Heroes of Employee Engagement: No.4 Edwin A. Locke
Locke’s Goal Setting Theory gave us the blueprint for modern workplace motivation by making the direct relationship between goals, productivity and employee engagement both clear, and actionable.
In 1968, Edwin A. Locke published his groundbreaking Goal Setting Theory in Toward a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentive. In it, he demonstrated that employees are motivated by clear, well-defined goals and feedback, and that a little workplace challenge is no bad thing.
Locke’s Goal Setting Theory
Locke’s primary revelation was around the power of setting specific and measurable goals, rather than keeping outcomes general. With his theory he demonstrated how targets like “increase sales by 20%” or “reach a customer NPS of 50” are much more effective than vague direction such as “complete your work to a higher standard”. This might seem obvious to those of us who have sat down to work out our KPIs, but this really was Locke’s brainchild. He gave us the foundation for modern goal-setting which had momentous practical implications for managers. Locke also demonstrated that the best way to feel motivated is to push yourself to do something that you’re not 100% certain you can achieve. Tackling challenging goals headfirst allows you to work hard, develop your skills and reap the rewards in terms of positive feedback and a sense of personal achievement. Speaking directly to Locke ourselves, he noted that managers can also use “impossible” goals to promote creativity – employees just need to be assured that there’s no punishment for not meeting ambitious targets.Locke and Latham’s five principles of effective goal setting
- Clarity. A goal must be specific and clear.
- Challenge. An easy or tedious goal is demotivating. But keep a realistic balance: don’t expect anyone on your team to spin straw into gold.
- Commitment. Your employees have to understand and buy in to the goal from the outset.
- Feedback. Provide regular feedback throughout the whole process. This helps to keep the goal on track.
- Task complexity. Think about realistic timescales, and break down the process into sub-goals with regular reviews.