Tunnel Vision Targets

‘Tis the season for resolutions. Sometimes those resolutions are about changing habits (“I’m going to get more active next year. For real this time.”) Sometimes those resolutions are about accomplishing goals (“I’m going to run a marathon. Even if it kills me.”)

At the beginning of the year, setting targets seems simple and straightforward. But the world is a complicated place. As Tim Harford writes, “Anything specific enough to be quantifiable is probably too specific to reflect a messy situation.” Translation: sometimes our targets are too narrow for our context. Tunnel vision sets in as we focus on the target and ignore the surrounding data.

In a team setting, narrow targets can incentivize the wrong behaviour. Here are just a few examples:

• Short-term thinking. Teams make decisions that have immediate benefit but are unwise for the long-term horizon.

• Siloed solutions. Teams narrow in on their objective but make decisions that damage other teams and partners.

• Stale approaches. Targets are set based on past performance, so teams mistakenly believe they simply need to be more efficient with tried-and-true methods.

Organizations make matters worse by attaching incentives to those targets. Spurred on by incentives, teams are tempted to take short cuts (which defeats the original intention of the incentive). In extreme cases, teams lie about their progress or try to cheat and game the system. They focus on the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law. 

Moral of the story? Targets should not be established in isolation. They need to be viewed as part of the larger system.

Tunnel vision undermines progress (get it?).

Inspiration

Harford, T. (2016). Messy: How to be creative and resilient in a tidy-minded world. London, UK: Little, Brown. (Chapter 6: “Incentives”)