Moving beyond the task

After a weekend away from work, and meeting with a few people who I am lucky enough to coach, I am thinking about one big idea: Have we become so task focused that we have forgotten about our goals?

One of the leaders whom I coach sent a long email on Friday. After a day with family and reflecting on the successes and struggles of her team she was taking stock of their progress towards long-term organizational goals. As I read the email it was clear that she was first and foremost thinking about how to support her team. Second (though I don’t think she realized it at the time) she was summarizing what so many people struggle with: her focus on task completion isn’t getting her closer to the goals she is responsible to achieve.

“We need to do all of these things to get to our goal…” was one of the first standout statements in her initial email to me.

She isn’t alone in her thinking that completing tasks will move a team ahead. We are a (somewhat) task obsessed species. We make to-do lists (so much so that there is actual research on the effectiveness of those lists). We use communication tools to assign tasks and see them through. We focus a lot on what needs to be done, and sometimes that focus detracts from our focus on the end-state we are seeking to achieve.

As I went back and forth on email with this amazing female leader I reiterated something that we often forget.

Tasks are things that we do in a relatively short term / even if they are repeated. Goals (things…