Jake's Talent & Learning Newsletter
Goals, Goals, Goal.
Greetings, everyone! Happy New Year! I trust that everyone had an enjoyable and comfortable holiday season.
And as always, a special welcome to those of you receiving this newsletter for the first time.
Every year at this time, I try to re-read this classic article on goal-setting: "On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B". This Academy of Management classic has stood the test of time. Heck, I've probably sent it your way before (maybe even this time last year!).
It highlights how we often espouse certain goals but create systems that reward counter-productive behaviors. Table 1 (page 5) highlights a few common areas where organizations make this mistake.
So as you're setting goals for yourselves, your teams, and your organizations this year, this short (8-page!) article is a great lodestar.
What Else I've Been Thinking About
- We scramble at the end of the year but insist we'll do things differently in the future. "We just need to get through the end of December!" But do we actually hold the After-Action Reviews to plan for the future and ensure that the end-of-year chaos doesn't repeat next year?
- Are New Year's Resolutions healthy? Most fail, and further, they anchor us to connecting our goals to arbitrary external factors (e.g. the Gregorian Calendar). But is there any real harm to them?
- Do I need to privatize my social media for the sake of my professional image? Luckily, I live an impressively boring life and nothing that I do is incongruent with my professional value and aspirations (I think?). But I recently joined Instagram (@jakerunsmediocre) to share pictures of my dog and running-related content... and I can't help but feel self-conscious about my Instagram account showing up in Google results. Am I nuts?
I'd love to hear your thoughts! Please email me.
As 2019 begins, please let me know how I can be most helpful to you and your organizations.
And as always, please let me know if there are topics you'd like me to investigate for an upcoming Newsletter.