.

SMART Goals and Pygmalion Effect

SMART goals have three main characteristics where in there are easy to understand, are achievable and have clear point of success. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic and time bound.

a. Specific goal:

A specific goal should answer who, what, when, where and why.

For instance, if my goal is to become rich I need to answer 5 Ws

Who: It is me who has set the goal.

What: I should quantify my goal in monetary terms.

When: I should set a deadline, say 10 years.

Why: I should have concrete reason to become rich.

b. Measurable goal:

The reason to have a measurable goal is that we need to know where the finish line is. Imagine yourself running a race. You keep running as you complete one lap and two laps and so on and you don’t know if you are won until you see the finish line. In a SMART goal the finish line should be true/ false, a number or yes/no so that we know for sure that we have attained a goal.

c. Attainable goal:

A goal has to very realistic .There is no way a person can save Rs 20000 when he is left with Rs.10000 after all his monthly expenses.

d. Relevant goal:

Relevant goal is one which clearly answers the question why?  For example a person’s goal is to save Rs 10 lakhs to retire. Here the answer to why? is retirement. But if a person says that he should buy Mercedes Benz so that he could retire, it becomes irrelevant.

e. Time bound goal:

A time bound goal is one which has a deadline. If we consider the previous example, the goal would become time bound  if the person wants to save Rs.10 lakhs before the age of 50.

Most people set their goals based on their present levels to do what they already know. Here are some of the key points to be taken into consideration as far as setting goals is concerned.

         a. Goal set: Goal set is the target that we aim to achieve. In the case of building a tower we take goal set to be the number of blocks in a tower. Goal setting and goal achievement should be evolving in a spiral fashion. One should affect another constantly so that the goal is attained.

b. Goal history:  It is very important that goal set is always greater than the goal history.

c. Potential: Potential should always be greater than the historical achievement.

Potential is influenced by two parameters according to the following equation

                  Goal Setting *Goal achievement = Potential

Pygmalion Effect:

According to Pygmalion effect, the more the expectations are placed on people the more they perform well and vice versa. This effect happens often between relationships like mother & child, teacher & student, Manager & Employee, captain &player, Performer & audience and so on.