Without a target system, the compass is missing and with it the clarity of where the journey should go.
The target system as an indispensable point of orientation
Without a target system, there is no orientation and also no agreement among the participants as to what the target state to strive for should be. This has serious consequences. A lack of orientation leads to arbitrary measures and to a lack of coordination between the actors. This inevitably leads to conflict, because different interests and related ideas about the end result clash. The necessary process of negotiating prioritization when goals conflict is absent.
Negotiating a system of goals among divergent actors is costly. Impartial facilitators and method-based negotiations have proven effective in this regard. One example of divergent positions is the UN climate negotiations. All interests must be on the table. A balance must be struck between risks, opportunities, costs of action and inaction. Without a common set of goals, there can be no coordinated action to achieve them.
Once this first hurdle, determining a common goal framework, is overcome, significant benefits result, often leading to an unexpected boost:
- Shared understanding of what the target state to strive for looks like
- Common understanding of drivers
- Prerequisite for cost allocation according to the originator
- Transparency about risks, emerging opportunities and cost allocation
- Own interests have been incorporated into the negotiation result and have been taken into account
- Binding agreement on contribution obligations and newly arising benefits
- It becomes assessable whether existing activities are goal-oriented or harmful
- Measurability and impact logic of action plans in relation to the defined target system
- Knowledge exchange and cooperation regarding tricky issues
