You Can Hit the Target and Still Miss the Point

On paper, the quarter looked fine.

Targets were set, priorities were outlined and agreed to, heading into the next 90 days.

But as we started to walk through it together, something felt off.

There was a target, and the closer we looked at it, the less clear it became what success actually meant. The bullseye was subjective, not just a little open to interpretation, but loose enough that two people could "hit it" and walk away with completely different conclusions whether anything meaningful had actually been accomplished.

Beyond that, there was no real clarity on how to get there or why it mattered enough to do it at all. Just a shared sense that it was important because it had been written down.

It was a target that existed because it felt like the right thing to include. Because the system said this is what you're supposed to do. Because you need something to aim at.

When that's the origin of a priority, something shifts.

You’re working because the target exists, not because it matters, and the people doing the work feel that difference, even when they can’t always articulate it.

—

So what do you do when the system tells you something matters, but it doesn't actually make sense?

Most people don't question it. They push forward, assuming the issue is execution. They try harder at something that was never clearly defined in the first place because it's easier to keep moving than it is to stop and look directly at what's been there all along.

—

We stepped back and reworked the priorities, not to add polish or better formatting, but to make them real, grounded in clear outcomes, and something that would actually matter when achieved.

The conviction around the work changed almost immediately, not because the new priorities were easier, but because the people doing the work could see why they mattered.

—

Not all outcomes are equal, even when they look similar on a slide or a plan.

Some move the business forward in ways that can be felt, while others give the appearance of progress without the substance of it.

The difference is what happens over time: whether the work compounds into something or it simply continues without ever really adding up to anything.

—

If no one questions the difference, the system will keep producing targets.

Whether they're worth chasing or not.