Different people set different kinds of goals for themselves or other people. They may set stimulating goals, stretching goals or surgery goals. Let’s explore these themes.
Stimulating Goals
Some people set stimulating goals for themselves. They may aim to do things they enjoy, improve their quality of life or achieve other aims in their personal or professional lives.
Some leaders set stimulating goals that inspire other people. They communicate the purpose, principles and picture of success. They are also good at showing people the benefits of achieving these goals.
Many people like to set stimulating goals. They are then more likely to be motivated, do their best and find solutions to challenges. They may also like to reap the rewards of achieving success.
Stretching Goals
Some people set stretching goals. They may aim to stretch themselves physically, psychologically or professionally. Providing are building on their strengths, this can help them to expand their repertoire and achieve success.
Such people need to recognise how to stretch themselves or, when appropriate, other people properly. This calls for doing their best but also recognising that:
Stretching can be healthy and expand their ability to achieve success;
Straining can be unhealthy so it is important to recognise warning signs.
People, teams and organisations can develop by achieving stretch goals. At the same time, however, it can be useful for them to recognise when this may move into the next theme.
Surgery Goals
Some people set surgery goals. This is an approach followed by some companies that urge people to reach goals that are unrealistic. Their philosophy seems to be:
“People are straining every muscle to jump 2 metres but let’s move the bar up to 4 metres. We will then get lots of people to jump 2.5 metres.”
The employees may balk at first but some get on with trying to reach the new targets. They put in more hours, have less sleep and strive to achieve the aims.
This approach may work for a while but there are downsides. A company may find that people resent being micromanaged, fall ill or move on to find more satisfying work. There is a difference between:
Setting stretching goals that are achievable and where people may go into a state of flow;
Setting surgery goals that urge people to put in more hours and more effort but are more likely to result in failure.
Let’s return to your own life and work. Can you think of a specific activity where you may want to follow the stimulating goals or stretching goals approach? How can you do this in your own way?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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