Publish at May 26 2025 Updated May 29 2025
There are many voices and examples that challenge the received wisdom that objectives are necessary in any process of progress, organizational functioning or learning. Why should this obsession with objectives hold us back rather than help us?
Anyone who's ever played a sport knows this. When hiking, running or cycling, if you're looking at the top of the hill, you get tired quicker than if you're just looking ahead. Considered one of the greatest professional tennis players of all time, Ivan Lendl, comparing management and his competitive game, said
"Managing only for profit is like playing tennis looking at the scoreboard rather than the ball".
There are numerous examples in sports literature of the counter-effects of setting performance targets. The example of Sabine Lisicki, finalist at the 2013 Wimbledon tennis tournament, is particularly telling.
"On the court, the German player couldn't hide her distress. Overwhelmed by Marion Bartoli's commitment from the very first exchanges of the match, she burst into tears on several occasions." (2)
On the other hand, the positive influence of the Flow state on sporting performance has been demonstrated.
"This state, often referred to as 'little clouds' or 'autopilot' is indeed a state of major success, in direct touch with reality, easy, economical, where every action is relevant and mistakes are almost non-existent." (1).
Christian Target cites a characteristic of the Flow state in his "Guide to mental preparation". In it, he points out that "the athlete does not focus solely on the result. The notion of failure or success is absent.
Yet this seems to run counter to the theory of psychologists Edwin Locke and Gary Latham, who in the 60s advocated goal-setting in favor of motivation and performance (3), as did many other motivational theorists (Herzberg or Atkinson, for example).
But perhaps these different points of view simply stem from a lack of clarity as to what is meant by "objective", and how it relates to the effort required to achieve it?
Is an objective a result to be achieved (reducing one's time by 5 tenths of a second), a task to be accomplished (swimming 20 lengths) or a gesture to be performed that will increase one's performance (improving one's grip on the water in the crawl)? Or is an objective a goal to be pursued (bringing happiness to the audience at a competition)? It's probably by clarifying the different meanings and perceptions of the objective that the setbacks associated with setting it can be avoided.
It's interesting to note that the term "objective" as a noun comes in part from a military meaning, " Emploi subst. de objectif: the meaning comes from the language of strategy, which said point objectif, ligne objective (Ac. Compl. 1842) "point, line which one proposes to reach with the troops"(4), and is presented not as a numerical result to be achieved, but as a line or point to be reached.
The principle of obliquity described by John Kay, visiting professor at the London School of Economy, in his book "Obliquity why our goals are best achieved indirectly" (Ed. Profile Books- 2011), indicates that it's often easier to achieve your goals when you're not aiming for them directly.
Olivier Cromwell, a 17th-century English politician, preceded Kay by a few hundred years when he told the French ambassador to England in 1637, M. de Bellievre: "You never go so far as when you don't know where you're going" (7).
The numerical definition of objectives was introduced into corporate motivation theories by our Anglo-Saxon friends. There are many English translations of the term objective: "target", "goal", "objective", and only the term "target" incorporates quantitative and temporal precision. In any case, setting a target result on its own, without intermediate steps or support, amounts to an unproductive injunction to succeed, especially in a learning process.
Abrahmson's research into the theory of learned resignation (5) shows that an individual who perceives the attainment of a goal or task as uncontrollable will do nothing to achieve it. They will resign themselves all the more if they have already lived through the experience, telling themselves "I'll never manage it" or "It's too difficult!
Buurtzog, a Dutch company providing home nursing services, has gone beyond its commitment to the liberated enterprise movement to demonstrate the effectiveness of eliminating performance indicators in organizational management.
Its founder, Jos de Blok, a former health care executive, was fed up with the methods of controlling performance through measured times for each type of care, and precisely calculated rounds imposed on nurses. This type of management distanced nurses from patients, prevented informal dialogue and, ultimately, generated enormous costs for the state in terms of increased visits to emergency departments.
In effect, patients no longer had the space to talk about their concerns or symptoms, and found the ER the only way to remedy them. At Buurtzog, now the leading player in nursing care in the Netherlands, the stopwatch disappeared in favor of nursing team autonomy and listening to the patient. Performance followed.
"In 2011, Buurtzorg enabled a 40% reduction in the overall time spent per patient, a 30% reduction in emergency room admissions for patients under care, a reduction in the length of hospital stays, 60% fewer work stoppages compared with other structures, 33% less turnover and higher levels of patient and doctor satisfaction." (7)
So there are alternatives to Management By Objective (MBO). Invented by Peter Drucker in the 1950s, in a specific context of large, rapidly-expanding American companies requiring decentralization, MPO may no longer correspond to today's context of economic globalization, ever-shortening "Time To Market" innovation cycles and shifting matrix organizations.
Other options exist, and it is perhaps a combination of all these management modes that needs to be applied, taking into account the context of the organization and its priorities (8). The COVID 19 period was a stark reminder of this. As unpredictability became the norm, companies were forced to make brutal changes to their management methods.
