At the beginning of every new endeavor, there is always one thing: the goal setting. In training or coaching, this is particularly relevant because you set goals not just for yourself, but also together with your participants. Johanna from blink.it has intensively dealt with the idea of 'Leading through Goals' in her psychological thesis. Find out now why co-defining goals is so important and how you can achieve this as a trainer or coach!
Setting Goals Together: Why the Extra Effort is Worth It
Imagine you work in a larger company, for example, as a software developer. One day, the human resources development informs you about a new training opportunity that sounds interesting to you. You are generally eager for new perspectives and sign up for the training. Which option would you prefer?
Option A: At the first meeting, the trainer explains to you what the goals of the training are.
Option B: Before the first meeting, you briefly meet with your supervisor and discuss together what goals the training has for you.
And what do you think as a trainer or coach? The first option seems to save time at first glance from the organizers' perspective – but the second option ensures that the employee feels taken seriously. Even if the outcome remains the same in both options, a mutual agreement before the training can positively influence the entire course and thereby the result.
As an additional incentive, the supervisor can also offer a bonus if the shared goals are achieved.
Advantages of Shared Goal Setting Between Supervisor and Employee
The personal goals of the employee are taken into account
The employee feels actively responsible for achieving the goal and is more motivated
The supervisor is relieved in the long term by the established process
The relationship between the supervisor and the employee is strengthened
What advocates for the classic goal setting (Option A above) is the apparent time savings. Of course, appointments for agreements must be arranged and kept. The only question is: Do the mentioned advantages of shared goal setting outweigh? Especially in the context of further education, the goal takes high priority. Anyone who, as a participant, does not actively work towards achieving the (learning) goal may potentially not achieve it.
Therefore, it is valid: Goals are only meaningful if the affected party agrees with them. Or in other words: Goals are even counterproductive if imposed from the outside. A shared goal setting resolves this issue.
Create a Clear Process Through Goal Agreements
In her thesis, Johanna therefore developed a goal agreement system together with the management of blink.it. The guiding question behind it: What does a process look like in our company in which the supervisor works with individual employees to find, pursue, and evaluate a goal?
The result of Johanna's project was a goal agreement system consisting of four steps:
Preparation: Supervisor and employee independently consider which goals are important for the employee in the near future.
Agreement: At a meeting, the employee and supervisor exchange ideas and jointly set goals.
Realization: The employee can independently decide how to achieve the goals and works on them. Depending on the duration of goal setting, one to two interim conversations with the supervisor are sensible.
Retrospective: At the previously scheduled time, a closing conversation takes place in which the achievement of the goal is reviewed, and the process is reflected upon.
These four steps provide the framework of the goal agreement system and explain the process of goal setting.
Johanna from blink.it: In her scientific thesis, she addressed the topic of leading through goal agreements.
Everything SMART? – Criteria for Good Goal Setting
What exactly a good goal looks like is clarified by another concept that you, as a trainer or coach, may already know: According to the mnemonic SMART, a good goal should meet the following criteria:
Specific
Measurable
Actively Influenced
Realistic
Time-bound
For the goal agreement system, the aspect of time-bound is particularly important: You set a specific duration for achieving the goal. And at a set point in time, a follow-up conversation takes place between the employee and supervisor – for example, with you or another supervisor. This allows challenges to be identified or questions to be clarified. A shared reflection (retrospective) helps both sides recognize what went well and what may need improvement.
Development Goal or Performance Goal? – 5 Types of Goals
Lastly, we want to clarify the type of the goal: Here you can primarily distinguish between developmental and performance goals. The former concerns personal development, while the latter is specifically about achieving a performance.
These and other types of goals with examples:
| Type of Goal | Example || --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ || Performance Goal | I achieve a revenue of 500,000 Euros in 2019. || Personal Development Goal | I consistently decline tasks that cannot be done in time. || Task Goal | I write a report on topic XY by tomorrow, which should be three pages long. || Innovation Goal | I develop a method that makes report writing generally more effective. || Resource Goal | From now on, I will write reports in 2.5 hours instead of 3 hours. |
Further information on these different types of goals can be found in the book “Formulating Goals” by Klaus Watzka. Consider which type each goal falls into – so you can better assess what steps are necessary.
How You as a Trainer or Coach Can Set Goals Together
Now you have learned about the process with goal agreement system, criteria for good goal setting as well as different types of goals. But how can you, as a trainer or coach, contribute to ensure that goal setting takes place together?
Basically, you can address the supervisor and/or human resources development about the above-mentioned method before the training and explain the advantages to them. If your client decides to take this path with the training participants, you can prepare both sides for the various steps (see above). During the course of the goal, you can also serve as an independent third party for consultation.
Your Role in Goal Setting Between Participant and Supervisor
Beforehand: Preparation and information for both parties regarding the process of goal agreement
During: Provide a neutral perspective in case of questions and possible misunderstandings
The Shared Goal Setting Between Trainer and Participant
Also, a shared goal setting can be useful between you as a trainer/coach and your participant: What are the goals of the training? What exactly should the individual participant do differently in the future? Depending on whether you lead a group with several participants or conduct individual coaching, you have varying amounts of time available for each participant.
As a Trainer with Multiple Participants
In training sessions with a group size of more than five participants, personal goal agreements become difficult or eventually too costly for your client. Here, you can offer to present the goal agreement system in the group and then hold the individual conversations in a webinar. This way, you save on travel.
To save even more time, you can also skip the interim conversations. However, the shared goal agreement and retrospective are important and still more effective than a goal setting imposed from outside!
As a Coach in One-on-One Conversations
If your training or coaching is designed so that you have enough time with the individual participant, you can fully utilize the goal agreement system. Ideally, you also involve the participant's supervisor here – for example, in step 1 (preparation) and step 4 (retrospective). Only in this way can it be ensured that after your training or coaching, there remains a person in the company who knows the participant's goal and has followed through with the process.
Multiple feedback cycles are particularly useful here to achieve the best results and adjust if necessary. This means that you meet, for example, every two weeks to discuss the current progress, potential challenges, and solutions. If the goal agreement system method was previously unknown in the company, this intensive initial support sets a good example. This way, gradually the entire workforce can be sensitized and motivated for this type of shared goal setting.
As a Trainer or Coach with Yourself
Even without a real counterpart, you can benefit from the concept of shared goal setting: Create commitment by setting a fictitious goal agreement with yourself. Set dates for the upcoming weeks to actively take time to review your own goals. And why not display your goals visibly nearby, for example, above your desk!
You can of course also pass on these tips to your participants, should a "real" shared goal agreement with you or a supervisor not be possible.
In principle, a goal agreement system should take place at least once live and in person. After all, the relational aspect of this method is particularly important. The interim conversations can also be held by phone if time is tight. However, the initial conversation – in which the actual goal setting takes place – should take place in person.
Goal Setting in Online Support
If you are reading this blog, you might be considering accompanying your training or coaching online. Perhaps you already have some kind of online academy and are relying on the blended learning method. In this case, you have a few additional options for goal setting:
Use very concrete calls to action in online impulses that are meaningful as intermediate steps towards the agreed goal.
Contact the supervisor or human resources development if you notice during online support that your participant may need additional support (note, there may be data protection restrictions that you should clarify beforehand)
Strengthen your participants' commitment by having them sign on a large poster at the first in-person event. Write the goal setting agreement on the poster, which you may have made with all participants. Take a photo of it and use it as the first image in your online support!
