Do goals get in the way of supervisees' client work or of supervision?

Back in 2009, a paper published by Harvard Business School  created a stir in the area of business psychology, achievement and so on.

The paper, Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting,  questioned the idea that having goals and working towards them assiduously is always a good thing. On the contrary, they suggested that too-intense focus on goals takes away from an awareness of the bigger picture, can lead to dishonest behaviour and reduces motivation in those who feel they have not achieved the goals set for them.

 When I read this recently I began to wonder if this might be an area for exploration by supervisors with their supervisees.  Some questions that occurred to me were:

• Could a solution focused therapist discount relationship-building or listening because of an intense focus of goals?
• Could a person centred therapist paid too little attention to helping people set useful, attainable goals?
• Could a therapist who has had a client achieve success in one area actually discount this because he or she is focused on a goal in another area? For instance if the goal is to move the client from pessimism to optimism,  could the therapist discount the still pessimistic client's success in improving relationships at home and at work?
• Could' the therapist see himself or herself as "not a good therapist" because the client has failed to "achieve" certain goals, even though many other things have improved?
• Could a supervisor have goals that he or she thinks ought to be achieved in the therapy and could he or she judge the supervisee according to whether these goals are reached? 

I think most of us would hope to avoid those traps most of the time but the thing about traps is that you can fall into them first without realising it. Although the paper referred to above is a business paper it's worth a read.