Pygmalion Effect

GOAL SETTING

Goal setting as we have already talked about is an integral part of management. But now we will talk about effective goal setting which is a two part process, setting a goal and then also designing a strategy to achieve the same. So the goal setting should be SMART.

SMART

Specific - The goal should be specific and precise. It should be leading towards exactly the desired direction.

Measurable - It should be measurable so that it can be defined if the stated goal has been met or not. measurable goals can boost the performance.

Attainable - Keeping the goal realistic is very important to keep the team motivated. It should always consider the circumstances, resources available, strengths and weaknesses.

Relevant - The goal set should be relevant to the task at hand and should align with the vision and mission of the company.

Time-bound - And ofcourse, the goals set should be time bound so as to make the workforce deliver its best and not postponing things to a later date.

And it affects the outcome in many ways like

• directing the effort and energy towards a single direction.
• Motivating the workforce to put in extra effort.
• Giving a sense of achievement to the team.
• Inculcating the spirit of persistently pursuing the goal.

But then there is a twist, and that is Pygmalion effect.

We talked about motivating the employees through appropriate goal setting but now we say, set a goal marginally beyond their potential.

Studies tell us that  bigger the aim greater the effort. Going by this, we follow the graph given below while goal setting and keep it just marginally above the potential to achieve 100 % potential and this is called the PYGMALION EFFECT ( google it).

This was practically demonstrated in the class by making the students set different goals and then trying to achieve them( again tower building).

Now one more thing to learn, simple things in life can teach millions of lessons(tower building in this case).
I have a real life example here, I gave CAT and aspired to score atleast 99 percentile and here i am in NITIE, because i aimed high and came close to my aim. And i know many of my friends, my batch mates in Patiala who worked hard but wanted anything above 90 in CAT and sadly, this played against them and they couldn't unleash their potential.

So guys aspire, set a SMART goal, and see how pygmalion effect plays its role.