How Sex Therapy Advice Can Improve Job Performance Reviews

Available for Interviews: Roger Hall.

Dr. Roger Hall has a doctorate in Counseling Psychology, is an Executive Coach to entrepreneurs and leaders, and is an in-demand public speaker throughout North America.

 

Talking Points from Roger Hall 
on Goals vs. Desires in Job Performance Reviews:

I read a sex therapy book that made the distinction between a desire and a goal.  This mistaken notion can help employers create better job performance reviews. 

• Goals are different than Desires. A goal is something you want that requires no one else’s cooperation. A desire is something you want that requires the cooperation of at least one other person.

• One mistake I see that bosses make with their employees is they give them annual goals, but those annual goals aren’t really goals they are desires.
• If a manager gives an employee a goal that requires the cooperation of at least 1 other person, it isn’t a goal it’s a desire.
• The same is true for marriage, it is a wonderful desire to have a happy marriage, but it is a lousy goal. A good marriage is a great desire, but a lousy goal.
  
• Being a good husband or a good wife is a great goal. The side effect of a husband working to be his best and a wife working to be her best is a happy marriage.

• Same is true for work. Good boss, good direct rapport leads to a good working relationship.

Solution

1.     If you are a manager make sure that your performance evaluations focus on activities that are goals not desires. If a performance evaluation metric requires the cooperation of another employee, then it is a desire, not a goal.
2.     In your personal life, focus on what you can do without the cooperation of anyone else—otherwise, it is a desire.