Targets are easy to set and surprisingly hard to honour. Almost every organization has more goals than it can possibly pursue, and most have learned to live with the quiet gap between what was committed and what actually happens. In this short episode of thyssenkrupp’s Focus 5 series, I dig into that gap: what it really takes to hold an organization accountable to the targets it has agreed — not through pressure and fear, but through clarity and genuine ownership.
My starting point is that accountability is usually misdiagnosed. When targets are missed, the reflex is to add controls, reports, and reminders. But more pressure on an unclear or unowned goal simply produces more anxiety and better excuses. The targets that actually get met are the ones people understand, believe in, and feel responsible for — and that is a question of leadership and meaning long before it is a question of metrics.
I also talk about the difference between commitment and compliance. Compliance gets you the minimum that avoids trouble; commitment gets you discretionary effort and honest early warnings when something is off track. You cannot demand commitment — you can only create the conditions for it: clear priorities, a credible why, and leaders who hold themselves to the same standard they expect from others.
It is a five-minute conversation, by design — one idea worth carrying into your next planning discussion. Listen via the link below, and afterwards ask one question of your own goals: which of them does the team genuinely own, and which are merely assigned? The honest answer usually explains most of the gap between intention and result.
Targets are easy to set and hard to honour.
There is also a leadership tell hidden in here: the targets a leader is willing to drop are as revealing as the ones they keep. Organizations that chase every goal teach their people that nothing is truly priority, and accountability quietly erodes. The discipline of choosing fewer targets and standing behind them is what makes accountability feel fair rather than punitive.
And fairness is exactly what people are willing to be held to. A goal that is clear, owned, and resourced creates its own accountability; a goal that is none of those things needs constant policing and still slips. The five minutes are worth it if they change one conversation in your next planning round.
Listen to the episode →