31 Aug Goal-Driven Organizations
Using Figure 5.4, describe how to use the model to set developmental goals for the employee population. Are balanced goals important? Explain.
Figure 5.4 provides an example of a person’s work goals plotted based on
organizational value and developmental value. The goals are divided into four
quadrants: business-driven development, functional, self-focused development,
and underutilization.
Business-driven development goals are high in organizational value and high in
development value. These are things that employees have to do for work that will
require them to gain new experiences and develop new skills. These goals tend to be
highly meaningful to employees because they are both important to the company
and help them build capabilities to advance their careers. The downside of these
goals is that they tend to be mentally demanding. They require learning how to do
the work while getting the work done at the same time. People who have too many
business-driven development goals risk becoming overwhelmed or burning out:
Functional goals are high in organizational value but low in development
value. These are things that employees know how to do and have typically
done before. They are not necessarily easy, but they are familiar. The advantage
of functional goals is they allow employees to contribute to the organization
by focusing on important but familiar tasks. The disadvantage is they
do not push employees to grow and develop new capabilities. People who
have too many functional goals may feel as if they are stuck in a rut, doing the
same things over and over.
• Self-focused development goals are low in organizational value but high in
development value. The advantage of these goals is they allow employees to
take developmental risks since failure will not have a major negative impact
on the business. The disadvantage is that employees may never get around to
these goals since they are not important to the organization. This quadrant is
sometimes referred to as the “books I want to read” or “classes I keep hoping
to take” section of someone’s goal plan.
Underutilization goals are low in both organizational value and developmental
value. These may be goals that used to have more value but have become
less important or less challenging over time. Underutilization goals provide
little value to the company or the employee and should be removed from an
employee’s goal plan if possible. It may make sense to reassign these goals to
other employees who will gain more developmental value from performing
them. What may be a relatively unimportant and low-development-value goal
for a more tenured employee might be a challenging and important goal for a less-experienced employee.
