Have you ever set goals for the organization you lead, only to find them vague, unachievable, and ultimately un-inspiring?  I’m sure we all have – I know I have.  Every leader can set goals for their team that are measurable and achievable.  We can do this by following three simple rules.

1 – Goals should be challenging and inspiring.  For example, say you have an aircraft that hasn’t flown in 30 days due to a part being on order.  The part arrives, and after installing it and flying a successful check flight, squadron readiness will move above 80%.  The challenge is correctly installing and then successfully flying the check flight; the inspiration is achieving a readiness level greater than 80%

2 – Goals should have an end date.  When do we want to achieve our goal?  In our example, setting a goal for Friday by 1:00 PM is reasonable.  This time frame gives us all week to work on the aircraft, allows for weather issues during the check flight, and even potentially allows for additional troubleshooting.

3 – Achieving goals should be rewarded.  The key here is releasing endorphins!  Achieving a win should be celebrated!  Again, using our example, we could reward the achievement with ending the Friday afternoon shift early and allowing everyone to start their weekend a few hours earlier.

Goals are important benchmarks for “moving the ball down the field.”  When we set goals, we need to ensure they are challenging and inspiring, have an end date, and when achieved, are rewarded.