82,460
edits
Goals: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
Amwelladmin (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
Amwelladmin (talk | contribs) No edit summary Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
||
| (4 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{a| | {{a|hr|{{image|Knee-slide|jpg|Goal accomplished, yesterday.}}}}Why [[Performance conversation|performance goals]] — especially ones that are | ||
{{helvetica|'''S'''pecific}} <br> | {{helvetica|'''S'''pecific}} <br> | ||
| Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
{{helvetica|'''T'''ime-bound}} | {{helvetica|'''T'''ime-bound}} | ||
Aren’t | Aren’t so ''smart''.. | ||
===HR | ===They are [[HR]]’s idea=== | ||
This ought to be enough of a reason: any piece of management orthodoxy that | This ought to be enough of a reason: any piece of management orthodoxy that makes it easier for the [[high-modernist]]s of [[personnel]] to ''measure'', ''read'' and ''box'' you — will be little use to you, your [[line manager]], or the business you serve. | ||
The world is a far messier, less convenient place than is | The world is a far messier, less convenient place than is dream’t of in any [[HCM]] philosophy. “SMART” only works on one axis: whether by some arbitrary point in time, you did an arbitrary thing or not. | ||
A box can be ticked. Personnel happy, but — really, is that all your contribution amounts to? | A box can be ticked. Personnel happy, but — really, is that all your contribution amounts to? | ||
| Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
General rule: ''[[don’t tick boxes]]''. | General rule: ''[[don’t tick boxes]]''. | ||
===They are a [[proxy]] for something else=== | ===They are a [[proxy]] for something else=== | ||
Goals | Goals are inevitably a [[proxy]] or a [[second-order derivative]] of an idealised state: “getting down to 70kg” rather than “becoming healthy, funny and physically appealing” — which is most likely what you really want. And, as with all Greek tragedies one can attain the proxy without achieving the end state it is intended to achieve — you starve yourself, you may attain 70 kg but have bad breath, a waxen complexion and liver disease. | ||
Working hypothesis: the ironies implicit in mythological fortune telling arise ''because'' the “fortunes” that flawed heroes seek are ''goals'' and not ''systems''. So, Macbeth indeed becomes King — SMART goal achieved! — but it isn’t the ''experience'' he had in mind. Might Macbeth have found self-fulfilment ''without'' being king? A happy grandfather, respected by the royal court? ''Alive''? | Working hypothesis: the ironies implicit in mythological fortune telling arise ''because'' the “fortunes” that flawed heroes seek are ''goals'' and not ''systems''. So, Macbeth indeed becomes King — SMART goal achieved! — but it isn’t the ''experience'' he had in mind. Might Macbeth have found self-fulfilment ''without'' being king? A happy grandfather, respected by the royal court? ''Alive''? | ||
| Line 36: | Line 36: | ||
Why should your target be ''measurable'', other than because the institution bearing down on you needs some way of assessing it in a binary way? But (again, following James Scott’s reasoning) these SMART goals then create perverse incentives, for employees know they are measured and rated only what can be read, so deprioritise “illegible” good behaviour, in favour of measurable [[box-ticking]]. | Why should your target be ''measurable'', other than because the institution bearing down on you needs some way of assessing it in a binary way? But (again, following James Scott’s reasoning) these SMART goals then create perverse incentives, for employees know they are measured and rated only what can be read, so deprioritise “illegible” good behaviour, in favour of measurable [[box-ticking]]. | ||
===The utopia of goals=== | |||
The JC has written a bit about the allure and basic incoherence of [[utopianism]]. Utopia makes a few basic but essentially delusional assumptions about the world, such as that not only can it be solved, but that our enlightened, scientific method, it ''is'' being, incrementally, solved. Seen this way, (well-directed) goals are a tool in the enlightenment kit for delivering that final {{strike|entropic|blissful}} state. This is, of course, a form of pound-shop utopianism, suffering from all the usual confirmation biases: (goals didn’t pan out? Can’t have been well enough directed. Can’t have been properly executed). No circumstances can falsify the working assumption that it is only human frailty which keeps us from our nirvana. | |||
===Or systems?=== | ===Or systems?=== | ||
[[Scott Adams]] has written a bit on goals. Among his observations: on the day you set a goal, you are failing it. You continue to fail at it until the point you achieve it, at which point, it is finished: now what? It gives no guide to future action. It is better, thinks Adams, to create behavioural systems which are designed to yield positive effects: rather than a goal of "be selected for the national team," go for "spend an hour each day practicing a sport I enjoy". Here you can succeed from the get go, reap benefits that are tangential to that idealised state (fitness, experiences, meeting new people etc), and you can use what you learn to dynamically adjust your pattern of behaviour to meet changing circumstances. If it should turn out you don't like cricket that much, or grow more interested in pursuing sports psychology - you can adapt your system on the fly. | [[Scott Adams]] has written a bit on goals. Among his observations: on the day you set a goal, you are failing it. You continue to fail at it until the point you achieve it, at which point, it is finished: now what? It gives no guide to future action. It is better, thinks Adams, to create behavioural systems which are designed to yield positive effects: rather than a goal of "be selected for the national team," go for "spend an hour each day practicing a sport I enjoy". Here you can succeed from the get go, reap benefits that are tangential to that idealised state (fitness, experiences, meeting new people etc), and you can use what you learn to dynamically adjust your pattern of behaviour to meet changing circumstances. If it should turn out you don't like cricket that much, or grow more interested in pursuing sports psychology - you can adapt your system on the fly. | ||
| Line 42: | Line 43: | ||
But what would [[HR]] do? | But what would [[HR]] do? | ||
General rule: ''Don’t do what HR would do.''{{sa}} | General rule: ''Don’t do what HR would do.'' | ||
{{sa}} | |||
*[[Performance conversation]] | *[[Performance conversation]] | ||
*[http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6114.html Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goals Setting] (Harvard Business School) | *[http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6114.html Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goals Setting] (Harvard Business School) | ||
*{{br|How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big}} — Scott Adams | *{{br|How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big}} — Scott Adams | ||