Are you Goal oriented or Process oriented? It matters to know.
You have heard it being called Journey vs Destination, Means vs Ends , Process vs Goals. You have also heard the cliché of “journey is more important than destination”, but found it so hard to follow.
As I was doing yoga today, I realized I was not pushing myself hard. Then I thought, why am I not pushing to get results. And it dawned on me that I am a process oriented person. I care for goals but not at the expense of process. I want a flexible fit body but not if doing yoga is not fun. So I relaxed and started focusing on things that made yoga more enjoyable. And in that process I did push myself.
At work, in life, in small and large endeavors, all of us have a preferred orientation. We are either Goal oriented or Process oriented. We do both but lean towards optimizing one. Let’s dig into what they mean.
#1 Goal oriented: This is a very rewarded mindset, especially at work. Most job reqs will call out something like “you have to be outcomes driven”. It’s not that you don’t care for the process, but not at the expense of the goal. You have also been called “Type A” or in strengths finder you are called Achiever type. You like winning for the sake of winning. When things are good, you do care about the process too. It’s when the goal is in jeopardy, what you do that makes a difference; you will turn up the heat, people become tools to get to the goal. You have a narrow focus to get to the goal, whatever it takes. As you make your way to the goal, there is a lot of collateral damage, and some of that damage is to yourself in the form of a “burnout”.
#2 Process oriented: You prioritize process over goal. You still want to achieve goals but not at the expense of the process. In your mind, you have an idea how to get to the goal, and that “how” matters more than if you get to the goal or not. At work you believe in building teams, avoiding conflicts and trying to make sure it’s an equal and just process. You spend time in creating a supportive environment at home. You are an awesome team player. But sometimes this focus on process gets in your way to getting to the goal. You get stuck on doing it the right way and not get the right things done.
So here are some tips:
#For Goal oriented: When you are sensing a burn out, start paying attention to the process. For example, you are physically and mentally exhausted from a project. Find what fuels you and start incorporating it in your process to re-energize you. It could be things like learning, presenting, writing.
#For Process oriented: Make the process more enjoyable, and you will take it all the way to goal. For example: let’s say you like building relationships. So when you are working on really hard projects, focus on creating some good relationships in the process, so you will stick to finishing the project.
Both Goal and process are important. Bold goals, fuel us to move through challenging processes. And having a balanced process allow us to persist till the goal.
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