Why this matters now
This month’s Ag Leader’s Edge is all about one question: Can your employees clearly see how their work moves the business forward? If not, engagement and execution suffer.
Quick Win of the Month
A Simple Alignment Test
Employees who clearly understand how their individual goals connect to the organization’s goals are 3.5x more likely to be engaged—yet only 44% of employees strongly agree they can make that connection. [Gallup] Not sure where your team stands? Ask.
“What are our goals of the business?”
“What does that mean?”
“How do your goals and work impact the business?”
“How do you know that you have achieved that?”
Try this today: Ask one team member to explain your top 3 business goals, without notes.
Featured Article
Why SMART goals aren’t enough: The missing pieces of effective goal cascading
While SMART goals are important, they're insufficient for effective goal cascading because they often lack the connection between business objectives and employee actions. The key is creating employee goals that are leading indicators and ensuring employees can draw a clear line from their individual actions to business success.
Bottom line: If employees can’t answer “What should I do differently tomorrow?” your goals aren’t cascading, they’re stalling.
The People Spark® Podcast
Practical goal-setting that actually changes behavior, not just dashboards.
Episode 4: Goals That Drive Behavior “Goals are effective if they are driving the behaviors we want to see.” Vague goals make people walk in circles while thinking they’re on track. In this episode, we turn “grow” and “do better than last year” into specific, observable behaviors at every level—like the retail “ask in the aisle,” kitchen-first convenience store strategy, and cross-selling that respects relationships. You’ll learn how to set role-based goals that workers can actually act on, create shared targets across business units, and give leaders simple language that keeps everyone pointed at the same landmark.
Episode 5: Stop Guessing, Start Leading Scoreboards don’t change the game, plays do. In this episode we explore how leaders can move from broad outcomes to actionable steps that keep their teams on track. This conversation digs into the difference between lagging goals (the scoreboard) and leading goals (the plays), and why both matter.
Listen if: Your goals sound right but behavior hasn’t changed.
In Case You Missed It
Maximizing Your ROI on Leadership Development
In our December 16 webinar, we broke down why leadership development ROI fails when training isn’t reinforced by environment and how to fix it.
One question to leave you with:
Can your team clearly explain how their work supports your top priorities? If not, that’s where we can help.