The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

by Patrick Lencioni

A thematic goal is … Singular. One thing has to be most important, even if there are other worthy goals under consideration. Qualitative. The thematic goal should almost never be established with specific numbers attached to it. The opportunity for putting quantitative measures around a thematic goal comes later, and it should not be done too early because it can too narrowly prescribe what needs to be achieved and limit people’s ability to rally around it. Temporary. A thematic goal must be achievable within a clear time boundary, almost always between three and twelve months. Anything shorter than three months feels like a fire drill, and anything longer than twelve invites procrastination and skepticism about whether the goal will endure. (I’ll wait a few months to focus on that because it will probably change, and, who knows, I might not even be working here then.) Shared across the leadership team. When executives agree on their top priority, they must take collective responsibility for achieving it, even if it seems that the nature of the goal falls within one or two of the executives’ regular areas of ownership.