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GOAL SETTING

WHY IS GOAL SETTING IMPORTANT?

Goals help describe success. People tend to maintain expectations, not surpass them. Thus,
expectations or goals should be challenging, yet within a person’s or group’s grasp. Goals are
outside an individual and sometimes referred to as “hoped for” rewards toward which motives
are directed. Goals create common tasks and processes for a group or individuals. By having
them, a group knows what it has to do and can work together on the goals.

Although goal setting is rewarding, some difficulties do exist:

It is sometimes difficult to quantify and qualify what goals or actions should be.

Goal setting takes time. Initially the members must be introduced to the process, develop
necessary skills, implement procedures and record evaluations.

Organizational goal setting can be difficult when trying to set goals that all members agree with
and will actively pursue.

What is goal?
A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people
envisions, plans and commits to achieve

MISSION AND VISION

The vision statement focuses on tomorrow and what the organization wants to become. The
mission statement focuses on today and what the organization does. While companies
commonly use mission and vision statements interchangeably, it’s important to have both

Goal setting can:

 serve as clear and specific delegations of responsibilities.
 offer more diversity of services and programs by updating and improving old
programs and developing new ones.
 identify both individual and organizational strengths and weaknesses.
 allow clarification and/or development of an organization’s mission or philosophy.
 focus your efforts in a consistent direction.
 increase success because success can be defined as the achievement of a goal.
 serve as self-motivators and energizers.

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How does one develop effective goals?

 Think about the future. If you are developing group goals, try to think of at least two
ways to describe the future through the group’s or member’s tasks or purposes.
 Use your organization’s purposes statement. A purpose defines what the goals need
to be and then these goals can be adjusted each year.
 Use the suggestions. By being open to feedback, one can get new ideas for goals.
The extent that individuals and groups perceive their own goals as being satisfied by
the accomplishment of organizational goals is the degree of integration of goal

Process for brainstorming goals:

 Allow ideas to start goals.
 Members should begin to talk about what they would like the group to accomplish.
 Let every member take part in the brainstorming. This is important for morale and
cohesion. Also, members are more likely to support what they help create.
 Unrealistic goals should not be weeded out until later.
 When finalizing the goals, make sure that they are measurable.

After brainstorming, prioritize goals:

Place goals in order of importance. This can be difficult because each member has individual
ideas of what is important for the group. Break into small groups to prioritize goals
concerning different segments of the organization. Have members rank the goals on their
own and then share their ideas with the group to reach consensus. After goal setting,
develop plans to achieve the goals so they are more than nice words.

Types of Goals

Short-Term Goals Long-Term Goals

focus on performance focus on potential
require immediate action are reachable by small steps
accomplish tasks and complete projects build and develop individuals and
organizations

Develop an action plan:

If you have more than one objective, start with the one that the group considers the most
important or complex. Develop a detailed plan for fulfilling the objective by the target date.
 Identify what information not already available is needed to meet that objective.
 Identify the steps needed to accomplish the goal.
 Put the steps in the order they need to be done.
 Determine what individuals or groups in the organization will be involved in the
implementation of the plan. Then decide who will be responsible for what phases of the
action plan.
 Set a deadline for each step.
 Evaluate the goals or the people doing them periodically to check their progress and
make sure members are working to achieve them.

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 Conduct an evaluation of the goals by the end of the year. From the
evaluation, make recommendations for next year’s group.

 When setting a goal it should be “SMART”

a. Short-term goal: A goal a person plans to achieve in the near future.

b. Long-term goal: A goal a person plans to achieve over a period of time.
 The six steps of an action plan (a multi-step strategy to identify and achieve your goal.
a. STEP 1: Set a specific, realistic goal, and write it down.
i. Start your goal with I WILL.
b. STEP 2: List the steps you will take to reach your goal.
i. Look for ways you can break your long-term goal into short-term, smaller
goals.
c. STEP 3: Identify sources of help and support.
i. Who can help you? Who will support you?
d. STEP 4: Set a reasonable time frame for reaching your goal.
i. Write your goal date down.
e. STEP 5: Identify possible obstacles and evaluate your progress.
i. Don’t be afraid to adjust your goal if you are not progressing.
f. STEP 6: Reward yourself for achieving your goal.
i. Think of a way to celebrate the satisfaction of reaching a goal

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In 1960’s, Edwin Locke put forward the Goal-setting theory of motivation. This theory states
that goal setting is essentially linked to task performance. It states that specific and challenging
goals along with appropriate feedback contribute to higher and better task performance.

In simple words, goals indicate and give direction to an employee about what needs to be done
and how much efforts are required to be put in.

The important features of goal-setting theory are as follows:

The willingness to work towards attainment of goal is main source of job motivation. Clear,
particular and difficult goals are greater motivating factors than easy, general and vague
goals.
Specific and clear goals lead to greater output and better performance. Unambiguous,
measurable and clear goals accompanied by a deadline for completion avoids
misunderstanding.
Goals should be realistic and challenging. This gives an individual a feeling of pride and
triumph when he attains them, and sets him up for attainment of next goal. The more
challenging the goal, the greater is the reward generally and the more is the passion for
achieving it.
Better and appropriate feedback of results directs the employee behaviour and contributes
to higher performance than absence of feedback. Feedback is a means of gaining
reputation, making clarifications and regulating goal difficulties. It helps employees to work
with more involvement and leads to greater job satisfaction.
Employees’ participation in goal is not always desirable.
Participation of setting goal, however, makes goal more acceptable and leads to more
involvement.
Goal setting theory has certain eventualities such as:

a. Self-efficiency- Self-efficiency is the individual’s self-confidence and faith that he has

potential of performing the task. Higher the level of self-efficiency, greater will be
the efforts put in by the individual when they face challenging tasks. While, lower
the level of self-efficiency, less will be the efforts put in by the individual or he might
even quit while meeting challenges.
b. Goal commitment- Goal setting theory assumes that the individual is committed to
the goal and will not leave the goal. The goal commitment is dependent on the
following factors:
i. Goals are made open, known and broadcasted.
ii. Goals should be set-self by individual rather than designated.

iii. Individual’s set goals should be consistent with the organizational goals and
vision.

