Step 10 Up the Tribe Triangle: Goals are the way your team's mission moves you towards your vision

Goal, noun. The end toward which effort is directed.
 
“Goals are dreams with work boots on.”
-Dave Ramsey
 

Goals are how we look at our Tribe’s shared, aspirational vision and ask ourselves what shape does this have to take to become real?
Goals are the roadmaps and deadlines we put on that shared vision.

Remember the three Big Questions? 

1.Where am I?
2 Where do I need to go next?
3 Who do I need to be to get there?


Goals are strategic ways to bridge what is with what could be.  They answer the question, where we need to go next and also inform who do we need to be to get there?  This process is inherently motivating for all members of your tribe.  In addition, goals not only benefit from being shared (transparency) but also help drive transparency because they help clarify what people are working on, or need help with, that increases collaboration.
 
Goal setting is also vital for your morale and confidence and that of your team and family.  Setting goals puts us in the driver’s seat of our journey toward your tribe’s shared vision which is inherently big and aspirational and can therefore be overwhelming.  Goals help chunk this down to manageable size. Vision big but work small.

Ask yourself what single goal could myself and my team accomplish that would have the biggest impact on our success and move us toward our vision?  Once you have established this target it’s time to make the steps clear, manageable and bite sized.  That’s the only way elephants get eaten.

There are many goal-setting systems and the most popular have acronyms.  This makes them memorable and therefore practical and useful.  Systems that are brilliant but not practical are impressive but not useful.  Here are three practical and powerful goal setting systems.  Modify these to fit your team and your culture or make your own!
 

SMART

PACT

GRAILS

 
SMART Goals
SMART goals are probably the most well-known of the goal-setting acronyms.

  • Specific

  • Measurable

  • Attainable (or accountable)

  • Realistic

  • Timebound

 
Specific is the detailed, well-defined and granular target you are committed to.
 
Measurable is a criteria and result that allows you to manage your progress and also a test of whether or not your goal is truly specific.
 
Accountable.  We will always do more for others than we will do for ourselves.  This is the secret core of honor-based heroism and it always comes from tribe.  Get transparent, collaborative and reciprocal.  Who are you transparently sharing this goal with?
 
Realistic is the vital question that defines whether a goal attainable or not.  Unrealistic goals erode confidence and morale of you and your tribe.
 
Time-bound is where the rubber meets the road.  We need deadlines to create a sense of both urgency as well as movement. 

 PACT Goals
PACT

  • Purposeful

  • Attainable (or accountable)

  • Consistent

  • Trackable

 
Purposeful is alignment with vision.  This is the significant, meaningful Big Game we hunt.  Is the goal a step in the correct direction toward your Shared Vison?
 
Accountable.  We will always do more for others than we will do for ourselves.  This is the secret core of heroism and it always comes from tribe.  Get transparent, collaborative and reciprocal.  Who are you transparently sharing this goal with?
 
Consistency is king.  Is this action continuous and repeatable?  Can I build practices into rituals so this is ongoing and efficient?  When will these consistent actions happen and where?
 
Trackable.  More impactful that measurable is the question did I do it or not?  Yes or no?

GRAILS Goals
GRAILS is the goal setting system from the international men’s leadership community K4.  For more information please visit K4men.com

  • Goal

  • Reason

  • Allies

  • Integrated

  • learning

  • Sacrifice

 
Goal is the specific, detailed and therefore measurable action you are committed to.
 
Reason is the motivation why you are inspired, engaged and committed to make that goal happen.
 
Allies are the people on your team that you will transparently share this goal with and who will collaborate with you and hold you accountable.
 
Integrated is the regular and repeatable steps you will take to actually implement this goal.  When and where will this action take place in your daily practice?
 
Learning is the new skill or behavior we will have to explore, discover and implement to make this new goal happen.  If we could already do it we would have already done it.
 
Sacrifice is the thing we will have to give up making this new action or goal happen.  Nothing is free and this goal is going to cost you things such as time, money, freedom and comfort.  Name them so you can own them.
 
Notice, like everything else that we want to pull from the fog, goals must be written down and spoken for them to be clear and implemented and successful…

Click here To watch the video of Step 10: Goals are the way your team's mission moves you toward your vision.

Leaders must write and speak

Answer these questions in your journal by really writing them down.  Discuss them with at least one of your most important people and really listen to their response.    

 

  • What single goal could myself and/or my team/family accomplish that would have the biggest impact on our success and move us toward our Shared Vision? 

 

  • Pick a goal-setting acronym from the list above and really fill it out.  You will be surprised at how powerful the act of just answering and clarifying these questions is.  Do it with your people.

Ubuntu,
Philip Folsom

Philip Folsomleadership, culture, leadership development, teamwork, team building, coaching, kinship, tribe