GOAL SETTING || PYGMALION EFFECT || SMART

THE AGENDA 

What keeps a human being going on ahead in life? It is purpose and hope. The purpose of ones mere existence and the hope of achieving what we want in life. Thus, having a goal, working to achieve it.

GOAL Setting: it is important for an individual to set goals, visualize them and start working hard towards it.

In corporate, how well does this goal setting work on an individual level ?

The answer to this question can be categorized into 2 : The employee and Employer

The Employer: Pretty sure about his goal. To where he wants to take his organization. What milestone he wants to achieve in order to get to the ultimate GOAL. He visualizes the aim and starts working towards it with the help of the organization i.e., his employees, the people who will be the drivers for the GOAL achievement. 

The Employee: his role is to work to achieve his employers goals. Be it a mason who is involved in a construction activity or a white collar worker in the company’s top management. The aim stays the same. To help the employer achieve his goals.

This brings us to discuss the

PYGMALION EFFECT which is a psychological phenomenon wherein high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The higher the expectations, the better is the performance. This behaviour that is expressed toward an employee can affect the behaviours of the employee in favour of the leader's expectations. The more an employee is engaged in learning activities, the higher the expectation is from the leader. In turn, the employee participates in more learning behaviour. Leaders will show more leader behaviours such as leader-member exchange (trust, respect, obligation, etc.), setting specific goals, and allowing for more learning opportunities for employees, and giving employees feedback.   

THE SMART APPROACH

There are types of people who understand SMART goals differently depending upon the culture and technology. The SMART approach helps us cover all aspects that need to be looked upon in order to realize a goal.

Our goals need to be well defined and easily measurable. This makes it easy to asses our progress on the journey to achieve it.

It is correctly said, ‘Aim for the moon, If you miss you will land among the stars’. And that’s what setting realistic and achievable goals is all about.

Having a time bound goal inspires us to go behind and achieve it.