Goal Setting – 5 Pointers For Performance Dialogues

The motivation states goal setting theory states that people’s behavior is determined by the different goals they set. It goes on to assert that people’s effort towards goal achieving is largely affected by the response that they get. Depending on whether the response is negative or positive, the person’s performance is affected. In short, this explains the necessity of using performance dialogues when it comes to goal setting.

There are five different activities that cover performance dialogues when it comes to goal setting.

1) Highlighting the accomplishments- this includes examining the past achievements and goals. Performance dialogues help people take stock of all their achievements. Dialogues are used as people see only from one point of view and a dialogue will ensure that no person misses out on any of his or her achievements.

This aspect of goal setting also helps people realize their accomplishments with respect to other goals they have set. This makes the possibility of achieving another goal seem more positive. By observing how much they have achieved in the past, they get encouraged to believe that they are capable of achieving much more.

2) Identifying the need for improvement- in this part of performance dialogue in setting goals, people can analyze their previous goals and achievements and conclude where they need to improve. Examination of these areas helps people set better goals thereby increasing their success rate when it comes to achievement of the goal.

3) Having clear expectations- this part of performance dialogue in relation to goal setting helps people realize what they should expect when setting a goal. Due to the above two points in goal setting dialogue, people gain clarity when it comes to the next goal. This helps people eliminate all the goals that they consider will waste their time.

4) Goal setting- the most important aspect of goal setting dialogue. People evaluate their previous goals entirely to know how to set new ones. Therefore this is the most important part of goal setting dialogue. Here people need to apply all that they have learnt from their performance dialogue in order to set a goal that is:
a) Attainable
b) Challenging
c) Specific

5) Planning- when people set a goal, they get a general idea of the direction in which they need to move in order to accomplish that goal. Therefore another important part of the goal performance dialogue process is the actual planning of the specific steps that need to be taken in order to achieve the objective. This advocates the application of all that people have learned from their past and helps them in avoiding all the mistakes that have already been made.

As is obvious, there are a multitude of advantages that goal performance dialogues can offer. Dialogues can help externally or internally. In an internal dialogue, the person has a dialogue within himself or herself and this helps him or her evaluate past performances objectively and change the goal accordingly. In an external dialogue, the dialogue is between the person and her or his superior. Here, the superior gives a feedback on the person’s performance with respect to the goals that have been set and shows the direction for all the new goals that need to be set. Performance dialogues in the process of goal setting helps people expend their efforts fruitfully.