Brilliant Answers

Figure 5.4 Plotting Goals from a Development Perspective

• Functional goals are high in organizational value but low in development value. These are things that employees know how to do and have typically done before. They are not necessarily easy, but they are familiar. The advantage of functional goals is they allow employees to contribute to the organization by focusing on important but familiar tasks. The disadvantage is they do not push employees to grow and develop new capabilities. People who have too many functional goals may feel as if they are stuck in a rut, doing the same things over and over.

• Self-focused development goals are low in organizational value but high in development value. The advantage of these goals is they allow employees to take developmental risks since failure will not have a major negative impact on the business. The disadvantage is that employees may never get around to these goals since they are not important to the organization. This quadrant is sometimes referred to as the “books I want to read” or “classes I keep hoping to take” section of someone's goal plan.

• Underutilization goals are low in both organizational value and developmental value. These may be goals that used to have more value but have become less important or less challenging over time. Underutilization goals provide little value to the company or the employee and should be removed from an employee's goal plan if possible. It may make sense to reassign these goals to other employees who will gain more developmental value from performing them. What may be a relatively unimportant and low-development-value goal for a more tenured employee might be a challenging and important goal for a less-experienced employee.

(Hunt 139-140)

Hunt, Steven T. Commonsense Talent Management. Pfeiffer, 2014-02-10. VitalBook file.