POM - 04 S.M.A.R.T GOALS

SMART GOAL SETTING

Imagine you could make objects in paint application in your computer and just print them into 3D real life objects! Yes, this is the future of 3D printing, an innovation that will someday become innovation of the century. However, still a lot needs to be done in this area to realize this imagination. This time Prof. Mandi showed us a 3D object, an elephant, which was printed in NITIE‘s own 3D printing machine. Professor told us that some of the NITIE alumni have started business in this area and though it’s a new area to venture in still they are pursuing it. With this example he urged us all to take action and not waste time thinking and thinking because till now we have done nothing and we are young so we can take risks. After all, every mistake makes us wise. He wanted us to Shoot Shoot Shoot then aim instead of Aim Aim Aim then Shoot.  

We all should have some goals to achieve in our lives. But goals should not be absurd; they should be perfectly gauged in accordance with individual’s potential. Hence emerged the concept of smart goals, but how to know whether a goal is smart or not?

For a goal to be a SMART goal, it should be –

S- Specific
M- Measurable
A- Achievable
R- Realistic
T- Time Bound

The video below will make it more clear what smart goals are:

After explaining what SMART goals are Prof. Mandi resumed the tower building exercise seeing it as an example for goal setting. He asked volunteers to give the values of the Goal Set by them and analyzed them. On Analyzing the goal set by the volunteers it became clear that most of the goals set lacked either one or more of the characteristic of a SMART goal. Prof. Mandi insisted that all the parameters, namely - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time Bound, of a SMART Goal should be in Consonance or harmony. Also, goal setting and goal achievement have to follow a spiral relationship i.e they should keep on evolving and should affect each other progressively and not regressively. After this Prof. Mandi Explained that potential is not static but keeps on changing as we push our own limits. He defined performance as “Performance is to realize the potential and breed new potential “ 

PERFORMANCE = SMART GOAL SET X SMART GOAL ACHIEVED.

Some ground rules for Goal Setting - 

Goal Set  >  Historical Goal

Goal Achieved  >= Goal Set

Goal Set >= Potential

If any of the condition above fails during goal setting, the goal cannot be a SMART goal.

After long deliberations, the following data for the parameters was achieved – 

1. Goal Set : 30
2.Goal Achieved : To be found out
3. Goal Achieved (Historical) : 27
4.Potential :30

Above is one example of a SMART goal in tower building exercise. 

Once goal is set we have to achieve it a time frame, but sometimes due to unavoidable reasons like lack of resources or some unfortunate situations, achieving the goal in the set time frame may become difficult. Here comes the Jugaad. Jugaad is increasingly being accepted as a management technique and is recognized all over the world as an acceptable form of frugal engineering pioneered in India. Companies in India are adopting Jugaad as a practice to reduce research and development costs. Jugaad also applies to any kind of creative and out of the box thinking which maximizes resources for a company and its stakeholders.

PYGMALION EFFECT

According to Pygmalion effect if higher expectations are placed on people then they are more susceptible to perform better. It is also known as Rosenthal Effect. The effect is named after Pygmalion, a play by George Bernard Shaw. The corollary of the Pygmalion effect is the golem effect in which low expectations lead to a decrease in performance.

Below is beautiful video of a man who wants to dance and win a competition, but lacks dancing skills. However his trainer motivates him and places large expectations on him to win the competition. As a result the person is motivated to perform better and in the end…. Enjoy the video to know the conclusion.

That is it for this week. Hope you learned some important organizational management concepts form this post. Keep on leaving your comments and / or valuable feedback.

Cheers,
Ankush