The Power of Goal Setting

Goals are what make the world move. Without goals, people perish. They are the motor of motivation. When people have clear and challenging goals, they work harder, perform better, achieve more, and feel happier and motivated with their work and life.?

Having goals usually leads to better performance than asking people to “do their best”. When people are asked to do their best, they do not always do so because (i) there is no benchmark to compare with, allowing a wide range of performance levels, and (ii) there is ambiguity on what is to be achieved.

Despite that, people are not always good at defining their goals. As a result, complacency and disengagement may replace the feelings of excitement and commitment that can only be achieved with meaningful and challenging goals.?

SMART Goals

Goals should be relevant, challenging, and with a feedback mechanism. The perceived importance of goals drives engagement, the difficulty leads to higher performance (as long as we believe we can achieve them), and the feedback helps adjust goal achievement strategies.

Using the popular SMART acronym, goals must be Specific (unambiguous), Measurable, Ambitious (the A stands for Attainable; I prefer “ambitious although attainable”), Relevant, and Time-bound.

Take this personal goal as an example: My goal was to have 3 kids with the same wife before I turned 50. It is specific (same wife), measurable (3 kids), ambitious although attainable (any doubt?), relevant (3 new people in the world), and time-bound (before 50). I had 3 kids with the same wife, although the last one came when I was a little over 50, which is fine; relevant and challenging goals can take a little longer…

Layers of Goals

In the work setting, there are multiple layers of goals, from high-level organizational goals down to lower-level department, team, and individual goals. Each layer should be able to translate higher-level goals into goals that are meaningful to the other layers. Individuals must be empowered to develop their own goals, aligned with the higher-level goals. ?

Where Goals Come From

Goals can be defined in several areas of work and life. Professional goals usually address business and personal challenges. You will want to spend some focused time defining your goals – goals that will move the needle and push you to the next level instead of easily achievable goals within your comfort zone.???

Business Goals

Business goals are typically driven by organizational challenges and business needs. Some of them are obvious, others not so much. To set ambitious goals, you must look beyond your job to broader circles of influence (e.g., team, department, organization, industry). You can only do this if you understand what happens beyond your job, your team, your department, the organization, the industry, and the world around you. If all you know is about your job, the relevance of your goals could be limited.??

Personal Goals

Personal (professional) goals can be divided into developmental and career goals. Developmental goals are what you need to develop to address competency gaps or explore new knowledge. In today’s highly competitive world, a small but relevant competency gap may be what separates you from others. It’s also essential to balance the closure of gaps with the development of new competencies. Today’s world moves too fast, you must continuously add new relevant knowledge to your basket.

Career goals are where you want to head in the short/longer term and the next steps to get there. To achieve your career goals, you must take control of your career, network with the right people, and act head-on when necessary. ?

In all cases, setting your goals doesn’t have to be a lonesome exercise. You should leverage your social capital to explore, collect feedback, validate, and adjust your goals before committing to them.????

What Next

Once you define your goals, write them down and make them visible to others. Communicating your goals drives commitment, don’t hide them in your drawer. Review them regularly, request feedback on your progress, and, ultimately, create a habit of setting meaningful and challenging goals to improve your performance and motivation, and accomplish great things!??? ?