The goals and targets are an age-old systems for promoting high performance. You would have come across dozens of tools from various coaches and institutions. Among them, SMART goals system is commonly used.
Over the years I coached hundred of boardroom executives from all over the world and the first thing that we talk about is goals. What goals and how to achieve them. Very often I see people suppressed under the weight of goals and many of them pay an enormous cost in the form of emotional, intellectual, and moral down gradation.
That brings a question: Is goal setting really the most effective way to drive performance?
It will be unwise to trash the idea of goal setting. Every organization and most individuals follow it, for some reason, right? It must be working. I do agree to this logic.
What I have been thinking about is: Is it possible to produce such results or even better, without losing on the emotional, moral, social or intellectual front?
Typically, what I see people starting with are long-term, medium-term and short-term goals. Over time, I have seen most people losing sight of the long-term as they are highly focused on the short term. This way long-term goal becomes irrelevant.
The good news is, you can get results without setting long-term goals.
Start with Vivid Visioning: I recommend my clients to have a vivid vision. Having a vivid vision takes off the pressure of numerical madness. You get into creative space, explore the possibilities and don’t bother about limitations.
It can be in the form of a dream card, a vision board or a visualization whenever you get time.
Set Short-term Intentions: I have noticed massive results with short-term intention setting. You can measure the progress, see the result and course-correct to improvise the performance. You can set intentions for a day, week or month. Anything for longer than three months becomes difficult to implement. MG Planner is an effective tool for daily planning and quarterly context-based intention-setting.
Focus on Process, not the Results: As you practice, you would see some things working and many things not. Make a list of all the things working and create a process so that such things are repeated at an optimal frequency.
As your process gets more and more robust, your result will become more consistent.
Does that mean, you should stop setting goals? No!
As you set short-term intentions, pick pen and paper and embed SMART goals in them.
Change your game!
Vivek
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