My Manager Keeps Changing Our Goals, Help! (Ask Christa! S7E78)

Introduction

Hi everyone, and welcome to Ask Christa! I’m Christa Dhimo, and my show is a free resource to help people get through common day to day issues at work. In each episode I answer a listener question about business challenges and workplace issues, and you know how it helps to like and subscribe—and I THANK YOU for the support.

This is episode 78 in Season SEVEN, which continues our focus on Dealing with Bad Bosses. Remember: all my episodes offer additional resources, too, so check them out in the show notes.

Today’s episode is about what to do when the goal posts keep changing and your manager keeps shifting the target—worse yet, continues to adjust goals you’ve already agreed to.

Listener Question

Here’s the listener question, “My company is a small start up, which I love because I get to wear a lot of hats. I come from a larger organization, and that felt restrictive compared to my experience now. The only problem is they are flimsy with a few critical processes that I believe are required to feel successful, one of them being how they manage goals. For example, my boss has changed our team goals a few times, and I don’t mean just an adjustment or a tweak here and there; I mean she has shifted gears where we were doing one thing for five months and recently we scrapped all that work and started on brand new items. The company is strong and focused on vision, but doesn’t seem to realize that in order to get work done, you have to actually be focused and disciplined without the moving targets it feels like we have. How should I address this with her—help!”

Changing Lanes Mid-Drive (and startups)

This is one of those situations where a company can be strong on vision and weak on operational discipline, and that gap creates a lot of pain for the people doing the work, and I have to say, smaller companies, especially the start-up types, are notorious for claiming that operational discipline holds them back. But when I hear that what I actually hear is, “I have no idea how to run a business—I only know how to think up big ideas then get the funding to run a business, and those are actually two different skillsets and… newsflash: most entrepreneurs have the latter, not the former. This is why we move founder CEO’s on once operational discipline become a critical factor for success.

Our listener clearly likes the startup environment, and I get why. A lot of hats, room to build, fewer layers, more energy, and usually more space to make decisions and hold others accountable. But that kind of freedom only works when there is enough clarity to actually move work forward and get things done. 

If your manager keeps changing goals in a major way, not tweaking, not refining, but fully redirecting after months of work as our listener describes, well… that’s not flexibility or… “being agile” as some still like to say. That’s instability.

When “Being Flexible” Endangers Success

Being agile, in the late 90s terminology, means you learn, adapt, and make thoughtful changes based on new information. It does not mean people are constantly whiplashed by new priorities without considering the consequences or at least offering context for the change, and that context is what can keep things stable even when there IS a big seismic change.

And getting that kind of clarity is a key factor for change and success. Otherwise, you’re wasting time, energy, and your employees’ confidence that what they do now or next actually matters enough to see it through. You’re also diminishing their faith in YOUR ability to set them on the right course and align their efforts in a meaningful way while also measuring their success and development in an equally meaningful way.

Most professionals do not expect perfect certainty at work, especially in a startup. But they do expect enough discipline where priorities are not treated like a moving target every quarter. 

So let’s talk about what you can do.

What To Do When the Goal Posts Keep Moving

First, address the pattern instead of focusing on the latest change, because the problem isn’t the latest change: it’s that it is the LATEST change that has already happened a few times, and it’s affecting focus and clarity. It might sound like this, “I’m all for change when it is what is best, and I’ve gone along with all the changes in our goals over the last few months, but for this one I’m going to ask for more context so I’m clear on what we’re trying to achieve. Our strategic goals are XYZ, and I’m concerned we will miss meeting or exceeding those if we keep changing our team goals. I’m also concerned that we won’t have much output or results to show the organization if we’re not able to complete what we’re working on.”

Then be prepared to be specific, with details: what had already been invested, what dependencies were affected, and where the confusion may be leftover from the last change and what this new change creates by way of new confusion. In doing so, your objective is to show a clear operational cost of shifting priorities. 

Last, pay attention to where this pattern is coming from. Is it the company? Are strategic goals shifting, thereby requiring team goals to shift? Or is it your manager, and is the organization allowing or enabling such a shift?  Yes, startups evolve quickly and sometimes need to make fast decisions, but they were funded largely because of deep diligence, so there should be a bigger plan in place that points to the organizational True North. If you feel you’re getting whiplash every quarter or in between milestones, and you believe this is a company issue, that’s a bigger problem that won’t be solved by you asking your manager about bringing more goal stability to the table. The right question might be a reflective one: “Is this a place where I can realistically succeed?” 

If it’s your manager, see what happens when you ask about the pattern, and of course, as I always say: know your resources! Talk to your trusted mentor to determine what, specifically, you may need to feel some clarity and stability, practice new phrasing, and address the issue at hand.

Additional Resources

For your ADDITIONAL resources, located in the show notes, I’m including three that connect directly to what to do when priorities keep changing and teams are asked to deliver in the middle of constant resets.

The first article is from Fast Company called “How to navigate a boss who keeps changing priorities,” and I feel like this one needs a trigger warning, because it starts with an example many of us can relate to. But the article ALSO offers various research points, four easy criteria to use as assessment tools as you demonstrate impact to constant shifts, and ways to frame the discussion with your boss so you can have a constructive discussion. I highly recommend.

Next I offer an article called, “How to navigate constantly changing priorities at work,” where it reviews the cognitive overload and emotional disruption that teams experience when managers and leaders shift goals. It offers an interesting strategy called “proactive support communication.” The article offers excellent advice and various phrases you can use that I found to be very insightful and useful.

And if it’s happening at the strategic level, the final article I offer is called “Founder’s Trap: When to step aside as a CEO.” These tend to be some of the companies I work with, and it’s always related to whether a founder is ready to shift into more of an operational focus instead of a start-up focus. It discusses “strategic drift” and “decision congestion, and how operating by instinct vs a disciplined focus on data and a bigger operational perspective—which, yes, still requires instinct, but so much more than that—can really tank a business’s prospects for growth.

Wrap Up & Submitting Your Question

And that’s a wrap for episode 78 in season seven focused on Dealing with Bad Bosses. Like and subscribe here, but also go to my site and send in YOUR question. It’s AskChrista.com, that’s Christa with a C-H. You’ll also see answers to other questions, listed by category and season, and every season has a theme. As always, thank you for your support. And remember, if you have a business challenge or a workplace issue—Ask Christa!