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Advantages of Goal Setting Theory

 Goal setting theory is a technique used to raise incentives for employees to complete
work quickly and effectively.
 Goal setting leads to better performance by increasing motivation and efforts, but also
through increasing and improving the feedback quality.

Limitations of Goal Setting Theory

 At times, the organizational goals are in conflict with the managerial goals. Goal conflict
has a detrimental effect on the performance if it motivates incompatible action drift.
 Very difficult and complex goals stimulate riskier behaviour.
 If the employee lacks skills and competencies to perform actions essential for goal, then
the goal-setting can fail and lead to undermining of performance.
 There is no evidence to prove that goal-setting improves job satisfaction.

How to Set Goals

1. Setting Clear Goals

When your goals are clear, you know what you're trying to achieve. You can also measure
results accurately, and you know which behaviors to reward. This is why SMART is such a
useful mnemonic.
However, when a goal is vague – or when you express it as a general instruction like "take
initiative" – it isn't easy to measure, and it isn't motivating. You may not even know you've
achieved it!

Personal Goal Setting Team Goal Setting

 Write your goal down and be as  Set clear goals that use specific and
detailed as possible. Use SMART, measurable standards. For example,
and consider putting your goal "reduce job turnover by 15 percent."
into the form of a personal  Write down the metrics  that you'll
mission statement  for added use to measure your team members'
clarity. success. Be as specific as possible, and
 Think about how you'll measure make sure that everyone on your
your success toward this goal. team understands how you'll measure
What specific metrics will you success.
use?
 Once you've set your goal,
examine how it makes you feel.

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Personal Goal Setting Team Goal Setting

Are you excited? Does the

challenge motivate you? If you
2. Setting Challenging Goals
People are often motivated by challenging goals, however it's important not to set a goal
that is so challenging it can't be achieved.

How to Set Challenging Goals

Personal Goal Setting Team Goal Setting

 Look at your goal. Is it

challenging enough to spark your
interest?
 Develop self-discipline , so that
you have the persistence to work
through problems.  Use the Inverted-U model  to find the
 Identify ways that you can best balance between pressure and
reward yourself when you make performance when you set goals.
progress. Incremental rewards  Think about how you'll reward  team
for reaching specific milestones members when they achieve
will motivate you to work challenging goals.
through challenging tasks.  If possible, create some friendly
 Before taking on a major goal, competition between team members
research it thoroughly. This will or departments. Competition can
help you be realistic. encourage people to work harder.

3. Securing Team Commitment

To be effective, your team must understand and agree to the goals – team members are
more likely to "buy into" a goal if they have been involved in setting it.
This doesn't mean that you have to negotiate every goal with your team members and
secure their approval. They're likely to commit to it as long as they believe that the goal is
achievable, it is consistent with the company's ambitions, and the person assigning it is
credible.

How to Secure Commitment to Goals

Personal Goal Setting Team Goal Setting

 Stay committed by  Allow team members to set their own

using visualization techniques to goals. This will increase their sense of
imagine how your life will look commitment and empowerment.
once you've achieved your goal.  Use Management by Objectives  to

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Personal Goal Setting Team Goal Setting

 Create a treasure map  to remind ensure that your team's goals align
yourself why you should work with the
hard. Visual representations of .
4. Gaining Feedback

In addition to selecting the right goals, you should also listen to feedback, so that you can
gauge how well you and your team are progressing.
Feedback gives you the opportunity to clarify people's expectations and adjust the difficulty
of their goals.
Keep in mind that feedback doesn't have to come from other people. You can check how
well you're doing by simply measuring your own progress.

How to Give Feedback on Goals

Personal Goal Setting Team Goal Setting

 Schedule time once a week to

analyze your progress and
accomplishments. Look at what
has and hasn't worked, and make
adjustments along the way.
 Learn how to ask for
feedback  on your progress from
others.
 Use technology to track and  Learn how to give your team
measure your progress. Apps members feedback  that's objective,
like Lift are a good place to start. useful and positive.
 Measure progress by breaking  Create a timetable to schedule regular
difficult or large goals down into feedback for your team.
smaller chunks, and seek  Use the Stop – Keep Doing –
feedback when you reach each Start   model for quick feedback
milestone. sessions.

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5. Considering Task Complexity

Take special care to ensure that work doesn't become too overwhelming when goals or
assignments are highly complex.
People who work in complicated and demanding roles can often push themselves too hard,
if they don't take account of the complexity of the task.

How to Set Complex and Challenging Goals

Personal Goal Setting Team Goal Setting

 Give yourself plenty of time to

accomplish complex goals. Set
deadlines that apply an
appropriate amount of
pressure, while still being
achievable.
 If you start to
feel stressed  about meeting  Your team members might need
your goals, they might be too additional training before they work
complex or unrealistic. Reassess toward their goal. Give everyone
both of these areas and modify a training needs assessment to
your goals if necessary. identify any knowledge or skills gaps.
 Break large, complex goals  If you notice that any team members
down into smaller sub-goals. are overwhelmed, consider putting
This will stop you feeling them into
overwhelmed, and it will make a coaching  or mentoring  relationship
it easier to stay motivated. with a more experienced colleague.

GOAL SETTING HANDOUTS | Casper Jay A. Roque