When Individual Targets Damage Company Performance
Delinking Individual Goals and Company Performance By Dr Riaan Steenberg A company can have many individuals achieving their targets while the organisation…
By Dr Riaan Steenberg
A company can have many individuals achieving their targets while the
organisation becomes weaker. This is the danger of linking personal
goals to company performance too mechanically.
Local Success Can Damage
the System
Sales can hit volume while margin collapses. Operations can cut cost
while customer trust erodes. A manager can meet a target by borrowing
from the future.
Individual goals must be tested against system effects, not only
local outputs.
Use Goals for the Right
Purpose
Some goals guide development. Some guide operating rhythm. Some guide
reward. Confusing these purposes encourages people to manage the measure
instead of improving the business.
Reward-linked goals require special care because they shape behaviour
quickly.
Review the Design
Performance reviews should ask whether the person achieved the goal
and whether the goal was well designed.
A poor goal can produce poor behaviour from capable people.
Management must own that design risk.
Individual goals are useful when they clarify contribution without
fragmenting the system. The real test is whether the company becomes
stronger, not whether scorecards look tidy.
Reading Map
Where to go next.
Follow the thread, jump to a fresh signal, or step into the deep archive. These are discovery paths through the body of work rather than claims about readership popularity.
Continue the thread
The nearest essays in the chronology, useful when you want to keep moving with the current line of thought.
Fresh signals
Recent essays from the archive for readers who want the newest edge of the map.
Deep archive
Older, less-travelled essays that deserve another pass through the reader’s hands.
Open another territory
Choose a larger field of inquiry when the current essay opens more than one door.