Goal setting and motivation

With every new year comes a wave of new goal setting ideas, strategies and subscription products. 
 
While you could join many of the productive planning programmes or invest in motivational speakers for your team, getting the basics right is a great way to keep up momentum into February and throughout the whole year. 

What is goal setting? 

Goal setting is a technique used to raise incentives for employees to complete work quickly and effectively. 

Goal setting leads to better performance by increasing motivation and efforts, but also through increasing and improving the feedback quality. 

Why is setting goals important? 

Setting goals provides you and your team long-term vision and short-term motivation. It focuses on the knowledge you have acquired and helps you to organise your time and your resources so that you can make the most of your life. 

Having a goal provides a challenge. When we have goals and proceed to reach them, we feel a sense of achievement. 

By incorporating goal-setting into your workplace, you can both improve employee performance as well as reinforce their engagement. 
Michele Grow, CEO of Mental Health and Wellness at APM, says keeping focus and using small goals to build achievement was a positive strategy. 

“Setting goals is a great way to direct our focus to what is important to us and is an effective way to increase motivation. 

“Bigger goals or long-term goals can be broken down into smaller stages that will make them feel more achievable. 

“The sense of satisfaction from achieving our goals is great for our wellbeing and helps us to perform positively,” Michele adds. 

How do we plan goal setting? 

First consider what you want to achieve and then commit to it. 

Set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) goals that motivate you and write them down to make them feel real. Then plan the steps you must take to accomplish your goal and cross off each one as you work through them. 

SMART goals encourage you to think outside the box and rethink how they are working. 

If a goal is challenging, merely working faster or longer will not get you the results. Instead, you will need to rethink the way you usually work and create a productive way of working. 

SMART goals could include: 

1. Walk 30 minutes a day, five days a week
2. Improve your listening skills
3. Speak up to increase visibility
4. Improve presentation / public speaking skills
5. Improve your emotional intelligence
6. Start networking
7. Volunteer regularly
8. Improve your time management skills 

Set your goals and make them happen: 

1. Pinpoint what is most important in your life. Goals must have a benefit for you in order to stay committed
2. Set a goal and write it down
3. Identify obstacles
4. Make a plan
5. Set a timeline
6. Commit and block time
7. Get an accountability partner 

Why do SMART goals motivate?

Motivation is important because it provides you and your team members with goals to work towards. 

It can also help you solve problems, change old habits and cope with new challenges and opportunities 

The more feedback on the progress your employees are making toward their goal success, the more effective they become. 

Ways to motivate you to reach your goals: 

1. Stop comparing yourself to others
2. Understand your purpose
3. Keep a daily diary
4. Remember where you started
5. Don’t fear criticism
6. Set a quit time
7. Spend time with smart people
8. Rely on habits 

If you’ve tried but failed to get motivated, then it might help to talk it through with someone you trust. 

Sometimes it can be hard to achieve things on your own, so having a good support network may help when you’ve taken on a big challenge. Keep this in mind when working with your team and their goals.