Incompatible Goals
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Dec 22, 2013
Just over 10 years ago I went to Dallas to do a project for a very large consulting firm. The task was simple; do an evaluation of the hospital's charge master and charging system and offer suggestions on how to address them.
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Over the course of 3 weeks I did just that, looking at data, visiting hospitals and talking to people, and once that was completed I came home and put together a 9-page report.
However, while I was there, near the end of the first week, I asked the guy in charge how they wanted to see the information. He told me he wasn't sure since it was the first project he was overseeing and that I should check with one of the other people who'd been working for the organization a lot longer. I did that and was told to just put it together however I saw fit.
My next to last week there I went back to the person who'd told me to just put it together to show her how I was going to format things. She said that wouldn't work for them and at this point she produced a template and said that I should try to follow it. Overall it seemed easy enough, though I did have a couple of questions for her. She told me what she could, and it's that template I used to create my report when I got home.
After many weeks I heard from the person who recommended me that the organization wasn't happy with my report. I asked what the issue was and she said she wasn't sure. I sent her a copy of the report and she said it seemed fine, and that she'd check on it for me.
When I got the answer back, it was dismaying. It seems that what I thought they wanted, what they said they wanted, wasn't what they wanted at all. They didn't want me to solve anything, or to give them ideas on how to solve anything. They wanted me to find problems that they could then turn into more billable hours so they could stay there longer.
Now, had I known that's what they wanted, I'm not sure I'd have gone, though the money was good. Still, I did keep trying to ask them what they wanted, and even the person who communicated with me and got me the gig thought what I gave them was what they wanted. So I didn't worry one bit about any of it, but I always remembered the lesson.
As an independent consultant, it's my business and duty to go into a place looking to help resolve issues when called upon. It's never been my intention to try to get into a place and then find ways to stay there longer than I needed to. Sure, there have been gigs where I knew they probably needed me longer, but all I could do was provide them information and let them come to the decision on their own.
When people who have to work together have incompatible goals, it's hard to get anything completed, let alone completed correctly. While one person wants to get everything right, another person might want to get everything done fast so they can move on to the next project or even just sit back and take a break. That's why someone is usually put in charge of groups of people, to make sure everyone's on the same page and has some guidelines to follow for the overall good of the department.
When leaders don't effectively communicate goals, things will fail, and the only person to blame is the leader, who oftentimes will try to blame someone else. Now, if out of a team of 10 people only one person didn't get it, the blame is less, but there's still some blame there because either the employee needed to be addressed more specifically or let go because they can't efficiently grasp the processes needed to do the job right.
Have you ever found yourself having goals, or trying to complete a project and found that the person you were working with seemed to have different thoughts on the issue? How did you solve it?
What a frustrating experience Mitch! For some reason, it reminds me of a situation where the two top management positions (the CEO and the COO) were replaced with two totally incompetent men. I was unfortunate enough to report to one of them.
While most of the women in mid-management ended up transferring, I ended up quitting. (This was the early 80’s and I could write a book on being a woman in that work environment.) So, my solution was leaving the organization rather than commute to another office with school age children at home.
I couldn’t agree with you more about communication! I eventually ended up at a large nonprofit where I became the unofficial team leader. (At one time, I was leading three of them.) You can bet we documented everything. That’s the key to successfully aligning goals and implementing process changes.
Thanks for a post that reminded me of where I came from and how I got where I am!
Thanks for your comment Sherryl, and often I figure that there are many people who can identify with these things in some fashion. In a scary way, it could have ruined my career but in another way, I figure they wouldn’t have dared say anything because I certainly would have had more to say about them. Horrible way to do business, no matter what it is, and that’s where good communications come into play. But the communicating parties need to be ready for it. 🙂
Most times, my customers doesn’t have any clue about what is involved in my work. Most of the time, they even don’t know what their own business needs or doesn’t have any proper plan or goal. Unfortunately more and more often, I just want to leave a project, just because I try to give 100%, but client just think about money and not for proper business model.
I hear you Carl. There are times when I’m trying to tell someone what’s going on and they don’t understand the subject well enough to know what I’m saying to them. It’s strange, especially when people are in the same field as you, but it happens and can be frustrating.
I just don’t get it, Mitch. It is always about common sense and being focused. I don’t have an explanations, why more and more people lack completely any common sense.
Carl, I just think things have changed to the point where most folks don’t even think about it these days. There’s a lot more “me” thinking, and whereas that’s not always a bad thing they forget about the “we” thinking it takes to really get things done right, and often better.
I think there is a lesson here for as all, and this situation showcases one of the several problems why many businesses and organizations get far less success than they could.
It all comes down to how much they care about the quality provided, be it in teams working on projects together or customer service.
I have never found myself in a situations such as this, however I plan to have my own company one day, and it is thanks to posts like this that I know I can do a good job at it.
Good stuff Pau. Yes, teamwork becomes a very important aspect when trying to get things done and needing the input of different people. Having a common goal makes that easier as well, but one has to hope that people are being honest with each other when discussing those goals.