Deciphering the Hidden Meaning Behind "Fuzzy" Goals
By Robert F. Mager

People are often expected to perform in ways that are not reflected in clear and observable tasks. In addition to performing specific skills, they are expected to "demonstrate responsibility" or "take pride in their work." Since these expectations are vague or fuzzy, how will you proceed? What will you do to help people achieve the desired state?

One way is through goal analysis. Goal analysis is appropriate any time these two conditions exist:

1. Someone describes an intent in abstract or fuzzy terms, and
2. The intent is important to achieve.

The function of goal analysis is to define the indefinable, to help you say what you mean by your important or abstract goals. Using goal analysis, it is possible to describe the essential elements of abstract states - to identify the main performances that constitute the meaning of the goal. Once you know the performances that collectively define the goal, you will be in a better position to decide which of these performances need to be taught and which need to be managed. Then you can select the most appropriate teaching or management procedures and arrange to measure your progress toward success.

Breaking Through the Fuzzies
To turn abstractions into a list of performances, write down everything people would have to say or do for you to agree they are achieving the goal. Without editing or judging, jot down everything that can possibly represent the meaning of the goal.

The reason you must complete this exercise without being judgmental is that it is often very difficult for people to think through the cloud of fuzzies to the specifics you are searching for. Usually, when we ask ourselves the meaning of an abstraction, we answer ourselves in yet another abstraction. It just takes a little time to get used to the process of listing performances.

Here are five strategies for getting things down that may help you describe the meaning of your goal. Use whichever is most productive for you.

1. Answer the question, "What will I take as evidence that my goal has been achieved?" If you want someone to demonstrate responsibility, for example, what would it take to make you agree that he or she is achieving this goal? Some possible responses include:

• Carries out assigned tasks on time
• Carries out tasks regardless of the time required
• Carries out tasks regardless of whether others have completed their own tasks
• Offers solutions to problems outside the immediate job

2. Answer the question, "Given a room full of people, what is the basis on which I would separate them into two piles - those who had achieved my goal and those who had not?" After all, you do make judgments about whether your trainees are acceptable in skill or attitude; you do make statements about their understanding or motivation or feeling. Now is the time to lay on the table the basis for those statements.
   
   
3. Imagine that someone else will be charged with the responsibility for deciding which of your trainees have or have not achieved your goal, and that you are going to tell Person X how to proceed. What will your instructions be? What should he or she look for? How will the person know a goal achiever when he or she sees one? Suppose you want people who are conscientious. Think about how you would tell someone how to recognize this state. Should Person X look for people who:

• Work neatly?
• Finish their work on time?
• Ask for extra assignments?
• Stay until their work is completed?

4. Think of people who have already achieved your goal, people who represent your goal, and write down the things they say and do that make them goal achievers. If you can't think of anyone who has achieved your goal, you have a problem. Perhaps your expectations are unreasonable. Perhaps the goal (as you perceive it) is unattainable. If so, then a change in expectation is in order.
   
   
5. If all else fails, here's a sure-fire way to get started. Just write down all the reasons you would never point to someone and say, "This person represents the goal." What behaviors, or absence of behaviors, would cause you to say, "This is not someone who has achieved this goal, and this is why." Once you've listed the negatives, it's easy to turn them around into positive statements.

Once you have jotted down the things you think might cause you to agree your goal has been achieved, you will need to go back over your list and do some tidying up and sorting out. Why? Because you are almost certain to find items that are at least as broad and abstract as the one you started with. You may also find redundancies and duplications, things you have said in more than one way. You may occasionally find items that describe procedure rather than outcomes, or means rather than ends. These are to be deleted, for the object of the analysis is to figure out how to know an outcome when you see one, not how to make one happen.

If a goal is important to achieve, then it is important to do more about that achievement than to simply talk about it in abstract terms. To achieve it, you need purposeful activity, activity that will get you where you want to go.