General Motors (GM) was determined to boost its flagging profits and reverse a long, steady fall from postwar dominance. The automotive giant did the natural thing: it set a goal. The company pledged to recapture 29 percent of the American market. It didn't work. GM never did regain 29 percent of the market, and today, is facing the possibility of bankruptcy.
Goal setting is a powerful tool. "When people are asked do their best, they don't," says Edwine Locke, now an emeritus professor at the University of Maryland's R.H. Smith School of Business. "It's too vague." Giving people ambitious and specific goals directs their attention, energizes them, and keeps them engaged longer.
However, goals do not always work in the way they are intended. "It can focus attention too much, or on the wrong things; it can lead to crazy behaviors to get people to achieve them," says Adam Galinsky, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
While it never feels good to give up on a goal, it may be a good time to ask ourselves which goals we need to focus on.
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Picture: goal juve by pierodemarchis
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