The Six Steps of Goal Setting

Although finding a vision can be a creative challenge, the process of getting that vision implemented can be fairly easy if you follow the six steps of: Vision - Goals - Objectives - Tasks - Time Lines - Follow Up:

Step 1 - Vision

The first step in setting goals and priorities is to personally develop what the organization should look like at some point in the future. A junior leader, such as a supervisor or line manager, will mainly be concerned with a department, section, or small group of people. While senior leaders set the vision for the entire organization. However, both types of visions need to support the organization's goals.

The mission of the organization is crucial in determining your vision. Your vision needs to coincide with the big picture. The term "vision" suggests a mental picture of what the future organization will look like. The concept also implies a later time horizon. This time horizon tends to be mid to long term in nature, focusing on as much as 2, 5, or even 10 years in the future for visions affecting the entire organization. However, leaders such as supervisors or line managers tend to have shorter time horizon visions, normally 6 months to a year.

The concept of a vision has become a popular term within academic, government, defense, and corporate circles. This has spawned many different definitions of vision. But, the vision you want, should be a picture of where you want your department to be at a future date. For example, try to picture what your department would look like if it was perfect, or what the most efficient way to produce your product would look like, or perhaps if your budget was reduced by 10 percent, how you could still achieve the same quality product.

Vilfredo Pareto, a 19th century economist, theorized that most effects come from relatively few causes; that is, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the possible causes. For example, 20% of the inventory items in the supply chain of an organization accounts for 80% of the inventory value.

Some leaders fall into the time wasting trap of going after the 80% of items that only have a value of 20% of the total net worth. Your visions need to picture the 20% that will have the greatest impact on your organization. Although it is nice to have small victories every now and then by going that easy 80%, spend the majority of your time focusing on the few things that will have the greatest impact...that is what a good leader does.

Once you have your vision, it needs to be framed in general, unmeasurable terms and communicated to your team. Your team then develops the ends (objectives), ways (concepts), and means (resources) to achieve the vision.

Step 2 - Goals

The second step involves establishing goals, with the active participation of the team. Goals are also stated in unmeasurable terms, but they are more focused. For example, "The organization must reduce transportation costs." This establishes the framework of the your vision. Follow the Six Steps of Goal Setting described above.

Step 3 - Objectives

Definable objectives provide a way of measuring the movement towards vision achievement. This is the real strategy of turning visions into reality. It is the crossover mechanism between your forecast of the future and the envisioned, desired future. Objectives are stated in precise, measurable terms such as "By the end of the next quarter, the shipping department will use one parcel service for shipping items under 100 pounds and one motor carrier for shipping items over a hundred pounds." The aim is to get general ownership by the entire team.

Step 4 - Tasks

The fourth step is to determine tasks. Tasks are the means for accomplishing objectives. Tasks are concrete, measurable events that must occur. An example might be, "The transportation coordinator will obtain detailed shipping rates from at least 10 motor carriers."

Step 5 - Time Lines

This step establishes a priority for the tasks. Since time is precious and many tasks must be accomplished before another can begin, establishing priorities helps your team to determine the order in which the tasks must be accomplished and by what date. For example, "The shipping rates will be obtained by May 9."

Step 6 - Follow-up

The final step is to follow up, measure, and check to see if the team is doing what is required. This kind of leader involvement validates that the stated priorities are worthy of action. For the leader it demonstrates her commitment to see the matter through to a successful conclusion. Also, note that validating does not mean to micro-manage. Micro-management places no trust in others, where as following-up determines if the things that need to get done are in fact getting done.

Setting Goals

Your thinking skills can be considered directional skills because they set the direction for your organization. They provide vision, purpose, and goal definition. These are your eyes and ears to the future, allowing you to recognize the need for change, when to make it, how to implement it, and how to manage it. You find vision by reaching for any available reason to change, grow, and improve. Just as you perform preventive maintenance on your car, you must perform preventive maintenance on your organization. Do NOT believe in the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," for the people who do, go broke! Treat every project as a change effort. Treat every job as a new learning experience.

