Goal Achievement Roadblocks

Lesson 15     Goal Achievement Roadblocks

I once had a salesperson that was the most frustrating person that ever worked for me.  I saw potential in him that he, himself, refused to see because of a self-imposed barrier.  He made $3,000 on straight commission, almost to the penny, every month.  One month, I did everything but move in with him.  I big brothered him to death.  He couldn't go to the men's room without me standing guard at the door.  I'm proud to say that, in that one month, he nearly doubled his productivity.  He made almost $6,000!  The following month he made zero dollars.  The month after that he made $3,000. 

I had forgotten that his break-through had to be on his terms, not mine.  When we dug deeper, he confessed that he had never had any more money in the bank than his father did when he was growing up.  His self-imposed barrier stopped him just short of ever earning more than his father. Once he realized that he was setting the same standard for his children, he went out, broke through his roadblock, and was still pushing his envelope at last report. 

The following roadblocks might be impeding your progress without you being fully aware of their presence. 

Success is feared:  Many people are much more familiar with mediocrity than they are with success, and therefore lack the drive to pursue goals.  Fear of success is natural if you have little experience with it. 

Goals are not understood or seem unattainable:  If this is the case, examine your own presentation of the goals to the team members.  Did you take the time to think through, from their point of view, their possible reaction to these new goals?  Did you break the goals down into doable segments for each person?  How clear was your communication in the presentation?

The effort doesn’t appear to have adequate rewards:  When rewards don’t seem forthcoming or consistent with the level of effort required, it’s time for the leader to start selling to the team. Actually, the time for selling is when the goals are being established. 

Procedures for goal achievement are too rigid:  Flexibility is one sign of a confident and creative leader.  Too many people impose rigid structure on their organizations because they lack basic confidence in their own abilities and the abilities of their team.  Focusing on results instead of methods will open the door for your people to contribute more of their own originality. 

Try these techniques to get your people on the road to goal achievement:

• Include the whole team in the goal attainment picture.
• Break down goals into manageable, doable increments.
• Frame the goals so that the rewards are clear.

“Goals are all found upstream.”