Good Goal, Bad Goal - Three Tips

 

 

Watch the 80-second video. Here's the transcript:

A good goal is like a steering wheel. It lets you or your team move toward things that are positive and away from things that aren’t.

At least that’s what happens when you pick a good goal. But sometimes we pick bad goals. Ones that are unattainable or just not that motivating. Those get discouraging.

So here are three tips to pick a good goal. Pick something that’s within your influence. Make sure your motivated to do it. Frame it in the positive.

Let’s try it. Close your eyes and imagine. If you had a magic wand, what would you change?

Start your goal with the words “I wish…” or “It would be great if…”

It would be great if we had world peace.
A worthy goal, but perhaps not entirely in your influence.

I wish they’d put our team in charge of the budget. 
Hmm. Think primary influence.

It would be great to fix that process that keeps slowing us down.
Interesting. You have the power to do it. And you’re motivated because it will make life better for your team. That’s a positive goal.

That’s a good goal.

Sarah Thurber

Sarah is managing partner at FourSight and the author of Good Team, Bad Team, The Secret of the Highly Creative Thinker, Creativity Unbound, and Facilitation: A Door to Creative Leadership. Her work helps teams and leaders think creatively, work collaboratively and achieve innovative results.