# Unobtainable Goals By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2023-02-08 I once worked in an organization that set an unobtainable goal with great public fanfare. An announcement was made that we were going to be a “paperless” organization. When announced, I experienced cognitive dissonance. The organization in which I worked was appallingly wasteful in terms of all its resources, including paper. It would be easy to be fully committed to the goal of reducing waste within the organization. But that wasn’t the goal. The goal was to become a paperless organization. The first issue was that we had reams of paper. Boxes upon boxes. So, the announcement required slight modification that we would, of course, consume the paper that we had already purchased. Then it became known that we would continue to have paper as it might be the case that something needed to be printed. It became clear that the goal wasn’t really to become a paperless organization at all, but rather to reduce the use of paper within the organization. It was simply bolder and potentially more fun for the person in a position of authority to declare the paperless initiative. This story illustrates an issue with goals. Undoubtedly, some were motivated by the bold, rhetorical flourish of the paperless initiative. They understood that it would never be reached, but that it was worth working towards. Others, however, concluded if we are never going to reach the goal, we can simply focus our attention on a goal we can achieve. What motivates some will categorically demotivate others. It might be worth noting that long after the announcement was made the usage of paper within the organization was no less wasteful. So, at least in this case making a bold declaration did not galvanize support. Through the process, I learned that expecting those in authority to be authentic and honest was likely an unobtainable goal. #### Related Items [[Motivation]] [[Authenticity]] [[Management]] [[Organizational Analytics]]