The Art and Science of Goal Setting

Undoubtedly, one of the most important jobs of the leader is goal setting.

Goals work like magic when properly set and communicated. They help the team focus on the objectives, bring energy toward achieving them, and ultimately align the organization toward its mission. 

The trick for you, as a leader, is how to set the right goals.

The science of goal setting

Much has been written in the leadership literature about goal setting. 

The well-known acronym SMART, for example, reminds us that goals should be specific, measurable, assigned, realistic, and time-related. 

I agree with the SMART concept but feel that, alone, it does not help the leader decide how tough to set the goals, which is the tricky part.

Academic research* reveals that specific, difficult goals produce the highest level of effort and performance.

On the other hand, goals that are either very easy or very hard produce the least amount of effort, according to the research. 

Interestingly, the same study found no significant difference in goal achievement whether you, as the leader, set the goal on your own or involve the team in setting it. As long as—here’s the caveat—you take the time to explain the purpose and rationale for the goal.

In my experience, however, I always found that it’s better to involve people in the decision early on. It fosters understanding of the rationale. It also allows for input from the people who will be responsible for executing the plan. 

All this leads to a stronger commitment from your team than if you were to spring a set of goals on them and ask them to achieve them without any explanation.

The art of goal setting

Goal setting may be a science; but in my personal experience, it takes a bit of an art to set goals the right way.

Set them too tough and you may find that people give up prematurely without putting in the effort. Or, worse yet, they may not achieve results the right way; that is, ethically.

That’s why I say it’s an art and a science.

The perils of unrealistic goals

You can’t read the news these days without finding a headline about an executive or a company that has been caught doing the wrong thing.

Often this comes as a result of a leader setting unattainable goals that the team feels compelled to achieve at all costs. Sadly, the costs end up being someone’s job and career as well as the company’s reputation.

That’s why I strongly encourage leaders to present their goals to their teams by explaining they are to be achieved ethically and the right way. By doing that you can avoid confusing the team if you unknowingly happen to set the goals too high. 

Always, when you present your goals to your team, make sure they understand that you expect them to achieve them the right way. Period.

Alignment

There is another potentially dangerous area in goal setting, particularly for new leaders: alignment.

By that I mean that the goals you set should be aligned with your boss’s goals, the organization’s, as well as with your direct reports’ and the larger team.  

This is what I tell young leaders: Before you talk to the larger team, make sure you are in complete alignment with what the organization is trying to do, what your boss is trying to do, and what you and your direct reports are trying to do. 

If those things are not in alignment, you may run into a significant problem. You may end up achieving something that your boss or your corporation does not want you to achieve and, in the process, waste valuable resources.

Win the right way

As a leader, you do want to make headlines some day, but only for successes that you and your team achieved the right way.

Timeless leadership principles backed by research and my own personal experience say that if you do these things right, they make a huge difference. If you do them wrong, you could become front-page news and your career could be derailed.

In my experience, when a talented team of people is inspired by a vision and has goals that are aligned, they can achieve things they did not think were possible. 

When you set goals right, magic happens.

Ralph

[*] According to “Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation - A 35-Year Odyssey,” by Edwin A. Locke Gary P. Latham, published in American Psychologist (2002)