As a site leader, you probably regularly communicate goals to your crew. Whether completing a concrete pour, finishing a house frame, or hitting a key milestone, these targets drive progress. And if you’re following our smart goal-setting recommendations, you know that the best goals are ambitious and achievable. So what happens when ambitious targets are missed? Read below for some practical tips when things go wrong: managing setbacks and adjusting goals.
Why Failing Can Be a Good Thing:
Setting ambitious goals means your crew will not hit them every time—and that’s good. Missing about one in five goals (80% goal success rate) can drive better crew performance. Here why:
- Keeps rewards meaningful instead of becoming an expectation
- Motivates your crew to push harder next time
- Maintains the value of achievements when they happen
- It provides an excellent opportunity for reflection and learning
The Key to Failing Well:
When goals aren’t met, especially if they’re close and your crew worked hard, it can be tempting to round up and call it complete. Don’t do it! You’ll miss out on an opportunity for crew development and set dangerous expectations for the future. ‘Rounding up’ on achievement teaches your crew that close enough is good enough, undermines the credibility of your incentive program, and transforms motivational rewards into expected entitlements.
Instead, call it like it is and use every missed goal as a learning opportunity.
Treat missed goals as valuable data about processes, estimates, or unforeseen challenges. Take time to discuss the missed target with the crew. Discuss what went wrong and how the same thing can be avoided in the future. Be sure to use “we” language instead of pointing fingers. Use blameless language and follow the below formula:
Acknowledge the situation.
Instead of: “You guys failed to complete the foundation work.”
Try: “We reached 80% of our foundation goal this week.”
Discuss what went wrong.
Instead of: “John’s team kept falling behind schedule.”
Try: “There are efficiency opportunities in our rebar installation process.”
Plan how to adjust for next time
Instead of: “We need to work faster next time.”
Try: “We’ll adjust our pre-pour checklist to include earlier verification of rebar deliveries.”
When It’s Ok To Adjust a Goal (And How to Do it Right)
Sometimes, circumstances genuinely require adjusting goals mid-week. Goal adjustments should be rare exceptions, not regular occurrences. But here are some examples of valid reasons for goal adjustment:
- Unexpected utility conflicts discovered during excavation
- Weather events that make work unsafe
- Material delivery delays outside your control
- Emergency responses to safety issues
Remember, this should be rare, so if you adjust goals frequently, it’s time to reassess your planning process. If you adjust a goal, it should still be discussed and used as a learning opportunity for you and the crew. Try this:
“We’re modifying the goal because we had site constraints of x, but we also need to manage y better.”
Crewscope Callout:
Next time your crew misses a target, take time for a quick huddle to discuss and improve from the miss.
1. Acknowledge the situation. 2. Discuss what went wrong. 3. Plan how to adjust for the next time.
Effectively Handling Missed Goals in Action
| How this shows up on site | Don’t mask misses as wins. Call them out constructively, using them as a stepping stone for better performance next time. Take time to discuss the miss together: 1. Acknowledge the situation. 2. Discuss what went wrong. 3. Plan how to adjust for the next time. |
| How this shows up in Crewscope | If a target is missed: Call it a miss in Crewscope. Points won’t be awarded, and there may be some disappointment. Use the opportunity to prompt a discussion. Once you’ve discussed, use check-in notes in your next activity to document lessons learned and how you’ve adjusted for success. Call it out when a target needs to be adjusted midweek and clarify why it is changing. Adjust the goal in Crewscope and document the change in a check-in note to ensure it’s recorded and understood. |
| Why this is important | Maintain goal integrity—resist the urge to “round up.” Handling failures consistently strengthens your crew’s belief in the goal-setting process and keeps challenging goals motivating. Using blameless language and focusing on learning encourages your crew to be open about challenges, catch issues early, and propose solutions. Creating a culture of continuous improvement means you don’t fear missed goals – you use them as improvement opportunities. This shifts your team’s mindset from “avoid failure” to “learn and adapt,” which drives long-term performance improvements. |
Remember: Your response to missed goals sets the tone for how your crew handles setbacks. Make every challenge a stepping stone to better performance.
Read more from the Crewscope Leadership Series.
We’ve partnered with People and Culture expert Michelle Brooks for an exclusive five-part leadership series. Michelle is a Chief People Officer, advisor, and trained coach with 20+ years of experience. She’s navigated mergers, built award-winning cultures, and operationalized people strategies that drive standout results. Known for her no-nonsense approach, Michelle aligns people and culture with business success. We’re thrilled to bring her expertise to you as part of this leadership series.
Each installment in this series will deliver actionable strategies to help site leaders elevate their management skills and build stronger, more effective crews. Rosanna Zrnic, our head of Customer Success, has worked closely with our crews in the field and authored this practical series to address our most common challenges. Over the next five weeks, we’ll dive into these essential leadership strategies:
Smart Goal Setting: Master goal-setting principles and bridge the gap between project plans and weekly targets.
The Power of Feedback: Learn how to provide feedback that motivates and guides your crew to excellence.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What should be done when the crew misses a goal?
- Acknowledge what happened – Recognize the situation honestly.
- Talk about what went wrong – Discuss the challenges without blaming anyone
- Plan for next time – Find ways to do better and improve.
- How to keep the crew motivated when goals are missed?
Encourage open communication with the crew by focusing on lessons learned and ways to improve in the future. Remind them of the importance of striving for ambitious goals and rewarding progress, not just completion. - How can a culture of improvement be created?
Encouraging open communication, using missed goals as learning opportunities, and focusing on adapting and improving processes instead of fearing failure. - How can missed goals be handled with the crew in a way that motivates and encourages improvement?
Be open and honest about what happened, explain the challenges, and work together to find solutions for the future. Focus on learning from the experience and making a plan to do better next time.
