Help for Stuck Goals

Tips to help you get goals back on track

When goals are Red for more than a couple of weeks, or haven't been started after several weeks, chances are, something has you feeling stuck. Here are some suggestions for getting back on track.

Collaborate & Plan to Get Back on Track

First, Comment on your stuck goal:

1. Why is the goal stuck?
2. What’s the action plan to get to Green (successful outcome)?

Brainstorm Possibilities

Then, talk with your team.

• Gather the key stakeholders and team members involved (your weekly adjustment meeting is usually a great time for this)
• Lay out strictly the facts:
  • Here’s where we are (current state).
  • Here’s where we need to be by the end of the quarter (Green goal).
• Given the facts, ask the team to come up with 20 Ways to get to Green. You can add an Idea Board on your meeting in Rhythm to capture and vote on the ideas.
  • After all the ideas are out there, ask everyone to vote on the top 3.
  • Use "Sort" to see which ideas have the most votes.
  • Pick an idea or two to test out.

You could also try “6 Thinking Hats” or another structured brainstorming exercise, or our Breakthrough to Green Tool.

If the team is truly stuck, maybe rather than coming up with ideas to solve the problem, here are some other prompts to help with the discussion:

1. Are there dependencies out of your control that are blocking your success? How might you mitigate those?
2. What are Plan B or alternative paths to achieve similar results?
3. What are the implications of not solving the problem? What happens if we don't figure it out? Who is impacted if this stays stuck?
4. If we can't get it unstuck, can we do anything to mitigate the impact?
5. Think about who has solved the problem or a similar one before. Is there someone who could coach you or who you could hire or learn about to get ideas? Are there industry experts, publications, blogs, or peer groups you could leverage for help?

Act on Adjustments

Decide on a plan of action, and keep accountable to execution. Capture specific who-what-whens as Tasks on the goal.

Also, be sure to capture your learnings in your Quarter Close Reflection to help you and the team to get better at planning realistic goals in the future.