite chocolate cake into the office, or a new competitor enters your market, removes the element of surprise. List out the "what ifs" and have a plan for them before they happen.

5) Identify experts and mentors who can help you achieve your goals

Vinh Giang lit a light bulb in my mind when he talked about starting his business selling magic tricks online. When his mentor asked how many entrepreneurs, website owners and online sellers he knew, his answer was zero. His mentor shared the idea that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. If you are setting a new goal, find five people who will help you because they know you well or have already succeeded at that goal, and spend as much time with them as possible. The reason I wanted to take part in Remote Year is exactly that: I am surrounded by successful entrepreneurs, freelancers and remote workers from whom I regularly seek information. Those who are not achievers or experts can, by contrast, become barriers to your success.

6) Do not be so inflexible in your goals that you miss opportunity
Many coaches will encourage you to pursue your goals relentlessly, but a blinkered approach can get in the way of a change in direction that would lead to a better outcome. Instagram is the most widely used photo app for smartphones, but many people do not know its origins. It began as Burbn, a check-in app with an accompanying photo function. Worried their app was too complicated, the creators changed their goal and rebuilt a version focused solely on photography: clean, simple, and the rest is history. Be focused on your goal and pursue it with verve and energy, but do not let perceptual narrowing prevent you from seeing the bigger picture and the opportunities within it.

There are many more things that can improve your chances of achieving goals, but try these and see how you get on. I would love to hear comments or feedback on any other tips or pointers that work for you.

 

If this sounds like your week

Your managers are not the problem. They are where the problem is stuck.

When your last leadership spend was signed off, did anyone go back to those managers' bosses and ask what changed? That question is the JBL Outcome Standard, and it is how I work.

• Find the friction. A short diagnostic that shows which decisions are stalling, and at what level.
• Am I the bottleneck? Ten questions on where your week is actually going.
• How I work with GMs. Six weeks, one hour a week, up to twelve of your managers, scored by their own bosses.
• Beat Burnout, Boost Performance. The book.
• The High Performance Leader podcast.

Managers I work with reclaim around four hours a week, and their bosses score the change 8.75 out of 10. Would it be a crazy idea to find out how we did this? Book a scoping call.

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