UFOs in Your Company: Unidentified Failing Objectives?
By Gerald Parsons, Founder of Esek Minds
When we hear "UFO," our minds leap to mysterious flying objects in the sky — unexplained phenomena that hover, disrupt, and then vanish. But what if I told you that your organization may be dealing with UFOs of its own? Not aliens, but Unidentified Failing Objectives.
These are the invisible issues. The initiatives that never lift off. The meetings that result in nothing. The communication breakdowns that keep teams guessing. The goals everyone's working on — but no one really understands.
Let's identify and declassify the most common UFOs in the workplace and discover how to ground them for good.
1. The Disconnected Directive
This UFO floats from the top — a vague goal handed down with no roadmap, context, or ownership. Teams scramble to make sense of it, burning hours in pursuit of something no one truly defined.
Solution: Tie every objective to a clear "why," assign an accountable leader, and communicate it in language everyone understands. Clarity isn't optional — it's oxygen.
2. The Invisible Initiative
These are the projects that started strong, got buried in bureaucracy, and now drift aimlessly through Slack messages and status meetings. No one knows who's responsible, what the milestones are, or whether it still matters.
Solution: Conduct a quarterly "Objective Audit." What are we doing? Who owns it? Why does it matter? If no one can answer all three — shut it down or relaunch it with intention.
3. The Assumption Alien
This one is sneaky. It lands silently in your culture when teams assume alignment, but haven't confirmed understanding. Miscommunication leads to duplication, missed deadlines, and frustration.
Solution: Replace assumptions with conversations. Use tools like Communication IQ to understand the languages your team speaks, so you can lead with clarity, not confusion.
4. The Feedback Black Hole
UFOs thrive in silence. When feedback loops are weak or non-existent, failing objectives continue unnoticed — until the damage is done.
Solution: Build a communication culture where feedback is expected, not feared. Leaders must model transparency, celebrate candor, and course-correct in real time.
5. The Ghost Goal
These are the strategic priorities that were never real. They sounded good in the planning session. They looked impressive in the deck. But no one had the resources, capacity, or will to make them happen.
Solution: Kill the ghost. Focus your team's energy on what's actually achievable and meaningful. Ambition without alignment is just wishful thinking.
Final Thought
You don't need radar to spot these UFOs. Just curiosity, communication, and courage. Every time you clarify a goal, empower a voice, and simplify a process, you shoot one down.
So the next time you sense strange activity in your company — unexplained confusion, disjointed efforts, or mysterious silence — don't look to the sky. Look at your strategy, your systems, and your conversations.
Because not every UFO is from another planet. Some were created in your last meeting.
