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How Overfocusing on Goals Can Hold Us Back

How Overfocusing on Goals Can Hold Us Back | Writing about Life in the digital age | Scoop.it
From hbr.org - March 25, 2016 9:04 AM

Imagine you want to design a robot that can get through a maze by itself. How might you go about it? First, you would probably define the robot’s objective: Find the exit of the maze. Then you would create a mechanism to reward the robot for moving toward that goal and to punish it for moving farther away, so that over time it finds its way out. But what if the robot comes to a dead end right next to the exit? It’s geographically as close as possible to its objective but it can’t get there. And it won’t want to turn around because that would mean moving away from the goal and getting punished. Your robot would be stuck.

Kenneth Stanley is a professor in artificial intelligence who has studied this problem, the stagnation that can result from dogged pursuit of a prescribed goal. Eventually he and his colleagues arrived at a simple solution. What if instead of rewarding the robot for getting closer to the maze exit, they rewarded it for trying new and interesting directions? They found that this shift in programming significantly improved the robots’ ability to solve mazes — a successful result in 39 out of 40 trials, versus 3 out of 40. Testing objective-less challenges in many other AI contexts, Stanley got similar results. When made to seek novelty, his robots developed surprising and creative solutions to problems they could not previously solve.

 


Via The Learning Factor
rodrick rajive lal's insight:

A lesson on seeking novelty from…robots.: Rigid goals, rigid timelines, and rigid structures leave little scope for creative learning! I have come across educators who adhere to straight jacketed lesson plans and rigid marking schemes with the result that there learners become frustrated and fed up of the learning process! Experiential learning goes beyond rigid structures, thus one shoul never curb the freedom to arrive at prescribed goals, by imposing rigid instructions on learners! 

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Jaro Berce's curator insight, March 18, 2016 7:02 AM

A lesson on seeking novelty from…robots.
Adele Taylor's curator insight, March 20, 2016 5:08 PM

A lesson on seeking novelty from…robots.
Morgan Sams's curator insight, March 21, 2016 12:40 PM

Objective Summary:

The generation were are in seeks the approval of others. If society was not focused on reward for moving closer to a goal, they could find more happiness in their lives, stated Kenneth Stanley. The human race needs to rewire their brains to accept reward when they try a new path. When made to seek novelty,  our society can develop surprising and creative solutions to problems we may not have been able to previously solve.

 

Reaction: 

Dr. Kenneth Stanley had very valid points throughout his article. If my generation of technology would slow down and rely on their minds rather than the internet, I feel as if we could be the next great generation. If we were rewarded for taking the lesser of the two pathes, rather than following what the person in front of us did, we could discover a new world of changes. 

 

Main Points:

1. Technology is going to corrupt society

2. Goals will help you reach your full potential 

3. Rewards can actually be a deficit 

4. Taking the path less travel can lead to great discoveries 
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The Trouble with Putting Goals Ahead of Strategy

The Trouble with Putting Goals Ahead of Strategy | Writing about Life in the digital age | Scoop.it
From www.strategy-business.com - July 4, 2015 2:05 AM

Many business leaders subscribe to the classic definition of strategy as a set of actions designed to achieve an overall aim. In other words, they believe strategy starts with a goal. But for companies that have implemented winning strategies, that’s not how it typically happens.


Via The Learning Factor
rodrick rajive lal's insight:

I guess many of us had all wrong when we put the goal first. Be it business houses, or educational institutions, or even learners, hitting at the goal first, according to the writer of the article, might not have been a sure path to success! Even Bill Gates arrived at the goal after he had made a few attempts to provide an operating system for micro-computers. It was only after a few false starts, one of which was when his software began to be pirated that he decided to have one operating system across different machines with differing configurations. That, I guess was his goal! To have a operating software was his big idea, his goal was to have a single operating system, while his strategy was built through his experience of pushing his product into the market (the piracy of his first attempt probably taught him a lesson in strategy!). The writer of the article makes it clear that the correct path to success starts with 1.Having a Big Idea, 2.Having a Strategy, 3.Having a Goal. Bill Gates is now closest to his goal of ensuring that almost everyother home in the developed world has a computer!

