4 Steps on How to Demystify Goal Setting

“It’s time for annual goal setting.” Does this sentence cause a sense of anxiety or dread? Goal setting can feel like a chore for many, but it’s actually critically important for team engagement and motivation. From a recent survey of 250+ U.S. marketing professionals, we found that goal setting came up repeatedly as a key motivational driver. Empowerment in independent decision making is critical to motivation, which can only be achieved through setting goals, and then allowing people to meet them without micromanagement. It is also important to not fall into the demotivational pitfall of overlooking a personal growth path, which can be kept on track through the use of goals. Full findings from the survey can be found here. If goals are so important to motivating teams, why do companies and leaders often struggle to put them into practice? Here are four steps to demystify goal setting and a few simple frameworks for crafting simple and attainable goals that will help your team stay motivated and focused. Step 1: Acknowledge the Important Role Goal Setting Plays with Your Team Nearly three quarters of survey respondents said that having formal goals is very important in staying motivated about their work. In addition, the number one and two reasons for marketers wanting impactful 1-1s with their manager is “goal alignment” and “receiving direction.” If you are a team leader, it’s time to recognize the power that goal setting has in driving engagement and move it to the top of your priority list. When taking a deep dive into best practices for motivation by career stages, we found that team members need clarity on how their work supports the growth of the business. Setting clear goals helps provide teams with a greater understanding of what they are working towards, as if they are mile markers in a race. According to Bryan Wessel, SVP Media & Data Strategy at Sony Pictures Entertainment: “Operating without goals is a continuous game of whack-a-mole…an exhausting struggle to stay ahead of the game. While cumbersome at times, goal setting is a critical part of a team’s success. It outlines the holistic vision for the group and the journey that is necessary to reach the desired outcome. When you know where you want to go, then it’s easy to prioritize projects/tasks along the way. In this model, we find that the team is more unified and focused, which results in a higher rate of productivity and overall success.” Step 2: Start by Creating Goals Together Out of the survey respondents who didn’t go through a formal goal setting process this past year, 72% wished they had. To immediately rectify and help set your team on a clear path, get started on goal setting today, regardless of what month it is. There is often a belief that goals should be set in January, but realistically, they can be done at any point in the year. The point is simply to do them. In fact, one Brand Director shared “I always set goals with my team during the summer months since that’s our slowest period when we have the space to be more reflective about our work and ourselves.” If you are feeling caught up in the uncertainty of the moment, try to avoid the feeling of punting on goal setting. It will help you, as a leader, and your team navigate through the uncertainty. Step 3: Find a Framework That’s Right for You & Your Team If you are lucky enough to work for an organization that has rigorous and well-defined goal setting practices, you probably already have all you need to set clear and succinct goals for yourself and your team. However, if you are currently without this formal structure and looking to implement some direction and clarity to drive a highly motivated and engaged team, read on. We outline three turnkey, specific and actionable frameworks that we uncovered from industry professionals as part of our research into how goals connect with motivation. The SWOT Framework To align both company objectives and employee growth, one Brand Director, uses a personal SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) framework for goal for goal setting. Start by listing 2-3 areas of strength (S) that team members want to continue to hone and 1-2 areas for development (W) that they want to improve upon. Then, have them outline their next career step (O) and from there the skills that they need to build to take that step (T). If using this approach, we recommend that leaders take the initiative to outline the larger team/corporate goals and encourage team members to ladder into these via a mixture of hard and soft skills. Once the framework is established, the onus should be on the employee to put pen to paper and take initiative for crafting their own SWOT model, in collaboration with their manager. The exercise should be very collaborative in nature with both manager and employee led elements. Choose your own adventure for goal setting. The 5-5-5 Framework To focus on individual employee career mapping, another Agency Director notes the concept of having team members fill out a “5-5-5.” This empowers your team members to take the initiative to outline 5 things they’re proud of having accomplished, 5 things they want to accomplish in the future and 5 things they want to improve upon. This goal structure is relatively simple and does not carry the weight of “formal goal setting” when it’s kicked off. It starts as a simple list of professional goals and soft skills for improvement, driven by the employee. Then the employee and manager can refine the list together to create a focused list of actionable goals. The SMART Framework Finally, for a more company objective-based focus, both manager and employee can collaborate on 3-5 SMART goals. In this framework, the manager sets the big bold goals vision for the team, and employees are tasked with crafting SMART tactics that ladder in. Charlotte Cochrane, Head of Digital (West) at Initiative says, “I tend to relate to an old yet powerful mechanism in which goals are clear & reachable, ‘SMART’ proofed. Specific (simple, sensible, significant); Measurable (meaningful, motivating); Achievable (agreed, attainable); Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based); Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).” This model is probably the most complex of the three, as careful work and consideration needs to be made in determining what is truly “achievable” or “relevant” within your organization’s reality of resources and direction. There are a myriad of other frameworks to choose from, with the point being that the exercise doesn’t need to be a huge undertaking. As a leader, you get to choose your own adventure for goal setting by finding the right framework that aligns best with your philosophy and values. Once you have identified the best one for you, get cracking and don’t overthink it. Step 4: Continuously Check-In on Progress Once you set your goals, now what? The most important part is to make sure you revisit them regularly with your team members. If you miss this key step, your team won’t be held accountable to performing or meeting their goals and your momentum towards peak motivation will be lost. In addition, your staff may not see how they are tracking toward a promotion, salary increase, or even their own personal growth, leading toward demotivation. Make sure you revisit goals regularly with your team members. Ideally, regular check-ins and tracking toward goals should be part of your ongoing conversations in your 1-1s, but how often you choose to formally revisit is ultimately up to you as a leader. Allyson Witherspoon, Nissan’s U.S. Chief Marketing Officer, notes: “In such a fast-paced world, it is easy to have a set it and forget it mentality when it comes to our intentions. We get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life – even now in the monotony of quarantine. Something that has worked for me is setting designated times to do a check-in on my progress. I do it once a quarter.” Whether you formally revisit goals monthly, quarterly or at the very least, bi-annually is up to you–but it’s critical to revisit with some form of regular cadence to keep the motivation engine of your team humming. Here’s How Managers Are Missing the Mark on Team Motivation and Ways to Fix It