Development goal: English instead of football
The development-related goals remain. Instead of training, Müller took part in English classes and studied at home. That’s his goal, even if he doesn’t feel like holding press conferences in English and doesn’t intend to move to the Premier League. He has just extended his contract in the Bundesliga and is already 33 years old. The central defender could actually go to the press conferences, as we know he played in Manchester for many years and is therefore certainly fluent in English. But he has different goals.
The rhetoric course comes in handy for Müller. Could be useful if the striker wants to join Sky or Dazn as a co-commentator after his active career. This goal finally coincides with his private interest. All that remains is goal-scoring training. As already mentioned, it hasn’t proven to be a good idea to shoot at goal from every position, even though Müller has undoubtedly improved here. He even hit the crossbar twice.
In everyday business, employee goals are often counterproductive
Anyone who thinks that the football example cannot be applied to their own company is certainly right. But there are parallels. Let’s just take sales: It doesn’t help anyone if the salesperson has to address 150 customers a year instead of 120, but agrees fewer deals because he can no longer take enough time for each individual customer. Or let’s take IT support, which is now supposed to process even more tickets, but solves fewer problems due to a lack of time, which is why users now help each other and the Hey Joe effect takes effect. Or the clerk who has 20 percent more cases on the table but ends up in the mental hospital with burnout.
Target agreements follow the illusion that there are simple solutions to complex tasks. The idea of motivating employees, supporting them in a targeted manner and giving them the feeling that they are an important component in a functioning system is honorable. It just doesn’t work. Companies are constantly changing, and in the rarest of cases it is possible to formulate meaningful individual goals, starting from the corporate strategy down to the lowest working level. After all, the consulting firms make good money from maintaining this illusion.
In the end, it is important for companies and their boards to inspire people and create a culture of trust. It’s about meaningful tasks, belonging, a sense of community – and ultimately about bonding. If employees have clarity about where they want to go and also feel like they are making a valuable contribution and being treated honestly and fairly, they will feel responsible and act accordingly. Then, to stick with footballers’ language, they sometimes go where it hurts.
They don’t focus on their particular goals, but rather on the team in which everyone enjoys working together and supporting each other. People complete their tasks with motivation and conviction – without having to constantly be held to a carrot. And finally: It is also a good idea to involve people in the success of their company and to get through dry spells together. This helps the company’s goals more than any company target agreement.
