Lock

ke's Go
oal Settting Theory
Unders
standing SMART
S
G Setting
Goal
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Goal settting is a powerrful way of mo

otivating peoplle, and of motivating yourse
elf. The value o
of goal setting
g is so well
recognize
ed that entire management systems, like Managementt by Objectives, have goal setting basics
s incorporated
d
within the
em.
In fact, go
oal setting the
eory is generally accepted as
a among the most
m
valid and
d useful motivation theoriess in industrial
and organizational psyychology, human resource management,
m
and organizattional behavio
or.
u have learne
ed from bossses, seminarss, and businesss articles to
o set SMART g
goals. It seem
ms natural to
Many of us
assume that
t
by setting
g a goal that's Specific, Mea
asurable, Attain
nable, Releva
ant, and Time-bound, we will be well on
our way to
t accomplishing it.
But is this
s really the be
est way of setting goals?
To answe
er this, we look to Dr Edwin Locke's pione
eering researcch on goal settting and motivvation in the la
ate 1960s. In
his 1968 article "Towarrd a Theory off Task Motivattion and Incen
ntives," he statted that emplo
oyees were mo
otivated by
clear goa
als and approp
priate feedbacck. Locke wentt on to say tha
at working tow
ward a goal pro
ovided a major source of
motivatio
on to actually reach
r
the goal which, in tu
urn, improved performance.
This inforrmation does not
n seem revo
olutionary to us some 40 years later. Thiss shows the im
mpact his theorry has had on
professio
onal and perso
onal performan
nce.
In this artticle, we look at
a what Locke
e had to say ab
bout goal settiing, and how we
w can apply his theory to our
o own
performa
ance goals.

Goal Setting
S
The
eory
Locke's research
r
show
wed that there was a relation
nship between
n how difficult and specific a goal was and
d people's
performa
ance of a task. He found tha
at specific and difficult goals led to better task
t
performance than vagu
ue or easy
goals.

Telling someone to "Try hard" or "Do your best" is less effective than "Try to get more than 80% correct" or
"Concentrate on beating your best time." Likewise, having a goal that's too easy is not a motivating force. Hard goals
are more motivating than easy goals, because it's much more of an accomplishment to achieve something that you
have to work for.
A few years after Locke published his article, another researcher, Dr Gary Latham, studied the effect of goal setting in
the workplace. His results supported exactly what Locke had found, and the inseparable link between goal setting
and workplace performance was formed.
In 1990, Locke and Latham published their seminal work, "A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance." In this
book, they reinforced the need to set specific and difficult goals, and they outlined three other characteristics of
successful goal setting.

Five Principles of Goal Setting

To motivate, goals must have:
1.

Clarity.

2.

Challenge.

3.

Commitment.

4.

Feedback.

5.

Task complexity.

Let's look at each of these in detail.

1. Clarity
Clear goals are measurable and unambiguous. When a goal is clear and specific, with a definite time set for
completion, there is less misunderstanding about what behaviors will be rewarded. You know what's expected, and
you can use the specific result as a source of motivation. When a goal is vague or when it's expressed as a general
instruction, like "Take initiative" it has limited motivational value.
To improve your or your team's performance, set clear goals that use specific and measurable standards. "Reduce
job turnover by 15%" or "Respond to employee suggestions within 48 hours" are examples of clear goals.
When you use the SMART acronym to help you set goals, you ensure the clarity of the goal by making it Specific,
Measurable and Time-bound.

2. Challenge
One of the most important characteristics of goals is the level of challenge. People are often motivated by
achievement, and they'll judge a goal based on the significance of the anticipated accomplishment. When you know
that what you do will be well received, there's a natural motivation to do a good job.
Rewards typically increase for more difficult goals. If you believe you'll be well compensated or otherwise rewarded
for achieving a challenging goal, that will boost your enthusiasm and your drive to get it done.
Setting SMART goals that are Relevant links them closely to the rewards given for achieving challenging goals.
Relevant goals will further the aims of your organization, and these are the kinds of goals that most employers will be
happy to reward.
When setting goals, make each goal a challenge. If an assignment is easy and not viewed as very important and if
you or your employee doesn't expect the accomplishment to be significant then the effort may not be impressive.

Note:
a appropriate
e balance betw
ween a challen
nging goal and
d a realistic go
oal. Setting a goal that
It's imporrtant to strike an
you'll fail to achieve is possibly more
e de-motivating
g than setting a goal that's too
t easy. The need for succ
cess and
achievem
ment is strong, therefore peo
ople are best motivated
m
by challenging,
c
but realistic, go
oals. Ensuring that goals
are Achie
evable or Attaiinable is one of
o the elementts of SMART.

