Part 2: From Roofshots to Moonshots – what you need to be able to actually implement highly ambitious goals
Wanting to work with highly ambitious goals is one thing. Actually being successful with highly ambitious goals is quite another. Simply increasing existing target KPIs such as sales or profits significantly is not enough. The checklist for your entrepreneurial "flight to the moon" includes your own definition of success, a trusting environment and a radical focus.
1. Your own definition of success If we remember that highly ambitious goals always represent complex problems that are new to us, for which we have no instructions and for which we first have to work out the solution, then the demand for goal achievement cannot be the same as for a "normally ambitious goal".
The OKR framework distinguishes:
Normally ambitious goals = roof shots | Highly ambitious goals = moonshots |
seem just about achievable, the solution is known | are beyond what seems achievable, the solution is not known |
Success = goal achievement 100% | Success = target achievement already below 100% (depending on ambition) |
Let's say your team took two moonshots and achieved the following results:
The team wants to acquire 100 new customers per month instead of 50. In the end, they manage to acquire 70 new customers. The target achievement is 70%, the increase is 40%.
The team wants to reduce the time it takes to contact customers about complaints from 100 to 10 minutes. The team delivers 30 minutes. The target achievement is 67%, the reduction is 70%.
Your team has put in a lot of effort, developed new approaches and achieved improvements that were far above average in both areas - but at the same time achieved goals that were below average. How would you evaluate these results? Are they failures or successes?
It is important that you clearly define success and failure in advance when setting your goals. This creates clarity and at the same time keeps the evaluation of the result simple.
Recommendation:
Start with what you have and learn to set increasingly ambitious goals
Always check what seems to be achievable with the available options
Ideally, set a fixed value as the success limit for moonshots, e.g. from 70%
2. A trusting environment In order to develop solutions for highly ambitious goals, your team must be creative, try out new things and test different approaches. A positive approach to mistakes is therefore a basic requirement in your spaceship. Learning is the main focus because not every new idea can work.
Your team must be able to trust that failures do not lead to accusations or even punishment, but rather form the basis for mutual learning and development. Without trust there are no mistakes and without mistakes there is no learning. Despite all the trust, remain vigilant when implementing moonshots!
Motivation could suffer: achieving “only” 70% of a goal could be frustrating.
Attitudes could suffer: employees could make 70 the new 100.
Managers could still encourage teams to always achieve 100%.
3. A radical focus Your team must never lose sight of the moon. It must always keep the spaceship on course and ensure that it lands on the moon under all circumstances. It must not allow any distractions that could jeopardize this goal. No matter how turbulent and hectic the day-to-day work may be, no matter what other departments or bosses suddenly demand, the team must remain steadfast.
For all of you who are now thinking, "Another one who talks cleverly about focus - they should show us how it should work for us," we have good news: Creating focus is not an art, but can be learned and implemented in a structured way. Contact us and we will send you our " 5 hacks for creating focus" free of charge and without obligation.
Our last but not least important tip:
Here too, start with the question " Why?"
Why should/do we want to set ourselves highly ambitious goals? Answer this question as a team and then work out your "moon mission" together. Clarify as a team how you define success, what you need to get into the spaceship in the first place and what you want to do to not lose focus!
“Always shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you’ll land among the stars.” (Norman Vincent Pale)