Where To Go?

Tuesday, 02. February 2010 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.

I recently heard 4 questions that help a leader think about, and determine, their strategic course. The questions are:

  1. What are you trying to achieve?
  2. What are you trying to preserve?
  3. What are you trying to avoid?
  4. What are you trying to eliminate?

These 4 questions can also be restated as:

  1. What do you want - that you currently do not have? (Achieve)
  2. What do you want - that you already have? (Preserve)
  3. What don’t you have - that you also do not want in the future? (Avoid)
  4. What do you have now - that you do not want to keep in the future? (Eliminate)

The “Goals Grid” shown below was derived by arraying “Yes” and “No” answers in relation to “Have” and “Want” conditions - as reflected in the questions above. The “Goals Grid” shown is a useful tool in achieving goal clarity - for achieving what the focus and next steps for a leader, or organization, should be. It prompts leaders to think about their goals and objectives in an organized fashion - yet from four different perspectives.

* In Summary… The Goals Grid is a simple, easy-to-use tool for developing goal clarity, and provides a structure for examining the nature of decisions being considered in a organization.

In short, the “Goals Grid” helps answer these questions:

  1. What are we really up to - where are we really headed?
  2. Do we have all the bases covered?
  3. What are we overlooking?
  4. Have we adequately thought this through?
  5. How do our various goals and objectives relate to one another?
  6. What do the patterns tell us about our willingness to embrace risk, and to change?
  7. Are we in conflict with our other goals and objectives?