The Goal Is Impossible…But The Journey Is Worthy

When we move into bigger leadership roles in our career, lots of things change. Our teams grow from a handful of folks to a full squad. Our span of control and influence grows across the organization. The risk profile of what we carry increases. While maybe some of these things bring some “squeaky bum moments”, they are all expected and welcome changes!

And as a byproduct of these changes, we can also end up in a situation where we are asked to lead a major organizational mandate and goal for our org. But it’s not your average goal. It’s a big goal. Like REALLY FRICKIN’ BIG! It’s so big, it becomes a proxy for your core purpose and reason for being. It starts to feel loaded up, shows up in presentations all over the place, and becomes an essential part of the narrative of the company. The pressure mounts and it becomes the focus of your working and waking hours. You tell yourself you’re up to the challenge.

But there can be one little problem.

What happens if, by every current metric, by every data point, and by every slice of evidence, it becomes clear that the goal is likely unachievable based on the current conditions and business priorities? If we only used the achievement of that goal as the measuring stick for your success, you realize you’re on an inevitable march to failure. 

Despite this, you keep going. You will not stop the pursuit of this impossible goal. You sign up, step up and shape up.

Sounds a little crazy?

Well if I’m your coach in this situation, I’m here for it!

Using some crafty design thinking and coaching, we can reframe this challenge to see that it’s ok to keep the unachievable goal and mandate alive, because of three important reasons:

It forces radical and foundational change.

When the task is that far out of reach, then it’s illogical to think that measures like increased effort, finding little efficiencies, and optimization moves will close the gap. There’s no chance in hell they could ever do that. You simply can’t get there from here. So the impossible task becomes the fulcrum to make radical and previously dismissed change that goes deeper. The “what if we…” ideas and inspirations become suddenly relevant and welcome.  Even if you only partially achieve and "fail" the main objective, the new processes and systems built along the way, and the value they create, will far surpass what a safe and predictable goal would have produced.

It turns failure into the learning lab.

There’s a common truth in the world of sports that a coach learns very little about their team when they win, but they learn a ton when they lose. That’s true in work as well. By running around collecting high-fives and celebrating the goal achievement, teams will often step over the learnings and insights that were earned through the process. It artificially elevates their sense of capability and strength. By embracing failure as the route to new learnings and insights, teams make step changes that can be revolutionary rather than evolutionary. As well, the elevated risk tolerance and innovation muscles generated during this process become the permanent baseline for the next inevitable challenge…because the next big change is always lurking around the corner. 

It cures the dependence on certainty.

Teams and organizations that rely on past performance and behaviours will inevitably fall down in the future. Their addiction to certainty becomes their downfall and clouds them from the things that will truly drive them forward. Clarity is gained as you go on a new journey, not before you pack your bag. Things like values, purpose, and “why the hell are we doing this anyways?” fall into the spotlight, and galvanize teams and people in profound ways. These things are far more energy creating than anything else within a team dynamic.

To take my oxymoronic headline and make it more real, I lean into the work of Jim Collins to see if there’s some backbone. In Beyond Entrepreneurship (which is essential business reading IMO), Collins talks about the importance of the Big Hairy Audacious Goal (which first emerged in his book Built To Last). We’ve all heard or used the phrase BHAG at some point, right?

Collins wrote that a true BHAG should have only a 50% to 70% probability of success. To outsiders, the task looks impossible. That’s the point of it. But to the team, it acts as a humongous catalyst. It forces the disruption of complacency and galvanizes collective energy because achieving it requires abandoning the closely-held and limiting past practices. It squeezes innovation and fresh thinking from a team. From the outer edges of reality come the best ideas. 

So is it OK for a leader to set unachievable goals for their team and themselves?

It’s tough, I get it. Very tangible and real-life things such as individual performance ratings, bonuses and other forms of recognition get hog-tied to the achievement of goals. To be an empathetic manager, we don’t want to create losing conditions for our people.

I think there’s probably a more salient middle ground where the BHAG stays on the table but is surrounded by other goals and milestones that are connected to the team’s learning, innovation, and team development. That way you don’t saddle your team with burdens they don’t deserve, but you also get out of the safety zone of certainty and soft goals. Separate the visionary BHAG from operational KPIs. Pay and reward people for the milestones, learning, and behavioral changes, but keep the BHAG as the North Star that governs how they work. 

(Oh, and you should make sure you do this for yourself!)

So keep the BHAG alive! As a leader, don’t shy away from the potentially unachievable goal. Don’t settle for the lukewarm “stretch goal” as your way of challenging yourself and your team. Embrace the unachievable for the goodness it offers. Here are a few starter questions as you start that journey towards your unachievable BHAG:

As we march towards this destination, what might we learn and how will we harvest it?

How will we measure progress and improvement beyond simply the goal achievement?

How will this journey make us better for the future?

What’s my own version of success in this journey?