Management by rules, which preceded the MPO, can be indispensable in certain environments, such as those of companies requiring great caution in terms of safety. Companies that have opted for values-based management often gain in attractiveness because they provide their employees with more meaning and ethics. Buurstog is an excellent example.
Competency-based management is an option that is too often overlooked as a management priority. It is often only considered by HR departments as a consequence of management by objectives. Areas such as research or IT development need to be carefully managed, in which recruiting, recognizing and retaining new talent are essential to maintaining leadership. Project-based management complements skills-based management to meet market needs.
Learning means progress. Progress means getting out of your comfort zone. When skills are present and well-honed, increasing the difficulty of their application in the face of more delicate conditions is certainly an adaptation, but rarely a threat.
When we are involved in a new learning process, the fear of not succeeding, self-esteem and the perception of sufficient or insufficient means affect our commitment to progress. One of the key factors in designing a training program is the definition of clear pedagogical objectives. This requirement is backed up by a number of arguments: training quality control, results measurement, certification, traceability of learning paths, etc.
However, by focusing too much on objectives and the path to be followed, educational systems, with their funding and guarantee constraints, can stifle their own effectiveness. This excessive focus on measurable results has a number of perverse effects.
Performance anxiety paralyzes learning. When learners focus solely on achieving predefined goals, fear of failure can inhibit the creativity and risk-taking essential to authentic learning. This pressure turns exploration into a race against time, reducing learning to a series of boxes to be ticked.
Measurability also becomes problematic when applied to skills that are difficult to quantify. How can we objectively assess empathy, creativity, adaptability or emotional intelligence? These behavioral skills, crucial in the professional world, resist traditional evaluation grids. Standardizing them risks distorting them or missing their very essence.
Excessive formatting of learning paths can also stifle pedagogical innovation. When everything has to be predictable and measurable, trainers are reluctant to experiment with new approaches, preferring tried-and-tested methods that are sometimes less adapted to learners' real needs.
Rather than starting with abstract objectives, a challenge-based approach naturally mobilizes the targeted skills. The learner focuses on the action to be taken rather than the result to be achieved.
The experimentation and iteration approach is inspired by agile practices and design thinking. It favors short cycles of experimentation, observation and adjustment. Errors become a source of learning rather than a marker of failure. This approach develops adaptability and resilience, key skills in a constantly changing world.
These alternative approaches do not deny the importance of pedagogical objectives, but recognize that authentic learning often emerges from experience, exploration and adaptation, rather than from the simple execution of a predefined plan.
Examples from sport to business show that focusing on results can paradoxically hinder performance and learning. Performance anxiety paralyzes, whereas a state of flow releases potential. Alternatives exist: it's better to focus on what you do rather than on what you have to achieve, to test and adjust rather than follow a fixed plan, to adapt to situations rather than respect rigid indicators.
Authentic learning emerges from experience and exploration rather than from the mechanical execution of a plan to achieve predefined goals. What if we adopted the compass of obliquity, which recognizes the absence of a predictable link between intentions and results?
Sources
(1) Le flow ou l'état optimal de performance... à la recherche du Graal"- Institut de Recherche du Bien-Etre de la Médecine et du Sport Santé - 2007- https://www.irbms.com/le-flow-ou-letat-optimal-de-performance-a-la-recherche-du-graal/
(2) "L'échec sous pression - Le poids du dialogue interne sur la performance" Sophromedia- 2020- https://www.sophromedia.fr/l-echec-sous-pression-le-poids-du-dialogue-interne-sur-la-performance/
(3) The psychology of motivation: The study of the motives of human behavior and strategies for maintaining motivation"- Resiliency Clinic- November 2024- https://resiliencyclinic.com/fr/the-psychology-of-motivation-human-behaviour/
(4) Etymology of the term Objective - CNTRL- https://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/objectif
(5) "Explanatory style theory and sports performance: theoretical foundations, empirical data and perspectives" Cairn Info- 2004- https://shs.cairn.info/revue-science-et-motricite-2004-2-page-9?lang=fr#s1n2
(6) One never goes that far...- Verified Quotes- 2024- https://citationsverifiees.fr/repertoire-des-auteurs/c/christophe-colomb/on-ne-va-jamais-aussi-loin/
(7) Buurtzorg, the homecare revolution and its little French brothers- Forvis Mazars https://www.forvismazars.com/fr/fr/insights/publications-et-evenements/newsletters/newsletter-transfo-sante/news-transfo-sante-4-l-humain-en-transfo-sante/buurtzorg-la-revolution-du-soin-a-domicile
(8) "Going beyond management by objectives: yes, but how?"- Eric Delavallée- 2011- https://www.questions-de-management.com/depasser-le-management-par-les-objectifs-oui-mais-comment/
Buurtzog - https://www.buurtzorg.com/
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