Creating goals that have meaning

“It’s just a goal.”

That’s a phrase I’ve heard too many times when a business leader engages in a performance review with an employee or when companies embark on a corporate planning effort.

Do they mean that a goal is more like a road sign, pointing the way without regard for whether you actually arrive?

Is it like the proverbial carrot dangled on the stick in front of us, with some motivational value but with no expectation that we will ever feast upon it? (more…)