Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and Goala giving.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul Fellovledo. Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute
Speaker 1: Leadership Podcast. It's episode six point fifty nine. Today we're
Speaker 1: talking about something every leader deals with the yet very
Speaker 1: few leaders truly get right setting growth targets that people
Speaker 1: actually chase. Every organization has targets, revenue targets, performance targets,
Speaker 1: growth targets, strategic targets, and culture targets. Targets are everywhere.
Speaker 1: Yet here's the problem. Most employees do not chase the
Speaker 1: targets their leaders set. They tolerate them, they acknowledge them,
Speaker 1: They sometimes even memorize them. They rarely pursue them with energy.
Speaker 1: If your team is not chasing the target, the target
Speaker 1: is meaningless. And the reason this happens is simple. Leaders
Speaker 1: often set targets that look good on paper, but feel
Speaker 1: disconnected from the people responsible for achieving them. Let me
Speaker 1: explain this. Many leaders set growth targets from spreadsheets and
Speaker 1: boardroom discussions. The numbers get approved, it goes into a presentation,
Speaker 1: it becomes a slide. It gets announced during a meeting
Speaker 1: and the team hears it. But hearing a target in
Speaker 1: believing in a target are two completely different things. When
Speaker 1: people believe in a target, they move toward it with urgency.
Speaker 1: They talk about it, they measure their progress, They feel
Speaker 1: a sense of ownership. When people do not believe in
Speaker 1: the target, the goal becomes background noise. It becomes another
Speaker 1: corporate buzzword floating around the building. So how do you
Speaker 1: create targets that people actually chase? First, people need to
Speaker 1: see themselves inside the target. If the goal feels like
Speaker 1: it belongs to leadership, only nobody runs toward it. The
Speaker 1: best growth targets connect directly to the work people perform
Speaker 1: every day. The employees should be able to look at
Speaker 1: the goal and say, I know exactly how my effort
Speaker 1: moves that number. If the goal feels distant or abstract,
Speaker 1: motivation collapses. Second, targets must feel achievable but demanding. And
Speaker 1: this is a delicate balance. If a target is too easy,
Speaker 1: nobody feels pride when they hit it. It becomes routine.
Speaker 1: It does not inspire effort. If a target feels impossible,
Speaker 1: people quietly disengage. They go through the motions because they
Speaker 1: believe the outcome is already decided. Great leaders set goals
Speaker 1: that stretch the team without breaking their belief. Think of
Speaker 1: it like this. The target should feel uncomfortable but reachable.
Speaker 1: It should push people to improve their skills, tighten their focus,
Speaker 1: and work together with intention. Third, people chase targets they
Speaker 1: can see. Leaders often announce goals once, then disappear back
Speaker 1: into operational work. Weeks pass, months pass. Suddenly someone asks
Speaker 1: during a meeting, how are we doing on the goal?
Speaker 1: In silence, nobody knows. If a target disappears from daily conversation,
Speaker 1: it disappears from daily effort. Leaders must keep the target
Speaker 1: visible post progress, talk about the numbers, celebrate movement, highlight improvements.
Speaker 1: Visibility creates momentum, and moment them creates belief. Fourth, progress
Speaker 1: matters more than perfection. One of the biggest leadership mistakes
Speaker 1: is waiting until the finish line to recognize effort. When
Speaker 1: people are working toward a difficult target, they need proof
Speaker 1: that their effort is producing results. Even small improvements build confidence.
Speaker 1: Imagine two teams. One team here's about a target once
Speaker 1: a quarter. The other team tracks their progress every week.
Speaker 1: They see the needle move they watch their effort produce
Speaker 1: visible results. Which team will chase the goal harder, The
Speaker 1: one that can see progress. Progress fuels motivation, and finally,
Speaker 1: the most important point, People chase targets that feel meaningful.
Speaker 1: This is where many leaders miss the mark. Numbers alone
Speaker 1: rarely motivate people. Purpose motivates people. If the growth target
Speaker 1: only benefits the organization, employees feel like they're working harder
Speaker 1: for someone else's scoreboard. When the target connects to something meaningful,
Speaker 1: everything changes. Maybe it improves the customer experience, Maybe it
Speaker 1: strengthens job security. Maybe it expands opportunities for the team.
Speaker 1: Maybe it creates pride in the work. When leaders explain
Speaker 1: why the target matters, the number becomes a mission and
Speaker 1: people chase the mission. Here is a simple leadership exercise
Speaker 1: you can try this week. Take one growth target inside
Speaker 1: your organization and ask three questions. Do people understand it?
Speaker 1: Do people see how they influence it? Do people care
Speaker 1: about it? If the answer to any of those questions
Speaker 1: is no, the target needs work because the best growth
Speaker 1: targets do not live inside spreadsheets. They live inside people.
Speaker 1: They live in conversations, daily decisions, and shared beliefs. When
Speaker 1: leaders create targets that people understand, believe in, and see
Speaker 1: progress towards something powerful happens. People stop waiting for direction.
Speaker 1: They start moving toward the goal on their own, and
Speaker 1: that is when leadership shifts from pushing people forward to
Speaker 1: watching them run. So targets are not supposed to sit
Speaker 1: on a slide deck. They are supposed to create motion.
Speaker 1: If you want people to chase growth, make the target clear, visible, meaningful,
Speaker 1: and connected to their work. When the team believes the
Speaker 1: finish line matters, you will not need to push them,
Speaker 1: they will already be running. And if you want more
Speaker 1: free leadership resources, head over to Paul fallavalido dot com
Speaker 1: and click on free Stuff. I have over twenty five
Speaker 1: free leadership documents you can download and start using today.
Speaker 1: This has been the seven minute leadership podcast and I
Speaker 1: think thank you for listening. For more Paul Fell of
Speaker 1: Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com