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The Learning Factor's curator insight, July 2, 2015 6:54 PM

Winning strategies start with a big idea.
metsepsis's comment, July 3, 2015 2:49 AM

Thats phenomenal
FELICIA PHILLIPS's curator insight, July 3, 2015 1:01 PM

Starting with your big idea! #strategy #business
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The Three Measures of Your Leadership Success

The Three Measures of Your Leadership Success | Writing about Life in the digital age | Scoop.it
From www.strategy-business.com - January 12, 2016 11:16 PM

Are you a successful leader? This is a difficult question to answer: No matter how good you think you are, the only evidence of leadership is whether people follow you. Self-serving bias distorts your perception of your own successes and failures. Even if you’re incredibly self-aware, you may have trouble with an objective assessment because your direct reports may only appear to be following — they don’t get an option to be physically present — and not every company conducts rigorous engagement surveys or 360-degree reviews.

So how can you gain a reasonably accurate understanding of your success as a leader? Try integrating three distinctive views.


Via The Learning Factor
rodrick rajive lal's insight:

A very powerful insight into three principal areas for leaders to work on, the now, the tomorrow and then the past in exactly that order! Performing well in the present times, meeting targets should have an impact on what you plan for the future, five years, ten years or so. Similarly, according to the writer, it is also important to look back at your past. Take stock of what went well, what went wrong, and what could have been done differently. It is also about connecting to past co workers and staying in touch with previous organisations.

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The Learning Factor's curator insight, January 12, 2016 4:34 PM

Assessing your effectiveness requires looking simultaneously at the past, the present, and the future.
Elías Manuel Sánchez Castañeda's curator insight, January 13, 2016 2:10 PM

Are you a successful leader?

 

According to Business Strategy:

“This is a difficult question to answer: No matter how good you think you are, the only evidence of leadership is whether people follow you”.

 

I agree.

As heads many of us complain that our employees do not have the performance needed by the company and we expect. Although often we spend a lot of time in training them to develop their competencies (knowledge, skills, attitudes and values). If the results (performance of your employees) are not satisfactory, I think that there are at least two reasons that have to do with bosses or owners of the company:

He could not make a good selection and is now trying a person who does not have the profile nor the desire to be, to become a model employee.Not a genuine leader, not leading by example and values, it is not prepared permanently, you want results (transformation of its employees) in the very short term, although many people do not believe me some owners "enjoy" chaos and / or are afraid of success.

Of course there are other reasons (poor performance of employees) originated in the culture of the country, poor training in universities, inept governments and / or corrupt, but this does not absolve the responsibility of the OWNER-LEADER OR HEAD -LEADER.
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The 3 Things That Stop Most People From Achieving Their Goals

The 3 Things That Stop Most People From Achieving Their Goals | Writing about Life in the digital age | Scoop.it
From www.inc.com - April 20, 2015 3:35 AM

How many goals have you set in your life? A hundred? Ten thousand? Even more?

How many of these goals have you actually achieved?

If you're like most people, this second number is going to be a fraction of the first. A big reason is that as soon as you set a goal, three things emerge to stop you. But most of us don't even realize what they are, and as a result, we are just left with our unaccomplished goal and an unshakable feeling of failure.

What if you could not only identify these obstacles but also learn to welcome them? Well, the good new is that you can....


Via The Learning Factor
rodrick rajive lal's insight:

This is an important aritcle which will help you learn to achieve your goals by first addressing the obstacles that prevent you from doing so. The first obstacle is the baggage of considerations that you carry on your shoulders, including negative thoughts that kill initiative at the outset. The second obstacle is formed of your fears, the fear of failure, the fear of stepping out of one's comfort zone, and the third obstacle is formed of roadblocks. Roadblocks unlike the first two are not mental obstacles, rather they are external obstacles like for example your flight getting delayed, or  an important employee leaving the organisation midway! Well there are ways of getting around roadblocks and these include having a plan B or plan C, planning for the unexpected, and anyway having a positive attitude might help you surmount even the toughest roadblocks that fate may throw upon you!

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The Learning Factor's curator insight, April 19, 2015 6:43 PM

Identify and overcome these three obstacles to achieve any goal you set.
Graeme Reid's curator insight, April 20, 2015 8:54 PM

If you can look for the considerations, fears, and roadblocks and know that they are simply a part of the process, then you can welcome them, face them, process them, and ultimately overcome them.
Jessica Urquhart's curator insight, April 21, 2015 11:15 PM

I have learnt that when dealing with human beings, nothing is set in stone. I like that the writer has taken his own experiences and believes that most people have the same values and beliefs. I feel that there are many factors that get in the way of achieving goals and this is no different to safety culture. In the future I'd like to see businesses understand all the varied types of people that their management systems must adapt to. In history there seems to be only one type of management system and is widely misunderstood by the majority of people within the organisation. Understanding personal values, goals and behaviours should be the foundation of any management system.
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