Stuck in a motivational rut? Small goals can get you moving

03/20/09

At the onset of the year, most of us are asked by our managers and supervisors to create “stretch” goals for ourselves. These goals usually involve a little more heavy lifting than what typical performance goals require, but that’s exactly what they’re meant to do.

Stretch goals can be the motivational force behind getting employees to think outside of the box and go the extra mile to improve their performance. However, when times are tough, these lofty goals can shock employees into a state of immobility.

When businesses are facing adverse challenges, some experts suggest that creating smaller goals is the best way to get your teams motivated.

In their Fast Company article, Set Smaller Goals: Get Bigger Results, Dan Heath and Chip Heath recommend setting smaller, “whisker” goals is the secret to improving employee performance during difficult times.

When business is good and employees feel empowered, stretch goals are the perfect way to inspire employees. On the other hand, when we’re feeling overwhelmed by work, those same stretch goals can seem to intimidating to attempt.

Whisker goals work in a completely different way than stretch goals. Instead of setting goals that seem unattainable, whisker goals set targets that fall slightly lower than average.

“Whisker goals are particularly well suited to our current moment. Adversity taps our strength. When you've just laid off someone, it feels like too much to bear to offer constructive criticism to another employee. When you've given up your bonus and had your budget cut, it feels like too much to consider going back for that master's degree. In hard times, we retrench. We maintain. We certainly don't stretch," said Dan and Chip.

"But retrenchment is the wrong response to adversity. Adversity calls for change, and change doesn't arrive via a miracle: It arrives via a kick start.”

For most organizations, now is not the right time to be making major changes. Whisker goals could be the perfect solution for kick starting any team stuck in a motivational rut.

As employees achieve one small goal at a time, remember to support their work with performance recognition from your side. Once employees start reaching a handful of smaller goals, those out-of-reach stretch goals may not seem like such a stretch after all.

Sometimes it takes a little push to get people off the starting line, but they’ll be off and running before you know it.