By Coach Ted Sarvata

Many business leaders complain that their people don’t achieve their goals. When we look more closely, we often see one of three problems.

First, too many goals. In our work with thousands of companies over the last 15 years, we have found that most companies set too many goals, resulting in confusion and paralysis, even among the highest performers in a business. Research has shown that if you have more than five goals, typically, none of them will get done. When you have 4 or 5, usually 2 get done, and when you have 3, then 3 get done! Are you setting too many goals for the company, department, or each individual?

The second problem that we commonly see is stretch goals, where goals are simply too large. Leaders say, ” If we shoot for the stars and miss, we’ll hit the moon,” and then they celebrate even when the team falls short of the stated goal because they want to give people credit for how hard they worked. The problem with that is that you demotivate people because quarter after quarter, they’re not reaching that high goal even though you’re happy with their performance. They decide that goals don’t matter to you, and you don’t get the performance you could get by setting more realistic goals.

The third problem we see is that people lack the context to understand the “why” behind the goals or to know how those goals fit into the bigger picture, including your purpose (mission), vision, or strategy.

Let’s shift gears and see how we set goals that are both ambitious and move the company forward, motivate people, and get the most out of your best people.

The first thing to do is you need to set a massive goal for the company. Jim Collins calls this a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG). Many businesses say they have a BHAG, but when we ask, it’s a 3 or 5-year goal, and they know the numbers they need to hit each year to get there. That’s not a BHAG. A BHAG is from 10 to 25 years. We suggest 10 years for a company that does not have a history of setting and achieving BHAGs.

Once you have a BHAG that you track and communicate, then every year and every quarter, using the scaling of framework you set a few priorities, no more than five. We recommend three, but sometimes you end up with four or five, and you’ll have to see for yourself how effective that is. We find that 3 works best because everyone then can focus on them, and they remember what they are.

Each of these three goals then needs to be a smart goal: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. “Timely” comes automatically if it’s an annual or quarterly goal. Where people miss the mark is “Specific” and “Measurable.” How will you know when you’re done? When you think about what’s attainable, think hard about what you would be happy with. What would be a great year or quarter, knowing everything you know about your people and your business?

The paradox lies in the fact that setting seemingly modest goals can fuel immense motivation, prompting individuals to surpass expectations, and actually blow them out of the water. And as a company accustomed to consistently achieving its objectives, the introduction of loftier goals incites employees to push their boundaries further, striving to attain these ambitious targets.  This is how the BHAG can become a reality.