Speaker 1: Am I a cooperative team player who can work together cross-functionally and disrupt the thought process without being disruptive?

Speaker 2: I think it starts with where Kitty was talking about what's the value of your team, but what's the work? What do you do? What's your contribution to your, why do you exist? And so it's taking that from a team perspective and then breaking that into what are the individuals on the team that support, hey, this is where we're going as a team, this is the value that we provide. And then on an individual basis, this is how I support that. I'm a big fan of three to five goals. Any more than that, you're not going to get it done. And I think those goals have to be very specific. They have to be something that has action and steps to it. They have to be stretching. They have to be not where I'm in my comfort zone, but help me stretch a little bit. And notice I said a little bit, because I think if we set unrealistic goals, then who cares? Why even bother, right? So I think it's, how do I stretch just enough? And then what's the timing? And because we really need to understand that. So again, it's having your team value. And then what do I do as an individual? And I think Kitty, you said it really well is at that point, me as an individual, I kind of write my own because then if I write them, I'm on board. They came from me. And I

Speaker 1: think that's a big motivational piece as well. The number I think would be dictated by what individually as an organization your work group is held accountable to. So if there are metrics that are non-negotiable, there may need to be some goal setting. But I like to look at it in two buckets. The first one is what am I doing? What am I accountable to? And then I think a huge part of goal setting should be the how. What is my style? What are the soft skills? And what are the goals around that? And lean into one strength and pick maybe one opportunity. And it may not be your biggest opportunity. I'm not a fan of working on weaknesses all year long, because probably not going to become a strength. You probably don't like doing it either. And while we have to neutralize weaknesses, I'm a huge fan of taking something that you're good at, but maybe it would give you significantly different influence and impact if you got to be amazing at that one thing. So picking some goals around what I do, but then one or two goals around how I get it done is so important to team dynamics. And some organizations miss that.

Speaker 3: That's well said. As we're continuing to talk here, I'd love to go to our listeners. And I want to ask all of the listeners a question. And the question is, are you in an organization that has aligned goals? Do you have aligned goals? And you could answer in one of three ways. Yes, I have aligned goals. We have aligned goals here. Or the other response is, we're working on it. We're kind of in the middle. Or the third response would be, no, we do not. And I'd love to see some responses from folks. Do you have aligned goals? Or are you working on it? Or no, no, we don't. Just to kind of get a feel and a flavor of how frequently is this? And this may fluctuate each year. So we're talking about the number of goals here, three to five. But the point is not so much the number. It's what matters for the organization. What's the value you're adding? What do you need to pay attention to? What do you need to be then held accountable to? And then also, Kitty, you said something interesting. You said the what and the how. So let's talk for a moment as people can then reply in terms of how aligned they are within their organization. The nature of goals, because oftentimes we think of goals as what do we need to accomplish, the what. Share a little bit more in terms of what the how kind of goal might look like. What are some examples? What

Speaker 1: does that mean? Yeah, it's the culture pieces, right? The values. Am I living the values of the organization? I mean, it could be as simple as collaboration. Am I a cooperative team player who can work together cross-functionally and disrupt the thought process without being disruptive? It could be anything. That's just one. But all the culture elements, and sometimes they shift. And if we really mean it, that these are culture elements, when we set the culture and the values of the organization in combination with vision or mission or however you choose to do it in your own organization, then these pieces become very important. I'm working with an organization right now where the CEO has been there just over a year and made the review 50-50. 50% of your performance review is against the culture, and 50% is the what you actually accomplish. And this has been a really interesting, controversial, and difficult journey for some, and some are

