Last week I wrote about how the inherent messiness of people and reality means goal-setting takes constant effort to get right - and that keeping the process around it deliberately simple is a way to help with this.
This week I went to take another perspective on this problem that reveals something important about frameworks.
It sometimes seems like everyone is on the hunt for the perfect goal setting framework.
"Let’s implement OKRs and then we’ll have clarity and alignment!"
So you try it, and at first it works. But the framework soon begins to dominate the underlying activity, and becomes a stale bureaucracy.
Why does this happen?
It is because we often assume the power is "in the framework". But it is not. A framework relies on the way that it is led1. It requires someone to stand outside and tell us how to use it, how to relate to it. “Standing outside a system” is leadership.
There is a karate kid problem here:
"It's like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory!"
The finger is your framework (eg OKRs). The moon is the true goal (extend your offering to a new beneficiary group). It takes leadership to continually get people to look beyond the obvious, immediate, concrete reality of the framework - to the distant, intimidating, and possible mythical true goal. The concrete is comfortable. The mythical is not!
This comfort has a value. We cannot face the infinite openness of everything constantly. Narrowing our focus to something more manageable helps us take action. But we need leaders to push us beyond that comfort or we will get stuck there.
This brings us back to K.I.S.S. again: a framework is a set of training wheels. It needs to be kept to the minimum, so that the framework serves us rather than having us become the servants of the framework.
This leadership work takes time. It takes a willingness to face some interpersonal discomfort, by challenging others and asking awkward questions. But it must start with challenging ourselves to not fall into the trap either.
So a question to ponder: how are you directing attention “to the moon” with your team right now? Could you find a way to do 1% more of that?
By reminding yourself to stay re-oriented to your organisation's deeper goals, your interactions will start to change and you will be developing your leadership.
To make an even stronger claim: No organisational technology works in the absence of leadership. I have seen some that claim to, and my experience is that these claims are false.