topic: [[Forming Habits]] people: #people/edwinlocke created: 2024-01-07 *The process of deciding what you are trying to achieve, and how that impacts your ability to achieve it.* Goal setting is the first step in creating action for a new outcome. It is first and foremost a discrepancy-creating process, where you need to start by [[Identifying Reality]] then where you hope the future is, and the path between current state and future state. Goal setting is primarily effective for providing motivation, and the effect is moderated by ability and the feeling of [[self-efficacy]]. In this way, goal setting is primarily a motivating process (Lunenburg, 2011), hence Demian's take "When you are coaching, goal setting is mostly about providing a vector." Goals are "_immediate regulators of behavior_" (Chamorro-Premuzic et al., 2011 p. 579) ##### What is it? "Edwin Locke’s goal-setting theory argues that for goal-setting to be successful with desired outcomes, they must contain the following specific points (Lunenberg & Samaras, 2011): _Choice and direction:_ - Clarity: goals need to be specific; - Challenging: goals must be difficult yet attainable; _Effort_ - Goals must be accepted; _Persistence_ - and stuck with _Strategies_ - If the person can work on knowledge or task strategies for learning they are more likely to make progress _Moderators of success_: - Ability - Task complexity - Straightforward goals are easier to achieve - [[Feedback]] must be provided on goal attainment; - Goals are more effective when they are used to evaluate the performance; - Goal commitment - Deadlines improve the effectiveness of goals; - A high self-efficacy is important for moving towards a goal - Group goal-setting is as important as individual goal-setting." (MBA, 2019) _Types of Goals_ - Outcome Goals - Performance Goals - Learning Goals (Process Goals) - A learning goal orientation leads to higher performance than a performance goal orientation; (_LS - I'm not sure I agree, some of his literature states that learning goals are not required for higher performance, if specificity is used, there are tradeoffs in cognitive load_) One way of looking at a goal is to set a "Minimum Satisfied" goal (what's the least you would be ok with) and "Stretch Goal," since higher goals often lead to higher performance. ##### Why does it matter? Goal-setting theory helps us move past "I want to be better" as a vague goal, it helps us move towards something specific, gives us motivation which exists in a bidirectional dynamic with activity and momentum. ![[Goal Setting Advances.jpg]] ##### Personal example: If I set a goal of - by March 31, 2024 I want to lead-climb a 5.11 cleanly: that is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound goal, that I can measure performance and progress against. I can also plan for how that might happen. - Domains: - Mindset - learn to be okay taking the fall - Power - improve power for harder moves - endurance - improve endurance for harder climbs - What tactics to I need for those domains? - Mindset - take the fall, do specific fall practice, take the fall daily - Power - boulder once/week - endurance - volume once/week _I'd be happy with leading 5.11a, but my stretch goal is 5.11b_ Maybe the key here is [[Identifying Reality]], seeing where you really are, where you really _can_ be, and the commitment to the effort to even get towards something different. ##### Goal setting by management As a manager, be careful with goal setting. External goals _can_ be as good as internal motivators, but they need to be carefully explained, you need to focus on shared buy-in, and the participants need to be viewed as self-efficacious, fair, and achievable. “praise, public recognition, and money – have no effect on a person’s performance unless they lead to the setting of and commitment to a specific high goal.” (Latham and Locke, 2006, p. 333) Managers should see the "Enhancing the Benefits and Overcoming the Pitfalls of Goal Setting" (Latham & Locke, 2006) article and identify the challenges of goal setting from above. So many pitfalls here. Additionally, typically goals are set for the future that is not controlled. What do you do when contexts change that make the goals invalid, or destructive. ##### What would the opposite argument be? An important idea from the end of Locke's 50-years of goal setting paper (Locke & Latham, 2019) is that the domains of intrinsic [[motivation]] and performance motivation are the same thing and/or are intrinsically linked, they are not. You can enjoy an activity, be good at an activity, care about the activity and not care about getting better. _Do I want to unlink these when it comes to rock climbing? Do I like it and want to keep liking it and not want to or care if I get better? Unsure..._ ##### Other questions The straw-man here is "do your best," or "try to do better or get better." These do not work very well. Except in the case of "Do-Best" athletes. A group of people just always tries their hardest, in research that includes "Do-Best" people, goal setting is often null. Am I a "Do-Best?" How would I know? How does this interact with creating enabling [[cognitive frames]]? It seems to me goal setting has to be related to, on the "high" end [[Identity]], and on the "low" end [[Implementation intentions]], ie [[what got you here won't get you there]] so you have to create new ways of thinking about yourself, new ways of balancing values, and new ways of [[Assessing]], so how will you know if you've been successful? In this way, goal setting has to be associated with an identity shift, can you need to lead yourself through a [[transitional identity]] to a new identify. When should a goal be flexible? How does flexibility interact with the goal to create a best outcome for both process, effort and allow one to both "feel successful" and "be maximally successful?" tags: #note/idea | #on/goals | #on/coaching | #on/selfefficacy | #on/motivation ##### Sources: Chamorro-Premuzic, T., Von Stumm, S., & Furnham, A. (Eds.). (2011). _The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of individual differences_. Wiley-Blackwell. Latham, G. P., & Locke, E. A. (2006). Enhancing the Benefits and Overcoming the Pitfalls of Goal Setting. _Organizational Dynamics_, _35_(4), 332–340. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2006.08.008](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2006.08.008) Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2019). The development of goal setting theory: A half century retrospective. _Motivation Science_, _5_(2), 93–105. [https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000127](https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000127) Lunenburg, F. C. (2011). Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation. _INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, BUSINESS, AND ADMINISTRATION_, _15_(1), 1–5. MBA, C. M., Psychologist. (2019, April 19). _What is Locke’s Goal Setting Theory of Motivation?_ PositivePsychology.Com. [https://positivepsychology.com/goal-setting-theory/](https://positivepsychology.com/goal-setting-theory/) Tondello, G., Premsukh, H., & Nacke, L. (2018). _A Theory of Gamification Principles Through Goal-Setting Theory_. Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. [https://doi.org/10.24251/HICSS.2018.140](https://doi.org/10.24251/HICSS.2018.140)