Goal Setting - More than being SMART??

Goals! Love them or hate them, most of us are familiar with them. As an athlete (at any level), you are very likely to have goals in relation to your sport. Likewise, those who work in business are no doubt all too familiar with the annual appraisal, and perhaps even dread the thought of once again hearing the ‘SMART’ goals acronym. SMART goals (which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound – or similar variant!) most certainly do have their place. Used in the right way, goals can be the key to pushing our successes to the limit. BUT – is there more to goal setting than simply being SMART?!

Let us consider for a moment, an athlete who is looking to come first in a particular event. For arguments sake, let’s say the 100m at the next World Championships. This goal may be considered SMART. It is specific, measurable, achievable (or we will assume such for this imaginary athlete), relevant and timebound. BUT achievement of this goal is NOT fully within the athlete’s control. It is what would be termed an OUTCOME goal. Whilst the athlete can of course do everything in their power to put themselves in the best position possible to achieve this, they are ultimately not in control of whether, on the day, they do finish in first place. They cannot, for example, control how much everyone else competing in the event trains. In a workplace setting, an outcome goal might be securing a new job by a certain date. Again, this is a great goal, but not fully in your control.

Mmmmm, ok. So, you may now be thinking, perhaps there is more to this after all, I see what you are saying, but what do I do instead? Well, it is more what you can do IN ADDITION. Outcome goals can act as powerful motivators IF they are used alongside other goal types. Left on their own however, they may in fact lead to a reduction in motivation, due to the lack of control over whether or not they are achieved. So, enter PROCESS goals. Process goals represent the ACTUAL ACTIONS you will take to make the achievement of the outcome goal more likely. These can also be SMART. So, for example, you may decide that you need to complete a specific type of training twice per week for the next 12 weeks to improve a particular skill. Or perhaps practice your presentation skills ready for interview, by preparing and presenting a topic to your family or team. When creating process goals you should think carefully about what skills will be needed to achieve your outcome goal and how you will go about getting yourself into the best shape to achieve it (shameless plug here for my free performance profiling worksheet – scroll to the bottom of my homepage and enter your email address to receive a copy!).

Once you have your outcome goal and process goals, you may also want to add some PERFORMANCE goals. What?! Another type of goal?! Yes, just one more for this post, I promise! Performance goals can act as great markers to see if you are ‘on track’ to achieve your outcome goals, or if any of your process goals need adjusting. For example, if you were looking to come first in a 10k race, you would probably know what speed you would need to be running at to be likely to achieve this. This can then be broken down, perhaps initially into how fast you need to be completing 5k, and by what date. So once again, performance goals can be SMART, but focus on the specific performance measures that should be seen as a result of your process goals.

Sound like a lot to take in? Feeling confused? If not, great! But if so, don’t worry! Whilst it can seem daunting at first, effective goal setting is something that it really is worth spending a little time getting your head around, or even getting help with. It can quite easily be got wrong without sufficient thought. However, by taking the time to really think about and break down your goals into these different types you will be on the path to achieving your dreams in no-time!

Feeling confused or would like some help with goal-setting to achieve your dreams in 2021? Have a chat with me! laura@laurarowe.co.uk