Comments on: SMART Goals: 5 Tips for Motivating Employees

By: Lewis Young

Lewis Young — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Whilst I agree with most sentiments in this blog, I have to say be careful with point no.5. Like Brian rightly says, positive feedback has effect for a limited time and so by giving rewards, you would eventually fall down the same pitfalls. Currently reading through Daniel Pink’s ‘DRIVE: the unsurprising truth about what motivates us’ and from the offset, he explains the carrot and stick reward system becomes ineffective longer term in motivating your team. In fact, this model becomes counter-intuitive to our aims by actually making us less productive as we look to see rewards for our efforts.

I have also read ‘Start with Why’ by Simon Sinek who explains that you will only get so far with people who ‘don’t believe what you believe’ through motivation tactics. I agree with both points of view here.

If you’re going to use the carrot and stick model then be creative, fun and unpredictable with it. What we are striving for is of course a motivated and happy workplace, achieving our goals and completing projects. But what no-one wants is reward to become a stalemate, something that makes us less productive and unmotivated.

Appreciate any thoughts and opinions on this from others.

By: JAMSO

JAMSO — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 13:57:00 +0000

SMART goals continue to be popular but people and organizations seem to still struggle with sustained success. One such development of this framework is the improved SMARTER model.
E= Enjoyable/Ethical
R= Reviewed/Rewarding

These 2 extra letters seem to be more effective at capturing a wider range of motivations and gamification opportunities to attain success.

By: Edna Tan

Edna Tan — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 15:37:00 +0000

Well penned. I am already putting into action some of your ideas such as setting achievable goals and rewarding my team in recognition of their accomplishments and they worked out well and I see positive results. Tangible or intangible rewards do not have to be high in value. They have to be genuine enough for my team to feel that they have become more productive, conquered challenges and efforts paid off, the key to have them going the extra mile voluntarily. Thanks for sharing, Brian.

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By: Michael Hall

Michael Hall — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:51:02 +0000

Great write up Brian. If you begin with the big goal and break it down into many smaller goals, or simply brainstorm as much ideas as possible and keep adding more to the list as time goes by. Then all you gotta do is look over your list of ideas or tasks and first of all make sure they are S.M.A.R.T., and second make sure that each action you take is efficient as possible and done to the best of your ability. In other words if you take more efficient actions than not-so-efficient actions then you’ll have success. So don’t waste time and energy stabbing in the dark, make each action count, all seeds you sow won’t fall on good ground but if most of them fall on good ground then you will reach a tipping point and success will be guaranteed. This is the most important tip, make each action count, don’t do things that have little effect.

By: Adil

Adil — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 05:41:31 +0000

Great job. I have one problem, even I have a SMART goal however I am struggling getting to work everyday it achieve it.

By: Teeceecounsel

Teeceecounsel — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:49:52 +0000

The secret to personal peak performance may differ from a collective one, but team play often makes for so much productivity. I wrote about peak performance recently. Click this to view. The Secret To Peak Performance. Imposition inhibits: Your idea of 'ideal' may differ from other people's ideas. Do not impose your ideas on people. People should willingly agree to your terms or you let them go. A good manager knows the balance! Lovely post!