The case for team goals
In the NBA, everyone wants the title. Yet researchers found that players pass less in playoff games, when the stakes are highest, and that selfish play was rewarded with more lucrative contracts. The team gets worse and the individual gets paid.
Business does the same thing with KPIs (key performance indicators). Everyone is assigned a personal number and everyone chases theirs, regardless of what it does to the colleague at the next desk.
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are the better answer. The team agrees on one clear ambition and a few measures to show it is getting there.
Choose the measures with care. Outcomes, such as customers who stay or teams who would recommend working here, change behaviour for the better. Activity, such as workshops delivered, just keeps people busy.
Involve the team in setting them. People who help set a target are more likely to own it, and participative goal setting keeps outperforming the assigned kind. A missed stretch target should prompt curiosity, not a search for someone to blame.
So before the next planning session, put one question to every measure on the list: if we hit this perfectly and it made things worse, would we notice?
If not, change the measure.
Download my new white paper ‘Making Culture Change Stick’ to find out more about how you can build, change or retain a great place to work at www.colindellis.com/culture-papers
