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Are Your Goals in Conflict? By David G. Jensen

08/13/2012 7:43 PM | Deleted user

Are Your Goals in Conflict?

How often do you feel pressed to accomplish more than time allows? Do you strive to reach major goals (e.g., meet a project deadline) and need to accomplish smaller tasks (e.g., provide information for a report or serve on that committee)? Does your work ever seem to conflict with what you want to get done at home, like it did for the central character in the great foreign film, Twilight Samurai? The protagonist is a gentle warrior and single parent, raising his two daughters. Yet he also has to work his day job at the warehouse, labor in his garden, and perform his samurai duties whenever the Shogun called. Sound familiar?

University of Houston Professor Steven Brown and his team call this goal conflict: "the degree to which individuals feel that their multiple goals are incompatible1."  They studied the effect of goal conflict on the performance in 153 employees, and found that conflicting goals decrease employee commitment, self-efficacy, and overall performance.

So, what can you do? How can you and your team manage the goal conflict you may feel in today's hectic, complex, and competitive work and home environment? Here are a few practical ideas:

Saying Yes Leads to No. Before we can decide how to juggle, we need to decide what to juggle. The Samurai turned down repeated requests by colleagues to join them for a drink after work. He knew he didn't have time for everything, so he focused on the most important things. Do you focus on the fundamental few or get caught up in the meaningless many?

A few weeks ago, as I was teaching an organization how to use project management tools to increase productivity, a participant asked how to manage her manager who often dumped last-minute projects on her. I recommended that she first find out what was most important to him, and then align her priorities with his. Whenever he gave her last-minute projects, I suggested she show him her list of priorities and ask him where he would place the task if he were in her position. Saying yes to his priorities will lead her to saying no to his dumping.

When you say yes to your (and/or your manager's) most important goals, goal conflict decreases because you, like the Twilight Samurai, will find it is easier to say no to what's not important. What are your priorities? Does a review of your calendar (PDA, Outlook, appointment book...) show congruence between what you say is important and where you time goes?

Believing Leads to Achieving. A strong belief that we can take the steps to reach our goals is a strong predictor of goal achievement. This is the belief, called self-efficacy. Professor Brown found that people who had higher self-efficacy spent more time planning how to deal with goal conflict and more effort overcoming obstacles than their low self-efficacy counterparts. The stronger the believing the higher the achieving.

One way to increase self-efficacy is to use the power of modeling. Modeling directs us to learn from those who are achieving the goals we are striving to achieve. The Twilight Samurai studied with a master in short-sword fighting. He drew on this skill to swiftly deal with issues the emperor dumped on him... so that he could get back to his primary goal of raising his girls.

If you are struggling with goal conflict, modeling suggests that you find a coworker who is successfully dealing with similar issues. Ask if you can learn from them by watching and discussing their approach. Then adapt what they do to fit you. If you can't find a role model nearby, perhaps a book, class, or audio-program would suffice. Where can you find accurate information to help you strengthen the belief you can achieve your primary goal?

Working Hard Leads to Feeling Good. Professor Brown found that positive emotions resulted not only from achieving a major goal, but also from engaging in goal-directed behaviors. In other words, when people work hard to perform well, they feel better about themselves whether or not they reached their goal. Working hard leads to feeling good independent of the outcome. The Twilight Samurai put his entire being into all his activities regardless of what they were.

This research and the samurai are teaching us to be fully present in all we do. One way to become more engaged in the task at hand, is to use all your senses as you focus on achieving your goals. Ironically, you may feel better about managing your conflicting goals by focusing on what is right in front of you. The gift of life is the present. What do you hear, feel, smell, and see as you work your way throughout your day?


Next time you feel overwhelmed by work, underappreciated, or just plain tuckered out... say yes to what's most important, believe you can achieve, and focus on what is in front of you. At the end of the day, how surprised will you be that you feel good about who you are because, like the Twilight Samurai, you have lived well today?

Keep stretching when you feel pulled,
Dave

1Stephen Brown and John Slocum, The Effect of Goal Conflict on Performance, Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, (2002) 9 (1), 77– 89.


P.S. Dave Jensen transforms proven leadership tools into client success stories. Dave is an executive coach, leadership expert, and an engaging speaker at conferences, meetings, and retreats. Dave can be reached in Los Angeles, CA at (310) 397-6686 or at http://davejensenonleadership.com/

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