3. Com
mmitment
Goals mu
ust be understtood and agre
eed upon if the
ey are to be efffective. Emplo
oyees are morre likely to "bu
uy into" a goal
if they fee
el they were p
part of creating
g that goal. Th
he notion of pa
articipative ma
anagement ressts on this idea
a of involving
employee
es in setting goals and making decisions.
One vers
sion of SMART
T for use wh
hen you are wo
orking with someone else to
o set their goa
als has A and
d R stand for
Agreed and
a Realistic in
nstead of Attainable and Re
elevant. Agree
ed goals lead to
t commitmen
nt.
This does
sn't mean thatt every goal ha
as to be negotiated with and
d approved by
y employees. It does mean that goals
should be
e consistent and in line with
h previous exp
pectations and organizationa
al concerns. A
As long as the employee
believes that the goal is consistent with
w the goals of the compan
ny, and believ
ves the person
n assigning the
e goal is
credible, then the comm
mitment should be there.
ngly, goal com
mmitment and difficulty often
n work togethe
er. The harderr the goal, the more committment is
I nterestin
required. If you have an easy goal, you
y don't need
d a lot of motivvation to get itt done. When yyou're working
g on a difficultt
ent, you will likkely encounter challenges th
hat require a deeper
d
source
e of inspiration
n and incentive
e.
assignme
As you us
se goal setting
g in your work
kplace, make an
a appropriate
e effort to inclu
ude people in their own goa
al setting.
Encourag
ge employees to develop their own goals, and keep the
em informed about
a
what's h
happening else
ewhere in the
organizattion. This wayy, they can be sure that theirr goals are consistent with the
t overall visiion and purpose that the
company
y seeks.

4. Feed
dback
In additio
on to selecting the right type
e of goal, an efffective goal program
p
must also include fe
edback
eedback. Fee
provides opportunities to clarify expe
ectations, adju
ust goal difficu
ulty, and gain recognition.
r
It's important to
o provide
ark opportunitie
es or targets, so individuals
s can determin
ne for themselves how they''re doing.
benchma
These regular progress
s reports, whic
ch measure sp
pecific succes
ss along the way,
w
are particu
ularly importan
nt where it's
going to take
t
a long tim
me to reach a goal. In these cases, break down the goa
als into smalle
er chunks, and
d link
feedback
k to these interrmediate miles
stones.
SMART goals
g
are Mea
asurable, and this ensures that clear feedback can be provided.
p
With all your
y
goal settin
ng efforts, make sure that you
y build in tim
me for providing formal feedb
back. Certainly, informal
check-ins
s are importan
nt, and they prrovide a mean
ns of giving reg
gular encourag
gement and re
ecognition. Ho
owever, taking
g
the time to
t sit down an
nd discuss goa
al performance
e is a necessa
ary factor in long-term performance impro
ovement. See
our article
e on Delegatio
on for more on
n this.

5. Taskk Complexitty
The last factor
f
in goal setting
s
theory introduces tw
wo more requirrements for su
uccess. For go
oals or assignm
ments that
are highly
y complex, takke special care
e to ensure th
hat the work do
oesn't become
e too overwhe
elming.

People who
w work in co
omplicated and
d demanding roles
r
probably
y have a high level
l
of motiva
ation already. However,
they can often push the
emselves too hard if measu
ures aren't built into the goal expectationss to account fo
or the
complexity of the task. It's therefore important to do
d the followin
ng:

Give the
e person suffic
cient time to meet
m
the goal or
o improve performance.
Provide enough time for the person
n to practice or learn what is
s expected and required for
s.
success

The wholle point of goa

al setting is to facilitate succ
cess. Thereforre, you want to
o make sure th
hat the conditions
surrounding the goals d
e or inhibit peo
ople from acco
omplishing the
eir objectives. This
T
reinforces the
don't frustrate
ble" part of SM
MART.
"Attainab

Key Po
oints
Goal settting is something most of us
s recognize as
s necessary fo
or our success
s.
By underrstanding goal setting theory
y, you can effe
ectively apply the principles
s to goals that you or your te
eam members
s
set. Lock
ke and Latham
m's research co
onfirms the us
sefulness of SMART goal se
etting, and the
eir theory continues to
influence
e the way we measure
m
perfo
ormance today
y.
Use clear, challenging goals, and co
ommit yourselff to achieving them. Provide
e feedback on goal performa
ance. Take
into cons
sideration the complexity
c
of the task. If you follow these
e simple rules, your goal settting process will
w be much
more suc
ccessful, and yyour overall pe
erformance wiill improve.