KEEP THE
GOAL POSTS!
Goal setting isn’t just a tool for business growth, it’s also
vital for keeping employees on track.
WORDS: NICHOLAS BARNETT
o your team members know
exactly what they are aiming to
achieve when they come to work
in your club each day? Employees should be
crystal clear about the organisation’s main
strategies and goals. The goal and point
posts used in Australian Rules football are
an ideal metaphor. If you kick the ball
between the large (goal) posts you are
credited with a goal or six points, provided
the ball is not touched before going across
the line. If it is touched first or if the ball goes
through the outer (point) posts or touches a
goal post, you are credited with a point. If
the ball touches a point post or goes outside
the point posts, it is out of bounds. The
object of the game is to get a higher score
than your opponents.
But, of course, you know this. The scoring
system is clear and well known by all players
and spectators. Imagine if someone took
away the goal or point posts. There would
be a riot until they were returned. Without
the goal and point posts the players wouldn’t
know what to do or where to aim. Too many
organisations have not communicated clear
strategies and goals to their employees. They
need to put back their goal and point posts so
their employees know where to aim.
Some recent research by Insync Surveys
– involving over 100,000 employees from
around 200 organisations – showed that only
54 per cent of the employees of the highest
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12 | NETWORK WINTER 2015
performance
businesses
could easily refer to a list of
their employer’s goals. The
figure for low performance
organisations was a mere
24 per cent. Further, only 57
per cent of the employees
understood how their roles
contributed to the organisation’s
long-term goals and strategies.
This is not good enough.
The same research revealed
the seven things that are the
biggest differentiators between
high performance organisations and
low performance ones. The setting
of clear strategies and goals is one of
those seven key business habits.
Most strategic plans comprise
dozens, sometimes hundreds, of pages.
A discipline that many organisations adopt
is to summarise Z\