Why people resist targets
People sandbag when targets are used to judge them. If missing a number costs bonus, reputation or standing, the rational move is to commit to less. That is not a character flaw, it is a system design flaw: you have coupled ambition to punishment.
Decoupling ambition from fear
- Separate committed OKRs, expected to be fully achieved, from aspirational ones, where strong partial progress is success.
- Use confidence scores to prompt conversation, never to grade people.
- Judge the quality of pursuit, not just the arithmetic of the outcome.
- Let teams set their own stretch against clear strategic context; imposed stretch breeds compliance, chosen stretch breeds commitment.
Four minutes that save a quarter of negotiation theatre. Pair it with the psychological safety briefing in the People & Culture track.