Enough With The Big Hairy Goals -- Also Any Ideas About Assertive AND Effective Bosses?

I am continuing to dig into the details on my list at HBR of 12 Things That Good Bosses Believe.  My post on point 3 appeared today, Having ambitious and well-defined goals is important, but it is useless to think about them much. My job is to focus on the small wins that enable my people to make a little progress every day. 

Or, as HBR editor Julia Kirby called the new post, "Hey Boss, Enough With The Big Hairy Goals." Nice title, the main idea is that yes, big goals matter, but the best bosses devote most of their time and energy to the small wins, the little steps required to achieve them as that is only path to doing so, breaking them down into bite size pieces stops people from freaking-out and freezing-up, and it enables people to experience more pleasure in the process. 

My next post at HBR will be on "One of the most important, and most difficult, parts of my job is to strike the delicate balance between being too assertive and not assertive enough."  If you have any nominations of bosses who are especially good -- or especially bad -- at striking this balance, I would love to hear who they are and what they do. 

Comments

[Joe Marchese]

This is another instance of not Either/Or, but Both (BHAGs and tactical support on the path to the BHAG). In the absence of a BHAG, the pervasive mindset too quickly degenerates into 'what's in it for me (and only me)'. With a team fully enrolled in the achievement of the hairy goal... because they were engaged in setting the goal... there is an energy that tangibly radiates 'we're gonna make this happen!' The daily support of the many steps to make it happen is what good managers practice, while reinforcing the value of where you're going.

[davidburkus]

It was a great read. How much do you think this is a symptom of our tendency to encourage manager's to study leadership texts?