Good organizations convey a strong vision of where they will be in the future. As a leader, you have to get your people to trust you and be sold on your vision. Using the leadership tools described in this guide and being honest and fair in all you do will provide you with the ammo you need to gain their trust. To sell them on your vision, you need to possess energy and display a positive attitude that is contagious. People want a strong vision of where they are going. No one wants to be stuck in a dead-end company going nowhere...or a company headed in the wrong direction. They want to be involved with a winner! And your people are the ones who will get you to that goal. You cannot do it alone!

When setting goals, keep these points in mind:

• They should be realistic and attainable.
• They should improve the organization (moral, monetary, etc.).
• All the people should be involved in the goal-setting process.
• A program should be developed to achieve each goal.

In addition, there are four characteristics (US Army Handbook 1973) of goal setting:

• Goal Difficulty: Increasing your employees' goal difficulty increases their challenges and enhances the amount of effort expended to achieve them. The more difficult goals lead to increased performance if they seem feasible. If they seem too high, employees will give up when they fail to achieve them.
• Goal Specificity: When given specific goals, employees tend to perform higher. Telling them to do their best or giving no guidance increases ambiguity about what is expected. Employees need a set goal or model in order to display the correct behavior.
• Feedback: Providing feedback enhances the effects of goal setting. Performance feedback keeps their behavior directed on the right target and encourages them to work harder to achieve the goal.
• Participation in Goal Setting: Employees who participate in the process, generally set higher goals than if the goals were set for them. It also affects their belief that the goals are obtainable and increases their motivation to achieve them.

Visions are simply the fist step in the goal setting and planning process. While mission statements guide the organization in its day-to-day operations, visions provide a sense of direction in the long term -- they provide the means to the future.

In "Leaders," Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus conclude, "Leaders articulate and define what has previously remained implicit or unsaid; then they invent images, metaphors, and models that provide a focus for new attention. By so doing, they consolidate or challenge prevailing wisdom. In short, an essential factor in leadership is the capacity to influence and organize meaning for the members of the organization."

They continue, "Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing. The difference may be summarized as activities of vision and judgment -- effectiveness verses activities of mastering routine -- efficiency."

Bennis and Nanus describe leaders as "creating dangerously" -- they change the basic metabolism of the organization. Top Peters wrote that leaders, "must create new worlds. And then destroy them; and then create anew (Thriving On Chaos)." What is interesting, is that Peters defines visions as aesthetic and moral -- as well as strategically sound. Which would sort of knock Hitler's quest of the world as being a vision. Visions that are merely proclaimed, but not lived convincingly are nothing more than mockeries of the process.

Vision Statement Examples

"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success." - explorer Ernest Shackleston in a 1890 job ad for the first Antarctic expedition.

"When I'm through...everyone will have one." - Henry Ford on democratizing the automobile

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth." - President Kennedy, May 25, 1961

"There's something going on here...something that is changing the world...and this is the epicentre." Steve Job of Apple Computers during its initial start-up

"Quality, hard work, and commitment - The stuff America is made of. Our goal is to be the best. What else is there? If you can find a better car, buy it." - Lee Iacocca when he was chairman of Chrysler Corporation

"2000 stores by the year 2000." - Howard Schultz, of Starbucks Coffee Company

"Do it, try it, fix it!" - Wal-Mart's Vision

"To strengthen the social fabric by continually democratizing home ownership." - Federal National Mortgage Association, Fannie Mae

Exploring the past, illuminating the present and imagining the future" - National Museum of Australia

"Empower people through great software, anyplace, any time and on any device." - Microsoft's vision

"To provide the best service and lowest fares to the short haul, frequent-flying, point-to-point, non-interlining traveler." - Southwest Airlines' vision

"Whirlpool, in its chosen lines of business, will grow with new opportunities and be the leader in an ever-changing global market. We will be driven by our commitment to continuous quality improvement and to exceeding all of our customers' expectations. We will gain competitive advantage through this, and by building on our existing strengths and developing new competencies. We will be market driven, efficient and profitable. Our success will make Whirlpool a company that worldwide customers, employees and other stakeholders can depend on." - Wirlpool's vision

Reference

Knoster, T., Villa, R., & Thousand, J. (2000). A  framework for thinking about systems change. In R. Villa & J. Thousand (Eds.), Restructuring for caring and effective education: Piecing the puzzle together (pp. 93-128). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.