Why Realistic Goals Matter — and How to Set Them

One of the regular challenges I hear coming from the project management community is the idea that our organizations are setting unrealistic goals. This is a tremendous challenge because setting unobtainable goals can lead to
project failure, low morale and a culture of insecurity.

It's vitally important to spend time working with our project management offices (PMOs) and sponsors to develop realistic timelines and goals that are achievable in the short- and long-term. Why? Because this is going to help maintain motivation throughout the project as each milestone is obtained. Additionally, it will help you communicate progress more effectively to your sponsors and gives you the capability to set clear, reasonable expectations at the start of the project. Here are three ways you can set better goals that motivate your teams, sponsors and stakeholders:

1. Ensure clarity of project goal. To effectively set proper goals for your team, you need to make sure that your goals are in line with the project's objectives. Too often projects go astray because the project's goals aren't clear or don't align with the business objectives of the parent organization. This can be managed by making sure that you clarify the project's goals at the very start. For example, set up a meeting with your sponsor or executives to talk about project objectives, how they will be measured, and the sponsor's role and responsibilities. This simple step ensures that you have clarification and can work with your team to set goals that are in line with sponsor expectations. 
2. Take a short and long view of the project. It's often too easy to look at the end result of a project and say that is the only goal that matters. This can throw off your team and demoralize everyone involved, because if you are dealing with a project that can take years to complete, there is no sense of accomplishment, even when you have completed a major milestone in the project's life cycle. That's why you need to set short- and long-term goals. The short-term goals will do two things: First, they help your team members stay motivated and drive progress by giving them an occasional sense of accomplishment. Second, they give good insights on whether the project is on- or off-course, making it much easier to adjust the schedule and plan accordingly. 
3. Communicate. Everything in project management comes down to communication. In setting goals for your team, you need to communicate consistently. A successful communication strategy focuses on clearly relaying the project's objectives and goals and how those support the organization's mission; explains how the short- and long-term goals relate to each other; and allows you to maintain control over expectations. 

While it isn't possible to control every variable on every project, a project manager can make great strides in team performance by using goals to set proper expectations. 

What helped you set proper goals in a recent project?

By 

Dave Wakeman, PMP