Goal Setting

Goal setting is the process of deciding what you want to accomplish and devising a plan to achieve the result you desire.
This goal setting definition emphasizes that goal setting is a two part process. For effective goal setting, you need to do more than just decide what you want to do; you also have to work at accomplishing whatever goal you have set for yourself.

Goals that are difficult to achieve and specific tend to increase performance more than goals that are not. A goal can become more specific through quantification or enumeration (should be measurable), such as by demanding "...increase productivity by 50%," or by defining certain tasks that must be completed.

Setting goals affects outcomes in four ways:

1. Choice: goals narrow attention and direct efforts to goal-relevant activities, and away from perceived undesirable and goal-irrelevant actions.
2. Effort: goals can lead to more effort; for example, if one typically produces 4 widgets an hour, and has the goal of producing 6, one may work more intensely towards the goal than one would otherwise.
3. Persistence: Someone becomes more prone to work through setbacks if pursuing a goal.
4. Cognition: Goals can lead individuals to develop and change their behavior.

 How to Set Goals:

Internationally renowned business philosopher Jim Rohn says, “We want to set the goals that our heart conceives, that our mind believes and that our bodies will carry out.” We are intelligent beings and as intelligent beings we need to have SMART goals. The acronym S.M.A.R.T. outlines the set of criteria that your goal must follow in order for it to be a well-focused and achievable goal. 

That set of criteria is:

Specific: Goals should be Specific and clear as they lead to greater output and better performance.

Measurable: There should be set parameters to check whether the stated purpose or goal

has been achieved or not.

Attainable: It is important to set realistic goals. It should be planned considering the Current

situation and resources available.

Relevant: Goals set should have relevance for an individual and organization. It should be such that it helps in growth of an individual as well as the company.

Time-Bound: All goals should have a timeline within which they should be achieved. 

 Tower Building

The tower building exercise was held in the class to demonstrate the importance of goal setting. 

The goal setting in this case was to set the number of blocks that a person can put one over the other. Section B students estimated that 17 blocks could be  put one over

the other and they achieved 17.

Here I will discuss whether the set criteria of S.M.A.R.T

was followed and the observations after completing the exercise.

1. Specific – A specific and clear goal was set for everyone and everyone understood it.
2. Measurable –Since it was the number of blocks, it was measurable.
3. Achievable - Since section B was able to make it by using 17 towers, the team had to set a higher goal to motivate themselves to perform better. A higher goal of say 20 blocks here would have pushed up the performance of the team as the expectations would have been clear and maybe in that case,  the team's performance would have also scaled up beyond 17 blocks, thus achieving excellence.
4. Relevant - Pertaining to the tower building exercise, the goal was absolutely relevant.
5. Timely - A specific time period was indeed set for them to achieve the goal.

Now, we come to the exercise.

Initially everyone was asked to set goals for themselves and tell the number of blocks with which they can build a tower. The response varied from 10-35 blocks.

 A student who had set himself a goal of 10 blocks was invited to construct a tower. He accomplished the task with 17 blocks, which made him happy at having performed beyond his expectation.

However, is it actually an accomplishment??

Yes indeed it is. But what about the target he set for himself?? The difference that came (as he claimed 10 but was able to build it with 17) was pretty huge. This shows that the target set was way below his capabilities. This is where the manager needs to make sure that he understands the strengths and weaknesses of a team member and assign an appropriate goal.

A second part of the exercise illustrated another important trait of goal setting. The student was blindfolded and then the rest were asked to estimate the number of blocks he could arrange. The fact that he was blindfolded resulted in the class average of estimation going down, with only one student believing that he could exceed his previously achieved performance. A handful believed he could reach the same heights whereas majority back-folded on their previously decided number. In an organization, for a healthy growth, it is important that we scale up on the previously achieved performance, no matter what the situation is. A good management always overcomes situations at hand and uses it for their own good. That is what was required here, that the budding managers set a higher goal for greater performance.

It is important for managers to motivate their team members to face obstacles and get the best out of them even during worst time. This helps the organization to grow and prosper under any circumstances.