Be careful how you go about setting goals

I googled the words Goal Setting and this is what came up - Results 1 - 10 of about 26,500,000 for goal setting. (0.19 seconds).

The whole goal setting thing has been done to death - there is no doubt that goal setting and creating strategies for those goals can make a difference to your life, your business and your bottom line. So I dont have an issue with goal setting, but I do have an issue with they way people are going about it especially in business.

Many like to set BHAGS - Big hairy Audacious Goals as proposed by Jim Collins in his book Built to Last. Go for the big stuff and take what you get along the way. No doubt this will ding some bells for individuals and teams who are highly motivated and ready for the workload.

We are constantly being told by motivators and speakers and mega stars more noted for their speaking skills than there actual achievements, that small goals should not be on our radar because that is not what we should be aiming for. Go for the big stuff - go and drive that Porsche and get a feel for it and then one day you will get out of that mazda 323 and drive away your Porsche. The Scret which has become a major million dollar earner for its creator is guilty of telling people "you just have to set your goal and then the cheques will arrive in the letter box and you will be rich. Interesting how The Secret doesn't get into the ACTION aspect of making this happen.

So just what should we do when it comes to goal setting - here is my offering.
1. Is the goal relevant - does it meet the need of your business and your people or is it just pie
in the sky bollocks massaging an over inflated ego.
2. Does the goal have a hidden gremlin - if the goal is to ambitious will it force short cuts to
take place which could compromie stability, security or health. For example there are
those who believe JFK's goal in the sixties to safely land a man on the moon by the end of the
decade actually pushed NASA to hard and caused some of the problems and deaths. NASA
has a "Zero Tolerance to Failure" attiude because failure means people die. Yet this was
probably compromised by the goal set by JFK.
3. The goal should be action oriented - Once the goal is set it should make people think
immediately about what actions they can put in place in the next 24hours to start the
momentum.
4. The goal should have an owner who believes in it to drive it.
5. The goal should create energy - If a goal is draining energy it is not worth it. Lose it
change or create a new goal that generates energy.

Just google Goal setting again and in the time it took to write this blog the numbers are now Results 1 - 10 of about 27,400,000 for goal setting. (0.22 seconds).

Do we really know all the facts.

I was listening to National radio on Tuesday morning where Cathryn Ryan was interviewing Brian Clegg, British science writer and author of 'Eco-Logic: The Truth and Lies of Green Economics. Brian Clegg contends that (in my words) we are suckers for the green brand without really knowing the statistics or even taking time to understand the statistic. We don't really take the the time to understand what Green actually means and how it works. For example, people who buy a Toyota Prius (a supposedly environmentally friendly car) need to keep it for at least 5 years before they can actually make a difference to the environment. It takes this long before they have paid back the environmental cost of making the car at the factory.

He also said that when an airline pays to have a tree planted to offset the carbon emissions of a long haul flight it takes about 100 years for that tree to pay pack the difference - that means it takes 100 years for that tree to soak up the 2 tons of carbon created by the plane and then produce oxygen.

He pointed out that recycling is basically uneconomic, so the waste will need to go into landfill which is anti green. "Bring back the old 4c milk bottle and the milk man."

Did you know that using your air conditioner in the car has less emission impact than if you drive your car with the windows open to keep cool. The drag on the car with the windows being open means you use more fuel than if the air conditioner is on.

Just how green or pseudo green is your business - do we really take it seriously - do we really care or do we care because it is expected and we get caught up in the maze of information and a wave of green patriotism. Do we need to care?

I dont know what we should be doing, but whatever it is needs to be with a full understanding of the consequences. Have a listen to the interview at http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20090310-1130-Green_Economics-048.mp3