Speaker 2: thrilled. Kitty, as I hear you say the what and the how, I just think of what I see a lot of organizations is, okay, here's my performance goals, and then here's my development goals. And sometimes my development goals align with my values or my cultural attributes or whatever they may be, and sometimes it doesn't. But what I love about what you're saying is, okay, I have my performance, I have the what, now it's how I do the what. And I just think of as a manager or a leader, the ability to provide that instant feedback. It just feels like a great mechanism to use that sort of format, relating it back to the goals, creating more of the why behind the how, right? And more of that behavior change, because I can probably see a more direct alignment there. And really kind of supporting why organizations have the values, and really kind of bringing that whole piece home. So I really like that format to help people think about goal setting a little differently. So thanks for sharing. I think that's a great approach. And you just brought up feedback,

Speaker 1: which we could do a three-hour session on feedback. Yes, we could. Yes. That's the part I don't like about setting goals in the beginning of the year and not revisiting them for a year, because we owe people feedback all the time about behavior we see, and what is the impact of it, either positive or not so much. Yeah. Agreed. And then what do we do about that? And those conversations need to happen, then we can reset goals right then and there.

Speaker 3: Absolutely. You know, it's interesting looking at a few of these responses that have come in. They span the spectrum of a few that are, yes, aligned, and then a few, we're working on it. And I just know there are stories behind that statement. We are working on it. As every organization is on a different trajectory. And now, let's continue this conversation, because even if an organization is aligned at the beginning, they may have three to five goals, they can do the what and the how, it's clarified, it's from the top, it's partnered. Imagine that's happened. Now, let's walk through what the heck the rest of the year really looks like for this manager, for this leader to then have engaging conversations. Walk me through what could happen daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, instead of simply the 12 month later, self appraisal, and review. What should be happening in between? Give me some examples, picture in the day in the life of, if you don't mind, who wants to jump in on this one here?

Speaker 2: I can do that. I think the good news is there are a lot of digital solutions to help people, number one, track where they're going. And that can be accessed by anybody at any point, depending upon privacy settings. But I think the other piece is, how do you then build in the communication between that individual and their team, and the individual and their manager? And so what does that conversation look like? That they're really talking about the goals on a frequent basis. And that serves as their method for setting priority, for getting work done. It helps them figure out their day, and their week, and their month. And if that's not the right work, then how do they think about adjusting those goals? And then how does that manager then make sure that they're communicating across the organization? Or those individuals, how are they communicating with their peers, so that the work stays aligned? I think it comes down to partnering and over-communicating, and making sure that people continue to focus on the right

Speaker 1: things. And something you said, Kristen, made me think right away. You said prioritization. In this ever-changing world, in this pace that is moving so quickly, there are so many people that I will ask, are you running the days and the weeks, or the days and the weeks running you? So this, all of a sudden, something comes, and now we have to do this, and something has to give. Our plate is already full, so that it's this renegotiation, reprioritization, and realignment of what we're doing, at what pace, and with whom. Because we have to make sure that leaders of the organization are not only working on the most important work every single day, but their team sees them, hears them talking about the most important work, instead of trying to just get everything done as quickly as possible. Because longer, faster, harder, stronger is not scalable. And so the idea of reprioritizing all the time, and the idea of a strategic no, fast failure, all this goes in to renegotiation of my goals. And what was relevant a month ago, may not be relevant. Things were already moving quickly before the pandemic, but the digital disruption now is unbelievable. And yet, I'll come back to, as the world is moving more quickly, there is nothing about an adult human being that has changed anywhere in the world. So we need to slow down, renegotiate all of our goals, what we're working on, and how we're working on it, every single day. So that this idea of slow down, to speed up, through just what you said,

Speaker 2: really great communication. Two-way communication. It reminds me of, I was talking with a group, and one individual shared that she and her manager actually meet weekly. And they go through all of the priorities, and they cover the goals, and they get shifted around. And if in the middle of the week, something happens, she has the right to challenge him, and he has the right to challenge her on where they should prioritize, and what gets put off to the side. And so I think that's one of the key pieces of how do we make sure we're all understand where we're focused, and what those goals look like, and we have to have that two-way dialogue. Because we don't know everything, and those two different heads are in two different places in the organization, hearing different information, right? And so when they come together, they can renegotiate, and they can figure out what's best for the business plan, and the partners that you work with.