Goals Setting

Goal setting is essential to help people work towards their common objective. Goals set need to be concrete in order to have a clear vision and subsequently strive to achieve them.

Thus our goals need to be S.M.A.R.T.

o   S – Specific

·         The goals need to have all the specification related to the task. This ensures that we have our destination in place i.e. we know where we have to be in the end.

o   M – Measurable

·         This is more or less like a ruler for measuring our performance.

o   A – Attainable

·         The attainable aspect deals with taking into consideration our own strengths and weaknesses when setting our goals.

o   R – Relevant

·         The relevant aspects focus on the now. The goals that are set now might not be relevant tomorrow as the business environment is continuously changing.

o   T – Time Bound

·         The time bound aspect deals with the deadline that needs to be set as that an optimal performance is guaranteed. This not only saves time and resources but also ensures that efforts are directed accordingly.

Apart from being an acronym for something this is actually a smart concept. This doesn’t leave the goals that are to be achieved up to interpretation.

Is goal setting enough?

                Goals setting however is not enough to ensure that they are actually met. Pygmalion effect come in picture at this juncture. It is not fair on the potential of the employee to be just handed a target to meet, rather it should be emphasized that he has that capability required to meet the said target. Thus in a line – “If manager’s expectation is high it leads to higher results”.  

Relation between Goals set, achieved and potential

                From the above curve, we can clearly observe that:

·         The history (past performances) should be the base to build upon.

·         Goals set need to be set as above as possible of the Potential.

·         Although not always true but an ideal goal can bring out only so much in us, thus we assume that goals achieved are lower than the set target.

Thus appreciating the importance of goals in Potential realization is essential in organizations.