Saturday, April 7, 2012

Goals and objectives

Trying to achieve goals and objectives may not always turn out as great as expected. Although goal setting could have a tremendous positive impact on people's life, there are lots of bad issues that accompany poorly executed plans and thoughtless strategies. It often happens that people set goals for the wrong reasons, to impresses others, to intimidate or simply to achieve something while harming others in the process. There are limits to goals and objectives, and these limits get defined by our morals, ambitions, enthusiasm and self-awareness.

Here are some examples of how goals and objectives can go wrong.

Just for intimidation!

It often happens in companies that goals and objectives are set by executives at the top who lack crucial information on the difficulties the staff members are striving with. Such goals won't be achieved simply because they are unrealistic and they exceed the capabilities and resources of the organization. The sad part lies in the fact that managers are often intimidated because they fear they will lose their job in case of plan failure.

Goals and objectives to misguide competitors


Another negative practice spotted in business planning consists of setting goals and objectives not for guidance and achievement but for misinforming the competition. This practice also arises out of the desire to impress outside groups. The false goals and objectives also deter serious analysis of the marketplace and the company. Unfortunately, these goals are also used by senior managers to pass the blame for failure, in the end.

The results of unrealistic goals and objectives on the staff members is a negative one, in general. Some employees are aware of the lack of substance and the insufficient resources to reach the goals, while others trust the senior managers' enthusiasm and get in the downward spiral towards failure. In both cases, the impact on the individual's career cannot be overlooked.

Mistakes people make with goals and objectives

It often happens in business activity that development efforts are made only for the next sales without creating any long term strategic efforts. Other problems appear because the promotions are too expensive and they generate less profit than they cost. Moreover, pushing expenses into the future also creates imbalances because the payments are not paid when it's necessary. On the long term, such issues destabilize the structure of the business undermining it from the inside.

Goals and objectives could change your life for the better if they are realistic and supported by adequate resources. Otherwise, they could turn into a big waste of time, energy and effort.

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