The Short-Cut To Corporate Goal Achievement

A straight line is the shortest distance from one point to another. And so it is with goal achievement. We achieve goals faster without distractions and in an environment that supports the effort.

At CompZone™, we often refer to corporate culture as W.I.N., an acronym for “What Is Normal”.

Things are normal in an organization either because that’s the way they’ve always been, or because that’s the way we want them to be. All of the things that are normal (beliefs, processes, systems and behaviors) make up the company culture. To fuel goal achievement, we must be very purposeful about what is normal.

The simple route to goal achievement

The company sets 1-3 organizational goals (typically around sales growth, EB ITDA increase, and brand reputation).

Every team member has 1-3 individual goals that feed organizational goal achievement. These goals help team members do work that delivers their highest value to the organization.

An action plan is set for each goal. Action plan progress is reviewed monthly by a manager, partner or coach. Action is taken when something goes off track.

Goal achievement is about being focused on the doing the right things. Wrong focus is the biggest obstacle in goal achievement and in performance management.

When something goes off track

Here’s where the organization can deliver tremendous value to team members.

No blame games. Objectively find out: Why the wrong outcome? How we can support the team member to back get on track?  How does the team member spend his or her time? A personal calendar is often a great tool for uncovering wrong focus and/or how the organization is deploying the team member’s time.

Check the company “work flow”. Is it missing or in need of tweaking?

Is there motivation, personal passion, to do this work or to do this work for our organization? If not, why not?

The short-cut

The corporate culture sets out circumstances that either fuel or limit goal achievement.

For example, to remove “drama” from a culture, we set performance agreements. These performance agreements are set organizationally so all team members know how to respond (or not respond) when something feels unfair…and, also, the behavior they should expect from others in those circumstances.

Tony Robbins once said, “Envision your highest priority goal. Then ask yourself whether that goal is at all possible given your current circumstances. If it is not, then change your circumstances!”

The short-cut to corporate goal achievement is in establishing (and individually contributing to) a culture that fuels both individual and corporate goals.