Avoiding the dangers of leadership goal-setting

by Kent Bottles Setting personal and professional goals is a popular topic of conversation every January with the start of a new year. When I was chief medical officer for a large Midwestern integrated healthcare system, goal setting was taken very seriously and incorporated into the bonus system for the senior executives. At first, writing my first column of 2013 on practical goal-setting tips for hospital and physician leaders seemed like a good idea. Articles advised me to make my goals SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) and to set five-year goals that would naturally lead me to my lifetime goals. I was buying into the entire program until I read that setting goals would help me "spot the distractions that can, so easily, lead you astray." This observation focused my lingering skepticism and sent this column off in an unexpected direction. Distractions increasingly do not lead me astray; they lead me to new discoveries and a more spontaneous existence. Being distracted by that sentence about distractions led me to find fellow skeptics about goal setting. A 2009 Academy of Management Perspectives article titled "Goals Gone Wild" pointed out that excessive goal setting can lead to unethical behavior. One peer-reviewed study found that subjects given a specific goal and/or a financial incentive were more likely to cheat than those who were only instructed to do their best. In his book "The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can...
Source: hospital impact - Category: Health Managers Authors: Source Type: blogs