Goal-Driven Organizations

Using
Figure 5.4, describe how to use the model to set developmental goals for the
employee population. Are balanced goals important? Explain.
Figure 5.4 provides an example of a person’s work goals plotted
based on
organizational value and developmental value. The goals are
divided into four
quadrants: business-driven development, functional, self-focused
development,
and underutilization.
Business-driven development goals are
high in organizational value and high in
development value. These are things that employees have to do
for work that will
require them to gain new experiences and develop new skills.
These goals tend to be
highly meaningful to employees because they are both important
to the company
and help them build capabilities to advance their careers. The
downside of these
goals is that they tend to be mentally demanding. They require
learning how to do
the work while getting the work done at the same time. People
who have too many
business-driven development goals risk becoming overwhelmed or
burning out:
Functional goals are high in organizational
value but low in development
value. These are things that employees know how to do and have
typically
done before. They are not necessarily easy, but they are
familiar. The advantage
of functional goals is they allow employees to contribute to the
organization
by focusing on important but familiar tasks. The disadvantage is
they
do not push employees to grow and develop new capabilities.
People who
have too many functional goals may feel as if they are stuck in
a rut, doing the
same things over and over.
• Self-focused development goals are low in
organizational value but high in
development value. The advantage of these goals is they allow
employees to
take developmental risks since failure will not have a major
negative impact
on the business. The disadvantage is that employees may never
get around to
these goals since they are not important to the organization.
This quadrant is
sometimes referred to as the “books I want to read” or “classes
I keep hoping
to take” section of someone’s goal plan.
Underutilization goals are low in both
organizational value and developmental
value. These may be goals that used to have more value but have
become
less important or less challenging over time. Underutilization
goals provide
little value to the company or the employee and should be
removed from an
employee’s goal plan if possible. It may make sense to reassign
these goals to
other employees who will gain more developmental value from
performing
them. What may be a relatively unimportant and
low-development-value goal
for a more tenured employee might be a challenging and important
goal for a less-experienced employee.

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