Empower steady career growth with this stretch and North Star goals framework
Sam was stunned by the “Meeting Expectations” rating his manager just told him he got when he thought he had knocked it out of the park. Sam was confused, upset and even a little angry; this rating didn’t feel reflective of prior feedback and praise he had received from his manager. What happened? Why was there a big gap between the rating in front of him and what he was expecting?
I’ve seen people struggle to understand how they can stretch and grow in my work as an engineering lead at Google, in finance, and in robotics. When I talked to Sam’s manager I realized they didn’t have the tools and training to do it well. This was a eureka moment for me, and I realized I wanted the people I worked with to feel empowered to grow and drive their careers forward. I explored research from organizational development, neuroscience, and psychology, and experimented with multiple techniques to learn what works and what doesn’t.
I’ve consolidated my learnings into the framework below that I use to clarify what growth and great performance looks like. I’ve found people perform better when they know this, it aligns with their personal ambitions, and they see how it connects with available opportunities. I partner with my reports to co-create a set of baseline expectations, stretch goals, and a North Star using the ESN framework.
ESN (Expected, Stretch, North Star) goals
The framework has three types of goals:
- Expected — Defines 3–5 (usually 3) baseline expectations. If you’re not doing these, or 95% of them, you’re not doing your job.
- Stretch — Achieving these (usually 2, sometimes 3) requires developing and demonstrating new capacities in yourself. They are intentionally difficult but achievable to require you to learn and grow. Usually I’m aiming for something you have a 50% chance of achieving.
- North Star — An aspirational goal that orients how you want to grow. This is often the first goal we’ll discuss, and it’s very ambitious but not impossible. I want it to be something you have a 5% chance of achieving in the next year and will probably (>50%) achieve in the next couple years.
While the chronological ordering of Expected, Stretch and North Star is natural, I’ve found using a different order often works better when co-creating ESN goals . While the exact order I use varies, I usually start with the North Star, then the Expected, and save the Stretch goals for last.
North Star
Goal setting starts with getting clarity on each individual’s North Star. People have to be motivated to grow, and this is my opportunity to understand and align with what motivates them. Sometimes people have a very long-term North Star (e.g. “I want to be the CTO of a Series D startup”), and I’ll use that as a starting point but come up with something more tangible to ensure shorter-term we’re moving in a direction they like. Other times they won’t have any idea, and I’ll explore what has excited them and resonated with them in the past to pull this out.
Expected Goals
Once I know where they want to go, the next step is agreeing on where they are at. People often have lots of responsibilities, and this step clarifies the 3–5 things that are core to meeting my expectations for them. Setting North Star and Expected goals establishes a continuum of performance, and the next step is setting concrete, ambitious, and achievable stretch goals that move someone towards their North Star.
Stretch Goals
Stretch goals require developing and demonstrating new skills, behaviors, and knowledge. Making them ambitious ensures they are realistic targets that require focused effort on growth. These are usually the most elaborate of the goals, including milestones for developing the capacity and also outputs that are produced to demonstrate it. Achieving the stretch goals should mean the person is closer to their north star, and as a result makes their career growth path clear and actionable.
The Takeaway
In future posts I’ll elaborate on techniques for co-creating ESN goals. Here I introduced them as defining a continuum for performance, with Expected goals defining the baseline, the North Star providing direction in how someone wants to grow, and Stretch Goals that represent ambitious and concrete steps along the path.
Acknowledgments
I’ve had the benefit of learning from great people I’ve worked with. A former manager of mine introduced me to 3–2–1 goals and the idea of having 3 expected goals, 2 stretch goals, and 1 “wow” goal. After using 3–2–1 goals for a few years in a few different ways I augmented the framework to add more definition around the “2” and “1” goals.
About me
I’m an engineering manager at Citadel, where I partner with exceptional colleagues to create our next-generation technology platform for fundamental equities investors. I’ve always loved building great teams and engineering practices, and have previously had the privilege of doing so at Google, Two Sigma Investments, and Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Labs.
