Adversity Demands a Kick-Start: Try Small Goals & Recognition

In their Fast Company article Set Smaller Goals: Get Bigger Results, Dan Heath and Chip Heath, authors of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, make the case for smaller goals as a way to kick start performance during times of adversity.

They push for what they call "whisker goals" (targets that may be just a hairsbreadth away from the status quo) rather than stretch goals as the way to move people who are overwhelmed in the moment.

From the article:

Whisker goals are particularly well suited to our current moment. Adversity taps our strength. When you've just laid off someone, it feels like too much to bear to offer constructive criticism to another employee. When you've given up your bonus and had your budget cut, it feels like too much to consider going back for that master's degree. In hard times, we retrench. We maintain. We certainly don't stretch.

But retrenchment is the wrong response to adversity. Adversity calls for change, and change doesn't arrive via a miracle: It arrives via a kick start. During World War II, the government needed to orchestrate a massive increase in industrial production at the exact same time as its most talented industrial minds were being called away to fight. Government officials trained new people to look for tiny steps forward, not big leaps. A training manual advised workers to "look for hundreds of small things you can improve. Don't try to plan a whole new department layout -- or go after a big new installation of new equipment. There isn't time for these major items. Look for improvements on existing jobs with your present equipment."

Change can start with small measures, and it can be rewarded with small prizes. Maurer cites a Toyota employee-suggestion program. The carmaker receives 1.5 million employee suggestions every year, and it holds an annual awards ceremony to celebrate the single best idea. The lucky employee gets a fountain pen. (Lehman Brothers handed out million-dollar bonuses. How'd that work out?)

I think there's real wisdom to considering whisker goals as a way to break through the inertia that many organizations are experiencing and get people moving forward.  And I think that whisker goals combined with nominal value recognition awards (cash or non-cash) could be a winning strategy - particularly as a complement to bigger goals and annual (or longer) incentive opportunities.

Keep'em focused on the forward and the future, but help them with a nudge off home base.

Comments

[Paul Hebert]

The hardest thing to do is break inertia - especially when the request is miles from the starting point. Great post Ann - we all need to remember the journey of a 1,000 miles begins with a single step - and all the other cliches. But they are true. Get moving in a direction and it is much easier to keep moving in that direction.

I think when Collins and Porras coined the phrase BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) too many assumed that was the end of the work. The real work is getting the little things moving in the BHAG direction. A BHAG alone is nothing but words.

Thanks for the reminder....

[Ann Bares]

Paul:

Thanks for the comment - and for articulating what always felt to me to be true: A BHAG alone is nothing but words. What matters - especially today - is spurring movement in the right direction.

[Wally Bock]

Ellen Weber at Brain Leaders and Learners just had a fascinating post about why this works. Here's the link.

http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/general/interplay-between-motivation-and-results/

[Rebecca Mazin]

Ann- Great post and reference to an article with strong ideas. I love the concept of celebrating "little victories" as I call them. Recognition can be creative without breaking the bank; see my post, "Do you have an employee who deserves an Oscar?" of February 25, 2008 in The HR Answer Blog in www.allbusiness.com.

[Derek Irvine, Globoforce]

Excellent post, Ann. Your final point -- "whisker goals combined with nominal value recognition awards (cash or non-cash) could be a winning strategy" -- is precisely correct. Many companies have adjusted their strategic objectives to get through this recession. Do employees know what they are? If so, does the average employee have any idea how he can help the company achieve those objectives? I think not in most cases.

Recognition is a key tool to make that happen. Recognize employees frequently, quickly and meaningfully (as you say, "nominally," but in a way that sticks) when they do something in their daily work that ultimately helps the company achieve those objectives. This helps the employee understand why their job is important and want to repeat those critical tasks. What a positive way to achieve bigger goals -- by thanking people for achieving whisker goals.

I wrote about an interesting way to look at this here: http://globoforce.blogspot.com/2009/02/making-most-of-your-employee.html.