Are you satisfied when your business achieves average results? If you could be the "best" in your industry Cheap Carlos Henderson Jersey , but the industry only realizes average results, would you be satisfied with that? If your answer to either of these questions is "yes," don't waste your time reading more of this; if the answer is no, at least look at this example.
In 1960 the Soviet Union shocked the world by putting Yuri Gagarin into orbit around the earth. Then they did it again eight months later. The United States' anemic response was to put Alan Shepard into a sub-orbital flight in 1961 and to put John Glenn into orbit in 1962. We were seriously behind in the space race. Then in 1962 President John Kennedy announced that the United States would "put a man on the moon by the end of this decade and return him safely to the earth."
But, here's the most startling thing about that announcement - we had no idea how we were going to do it! We hadn't built a space capsule that would make the trip. We didn't have a rocket big enough to get the capsule into earth orbit Cheap Demarcus Walker Jersey , let alone send it to the moon. We had never docked two things together in space. No human being had ever walked in space. We had never orbited anything around the moon - we hadn't even crashed anything into it.
All of these tasks had to be mastered before we could be successful and we hadn't done any of them. And yet here was the President of the United States proclaiming that we were going to get to the moon in less than eight years. Kennedy has been applauded by history for the vision and the strategic thinking he showed in setting this national objective. But it was also a "stretch" goal, if there ever was one; and that's not the way most businesses work in the real world.
Before we get into stretch goals, however, let's put something on the table - they are not for everyone. The real issue for any business is why bother with them at all - why do you need the aggravation of being on the cutting edge? What's so bad about being "average" ? especially if you're comfortable, making the living that you want to make Cheap Justin Simmons Jersey , and leading the life you want to live? So here's the second opportunity to stop reading; if being average is where you are, the rest of this is probably not going to impress you much.
Most businesses are very "incremental" about what they do. Businesses managers look back at what they've accomplished over the past few years, make a quick assessment of the way the economy looks, and say to themselves "5% seems about right." It's hard to break old habits. Going for stretch goals normally involves taking risks and we've conditioned ourselves to avoid that, unless we are sitting on a "burning platform" and the risk of following the path we've always been on is obviously greater than the risk of doing something different
But Cheap Jake Butt Jersey , here's the problem with being incremental - there is always someone else "out there" who sets the curve, who redefines the way your business is being done, and who has an idea that shakes things up. You may not even know it's happening;"the landscape is littered with businesses and industries that 'didn't see it coming." So, while you are sending the message to your people that they can perform at the same comfortable, do-able Cheap Garett Bolles Jersey , non-threatening pace that they always have, someone else is doing a better job and setting you up for a broadside that you may not see coming until it's too late.
Don't tell yourself this is a "big company" problem - it has nothing to do with size. Smaller businesses fail every day, because they became too comfortable with what was going on around them and didn't look down the road. Small business owners and managers are no less prone to freezing up in the face of change than large corporate managers. Too many times, when changing the strategic focus, or creating a new product line Cheap Matt Paradis Jersey , or moving to another location, or taking some other bold step was the "right" answer, small businesses ended up failing, because they kept doing the same things instead.
A stretch goal is something that you've never done before and that you don't know how you're going to accomplish. It's new, it's different Cheap Derek Wolfe Jersey , it's radical, it's hard - maybe it's always been considered "impossible." Like going to the moon, you think it can be done, but you don't know how you're going to do it. Sometimes you can't prove to others that it can be done by pointing to someone else who has done it before - because it hasn't been done before. And, even it has been done by someone else Cheap Chris Harris Jr. Jersey , it hasn't been done by you!
So, again, why bother with stretch goals; because very few businesses set them, fewer still actually achieve them and they are a way to differentiate your business and create real competitive advantage. It's human nature to want to take the path of least resistance and challenging your business with a culture of stretch goals is difficult. If you are facing a crisis, it's easier - you either stretch Cheap Emmanuel Sanders Jersey , or you fail. If the platform is not burning, though, and the crisis is either not staring you in the face, or is far enough over the horizon to not worry about - it's hard to get people's attention!
Achieving stretch goals doesn't happen without someone leading the process; too much change has to take place and change never happens without someone making it happen. But, when you lead by setting and achieving stretch goals Cheap Demaryius Thomas Jersey , the people you are leading can be happier for two reasons - your company is a lot more of an interesting place to work and they'll feel as though they made a contribution and are part of something. Those two benefits are a lot more important in the long run than paying your people a few bucks more.