The trouble is that succeeding with most aspects of your strategy will require transformational change and consequently, lots of intrinsic motivation. This is why setting financial goals and aligning incentives with financial goals will not be particularly helpful when it comes to building momentum for strategic change. In strategy, you don’t get what you measure. In strategy, “you get what makes sense.”
A far better approach to goal-setting and measurement in strategy recognises that we must always accompany clearly defined financial goals by discussions about the behavioural changes needed to achieve the goals. What must we stop doing? What must change? What must we start doing? And how can we help each other overcome difficult hurdles on the journey?
In this way, we turn our attention to leading behavioural indicators of change rather than lagging financial indicators of success or failure. And by putting behaviour before financial goals, we need to have deep conversations about how to fuel intrinsic motivation to build energy, capabilities and passion for change.
Don’t set simple goals and rely on rewards to make magic happen.
Dogma perspectives
Learn about the surprising truths about motivation from Daniel Pink, one of the world’s leading thinkers on business and behaviour: