Kendall L. Stewart, M.D.

Once you focus on results by identifying performance metrics, you will need to set some goals. To your surprise, even your best people will lobby to set goals that are easy to achieve. People want to feel good about themselves as they are. Very few people roll out of bed every day looking forward to working hard. We all want to do only what we want to do and we want it to be easy, fun and quick. And the idea that one’s performance must keep improving year after year is positively annoying to people who have convinced themselves that they are already special.

1. Begin where you are. Set annual goals that are both tough and realistic. Setting the 95^th percentile as your target when you are currently functioning at the 10^th percentile is ridiculous. Such expectations are not motivating; they are merely discouraging. As you approach top quartile performance, strive for smaller improvements each year. It’s a lot harder to go from the 89^th percentile to the 91^st percentile than it is to improve from the 38^th to the 45^th.

2. Use comparative performance to set your goals. If you are producing at the 6^th percentile and your competitor is already functioning at the 51^st, you will look pretty stupid setting your goal at the 12^th percentile.

3. Decide on the level of performance you expect to sustain over time. Most leaders would agree that the organization that is consistently producing results across the company in the 90^th percentile (the top 10 percent in the country) is a better organization than one that hits the 99^th percentile in one or two areas and is merely average in the rest.

How do you assure that your goals are both demanding and realistic?