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“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” That quote from President John F. Kennedy’s speech to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, is perhaps the most often cited example of the philosophy that when you set stretch goals, amazing things can happen. And who doesn’t want to accomplish amazing things. So, the fact that the “R” in our smarter S.M.A.R.T. goals model stands for “realistic” may be surprising. Realistic sounds so safe … run-of-the-mill … even boring. Don’t we want bigger, inspiring, stretch goals? Maybe even “B.H.A.G.s”? Even if you haven’t read the best-selling business book Built to

Ask any leader how to help teams achieve their goals, and they are likely to mention factors related to specificity, measurability, and achievability.  While all of these factors are important, a well-crafted goal can still fail if the team is not unified in their determination to successfully achieve it together. If leaders want to help teams achieve their goals, they involve them in how the goal is developed. That’s why the “A” in our smarter S.M.A.R.T. goal model stands for “agreed-upon.”  In the first two installments of this series on our adapted S.M.A.R.T. goal model, we focused on the importance of specificity (being clear about what we’re working to improve) and meaning (emphasizing why the goal is worth achieving).  With that foundation in place, the

As stress, depression and anxiety have surged in the workplace in recent years, especially among Millennials and Gen Zers, “employee well-being” has become a popular organizational catchphrase. But despite this increased awareness and focus, employee well-being numbers continue to trend in the wrong direction. According to a Gallup study, poor mental health costs the US economy almost $48 billion annually in lost productivity. So, what is going wrong? Are organizations making investments into well-being that simply are not working, or as the phrase goes, is there just a lot of noise and not enough music? The answer is somewhere in the middle. The Role of Middle Managers in Boosting Employee Well-Being Many organizations have increased efforts to foster employee well-being — and their employees have

This article is the third in a series unpacking the S.M.A.R.T. goals model, in which we adapt the acronym to focus on achieving better outcomes, not just writing better goals. This article dives into redefining the ‘M’ from “measurable” to “meaningful”, emphasizing the “why” and higher organizational purpose behind our goals. “Please help me connect the dots!” In our work with frontline health care staff, this plea is one of the most common ones we hear. With new protocols, payer requirements, and regulations shifting constantly, staff understandably struggle to make sense of all of these changes. That’s why setting goals is just step one. Linking them to organizational purpose and exploring them in ways that are meaningful to your team is essential to have a

Is working from home (WFH) a wonderful thing for workers and companies, or a necessary accommodation during the pandemic that needs to go away? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle as we better understand the limitations of working from home and its long-term impact on the workforce. In our work with frontline leaders and staff, we’re seeing three major realities emerge: Managers with remote employees have to work differently – and often harder – to keep them meaningfully connected to the company and their colleagues. Organizations should be asking themselves whether they are giving these leaders the training, support, and resources (including time) that they need to retain staff and successfully meet operational, quality, and service goals. Remote work is tougher for new

In our last blog, we outlined a smarter way for managers to approach S.M.A.R.T. goals. Focused on how to achieve results rather than just improving goal-writing, our model emphasizes how leaders can better use goals to focus their team’s efforts, gain buy-in, and deliver superior outcomes. In doing so, we changed the M, A, and T in the original model: While there are a few variations on the original S.M.A.R.T. goals model, the “S” almost always stands for “specific.” Writing a SMART goal that is specific means that all aspects of the goal are clearly defined and that it answers the standard 5 Ws (who, what, when, where and why). But even when a well-written goal is specific, it still usually focuses on what you

If you’ve worked in any large organization, you’ve probably been encouraged to write S.M.A.R.T. goals. This easy-to-remember acronym was originally introduced in a 1981 issue of Management Review by authors George Doran, Arthur Miller, and James Cunningham. If one of their goals was to develop a memorable model that would stick in management practice, then they’ve been extremely successful. In fact, when I speak to groups and ask, “Has anyone heard of ‘SMART’ goals?”, almost every hand in the room goes up. However, despite its memorability and simplicity, the SMART goal approach by design has limitations. As suggested in the authors’ original article title – “There’s a SMART Way to Write Management Goals and Objectives” – the focus of the model is on the structure

‘Tis the season of New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, improve finances, and stop a myriad of bad habits. But if leaders want to improve their work life as much as their personal life, they also should be contemplating the resolutions it will take to make real progress in improving staff engagement and retention this year and beyond. Not surprisingly, every senior leadership team I’ve talked with over the past several months has listed “improving staff engagement” and “reducing turnover” among their top organizational goals. High turnover is not only extremely expensive; frontline managers and staff tell us it is exhausting. Recruiting, interviewing, selecting, and onboarding require focused physical, intellectual, and emotional effort for the entire team. And when someone resigns, it starts all over

Conflict. Just the word can make even the most confident and assured of us at least a little uncomfortable. So the idea of embracing – sometimes even encouraging – workplace conflict as a strategic leadership practice is one many managers, especially new ones, struggle with. One school of thought professes that workplace conflict is always good, emphasizing that different points of view help a team make better decisions and constructively challenge one another. A recent Harvard Business Review article, “Why We Should Be Disagreeing More at Work,” points out that disagreements are an inevitable, normal, and healthy part of relating to other people. Indeed, there is no conflict-free workplace. But even those who believe that more is better when it comes to conflict will admit

No human resources strategy has gotten more attention over the past several years than diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) – and, more recently, belonging. In addition to being the right thing to do, smart companies know that making their workplace more welcoming and equitable to employees of all backgrounds increases the total talent pool they can attract and then retain. This is the third installment in our series Stuck in the Middle, which takes a fresh look at the challenges facing frontline leaders in today’s labor market. In a word, DEI is about differences – valuing them, embracing them, and supporting them. And post-pandemic, one of the most significant emerging differences across workforces is where employees work. Whether you believe remote work is the best way