Dolly,
Exactly right & unfortunately I have seen this happen. Especially when the manager/leader is a high achiever & often a subject matter expert in the area. These individuals can tend to think everyone is as driven as they are & can achieve to their level. But as you said, often this is a huge demotivator, rather than motivating.
Ryan
I agree with you Nelly setting too high of a goal might discourage employees to simply give up or not even attempt to try. They may experience feelings of being overwhelmed and not make the effort of handling the work.
Rhonda,
Great observation and I encourage everyone to think about those SMART goals. We always want to make sure they are stretching us & also realistic & achievable.
Ryan
Setting high goals can be costly..We should start small and work our way up.
If the goals are set too high and may be unrealistic, it could affect employee morale in a negative light. In reference to the course material, goals set using the SMART criteria would have a greater probability or achieving positive results.
Setting goals too high can lead to disruptive team mechanics leading to resentment and conflicts if left unchecked. One altrnative would be as the team develops more chemistry, increase the goals on an annual or semi-annual basis.
Setting a high goal may have its ups and downs. The ups of setting a high goal it motivates the person to achieve the task that is given to them. By doing so you may state high incentives after the task are met and also some people work better under pressure. The down of setting a goal that is set to high, it may allow the task to fall or not be achieved and it may discourage the person.
I think that lofty goals can be very inspiring, even when they seem unachievable. I was once involved in a project that seemed pointless because of the amount of work involved in a very limited amount of time. The manager said "Act like you CAN do it, even if you can't." I told my team our job was to act like we can achieve it, and to eveyone's astonishment we did. We were inspired to act in ways that went outside of the limiting boxes we had imagined to be our obstacles.
Employee involvement is key. All employees insights and knowledge are valuable. But, does the goal have to be realistic and or achievable if the employees are involved in setting the goals? Is the advantage not in having a certain unattainable qualities to the goal giving them something to still aspire to despite their involvement?
Lofty goals are often inspiring and results-driven employees can thrive -- but a key determinant to success is employee involvement in establishing the goals and seeing them as "realistic"...
Setting high goals especially if you are gifted with high achieving, results driven, autonomous workers is achievable and can produce great results if everyone stays on task but "unrealistic" goals for any type of employee is a morale buster
Hi Andrea! I think there is a difference between unrealistic goals and goals that stretch just a bit beyond the given expectations of what a team is supposed to accomplish. Any goal that is unrealistic and not achievable is a disaster and a demotivator to a functioning team; however, effective managers will often up the stakes just a bit, within reason, while collaborating with team members as to how best to achieve the goals.
Jay Hollowell
ML101 Facilitator
