The Program

7Determining Goals

WE FIRST MUST determine and define our Core Values. We then must ensure that we do everything possible as leaders to hire talented people who share those Core Values.

Next, we must recognize that we all perform best within a structure. Goals and standards provide this, and we need both. Goals are performance-based (e.g., summiting a mountain, making a certain revenue number for the quarter, achieving a particular G.P.A., or winning the turnover battle). Failure to achieve a goal merely results in an opportunity to reattack that objective tomorrow.

Countless books have been written about goals and how to determine what they should be. George Doran’s S.M.A.R.T. system for determining them has been in existence since 1981 and continues to make sense, regardless of the battlefield. Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. In helping us to achieve our S.M.A.R.T. goals, The Program believes that, as with Core Values, the fewer, the better. If we can’t remember what our goals are, how important are they?

Second, write goals down, hang them in a prominent place, and tell everyone about them. If we don’t have the conviction to do this, chances are slim that we will ever achieve them. Peer pressure is not always a bad thing. Those with great personal accountability and discipline may not need to tell others their goals in order to achieve them, but many of us don’t possess these attributes.

Third, ensure that short-term goals are in ...