Objectives are a cornerstone of organizational control and risk management. So far so good, but how do you know if you have a good objective? More important, how do you know if you have a real-stinker on your hands?
One Big Happy Objective
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina [1]
“Happy Objectives are all alike; every dysfunctional objective is its own screw-up” – Frank Potter (with apologies to Leo).
In the business literature, objectives are usually classified in some standard way, for example [2]:
- Economic Objectives
- Social Objectives
- Human Objectives
- National Objectives
- Global Objectives
Of course you may have one or more objectives in each one of these categories and they may all be brilliant (or stinkers). Assuming the objective is a winner, we’ll call it the ‘Ideal-Objective’ as it probably has these characteristics:
- Is clear and while its commands may be hard at times, is still fair and just.
- Is at least respected by all.
- Spreads its guidance around the organization in such a way that every operation or project is sure they are the most loved child of this objective.
- Is supportive when projects or activities spend the night with other objectives as they know that this will create well-rounded and best developed results.
- Eventually passes but is remembered fondly and becomes a legend that other objectives hope to emulate.
You must know of a number of objectives that fit the above description. Yeah, I have not seen too many Ideal-Objectives either.
A Field Guide To Real Stinkers
If the above is what all objectives aspire to, the following is a slightly tongue in cheek classification of what organizations sometimes have to live with:
| Objective Name | Description and Example |
|---|---|
| Normal-Objective | DESCRIPTION: This is about as close as you will get to the ideal objective. It does many of the ideal-things listed but sometimes forgets the kids at school, over/under-reaches and has other failings. Still, it tries, and it is generally loved and respected. CARE & FEEDING: Hopefully all of your objectives are normal (ish). |
| Step-Objective | DESCRIPTION: This is a newly introduced objective for which projects and operations are forced to fit into. This objective tries hard to be a good normal-objective but occasionally projects might scream at them, ‘You’re Not My REAL-Objective‘. Of course there are EVIL-Step-Objectives. They don’t get along with their sub-objectives, projects, sub-objective or operations. Evil-Step-Objectives can be cast in villain roles unfairly. While there may be true-Cinderella projects, sometimes the new objective brings order and direction to an unruly household (see the first ~40 minutes of the movie The Sound of Music for more on this). CARE & FEEDING: Change management can help a newly arrived objective integrated into a family of projects and operations. |
| Air-Head Objective | DESCRIPTION: Often pretty to look at and appealing to most, they have little if any substance. They exist to primarily perpetuate their own existence. Unfortunately, these vacuous objectives are surprisingly dangerous if threatened. CARE & FEEDING: See the discussion below on Zombie and Untouchable objectives. |
| Cause Célèbre Objective | DESCRIPTION: These objectives are here because they are hip, groovy or sick. Sometimes the underlying reason is enduring (think sustainability, climate change or social obligations) and other times the are fleeting (like the words hip, groovy & sick). This type of objective should not be confused with an objective with a short life-span. An organization reacting to a disaster or unique set of events is not the same as reacting to a ‘viral’ social phenomenon. CARE & FEEDING: Sometimes it is easier to adopt a Cause-Célèbre, let it hang out in the (figurative) basement until one-day you wake up and it has moved on… and a new Cause-Célèbre is knocking at the back door asking to be heard. Direct confrontation is ill-advised with the self-righteous. |
| Nepto-Objective | DESCRIPTION: This objective is here because it is related to someone even if it is not a fit for the organization. It is like the proverbial nephew (or niece!) who is hired and then backs the forklift into something. CARE & FEEDING: Try fire-walling the objective until it matures, disappears or its champion gets tired of cleaning up the warehouse (huh, view the video!). Caution, these can turn into an ‘Untouchable Objective’. |
| Barren-Parent-Objective | DESCRIPTION: This objective so much wants to have a project, operation or even a task to call its own – but it is an objective with no progeny. CARE & FEEDING: Perhaps some day it will be blessed with execution – in the meantime it can become a beloved Aunt Objective or Uncle Goal. Keep an eye out for desperate objectives that try to snatch your projects. |
| Cuckoo-Objective | DESCRIPTION: The mirror opposite of a Barren-Parent, this objective has projects and operations but ignores them. Like the cuckoo bird, it leaves this to other objectives. The child-activities don’t seem to fit in their surroundings and desperately want direction. Quite often this objective will show up at the project-close meeting and claim all of the glory. CARE & FEEDING: Ask tough questions of why an objective exists. If positive answers cannot be provided, perhaps it is time to shut this objective out of the organization. |
| Zombie-Objective | DESCRIPTION: This objective may have started out as an ideal or normal objective but will simply NOT-DIE!. Despite its projects and operations being completed or no longer existing, this objective lingers. Dead-objectives would not be so bad other than the fetid smell of rotting past intentions. As well, this objective poisons the environment for new ideas and innovations. CARE & FEEDING: Every objective should have an automatic sunset clause. |
| Voldemort -Objective | DESCRIPTION: Ideally objectives are written down, stress tested and agreed to and then there are the Voldemort objectives. Based on the Harry Potter character who ‘shall not be named’, these are implicit objectives that exist, exert influence but lurk in the shadows. While there are many unnamed objectives that are benign or beneficial, a Voldemort is not one of them. These objectives exist for their own benefit. CARE & FEEDING: Similar to my blog on Voldemort-Risks, name the objective, bring it into the open and the sunshine. |
| The Untouchable Objective | DESCRIPTION: The final objective may be good, bad or indifferent. It may be pretty, important but it can NEVER be touched. Sometimes known as the ‘Emperor has a Hairy-Mole on his Butt’ objectives, organizational culture explicitly or implicitly protects them. When threatened, they can fight back in surprising ways. CARE & FEEDING: See the above discussion on Zombie and Voldemort-Objectives. |
Sub-Species and How to Use this Field Guide
In nature, every individual creature is unique even if it shares common traits with its species. It is the same with objectives, everyone is unique to the circumstances and organization that has birthed it.
So, why is a field guide needed? Because naming something is the first step to improving it. Laughing (or at least surreptitiously chuckling at Zombie or Voldemort objectives) is one way to help an organization realize their goals, control their risk and
Let me know if you can think of other objective classifications or if my taxonomy is too taxing for the task.
- http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/27719.html.
- Numerous similar classification schemes can be found. This list is from this very accessible article: Classification of Business objectives; https://theintactone.com/2020/01/08/classification-of-business-objectives/
Organizational Biology 