Goal Setting, Part 2

 

Coaches,

As you get deeper into your season, here is another story on the power of goals. One of my favorite books is Goals by Brian Tracy. There is a particular story in the book that I think is powerful and worth sharing. Tracy refers to a study from another book, What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School, by Mark McCormack.

The study was conducted between 1979 and 1989. In 1979 the graduates of the MBA program were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” It turns out 3% had written goals and plans. 13% had goals but not in writing and 84% had no specific goals at all. In 1989 the researchers interviewed the graduates again to check the metrics.

What they found was astonishing! The 3% who had clear, written goals, on average, were earning 10 times as much as the other 97% all together!

What does this mean for us? When I coached high school football our head coach had what he called a “Goal Pyramid.” It was a poster that he made and put on the locker room wall. He went over it at the beginning of the season with the team. It was something like this (edited for what it would look like for our teams):

STATE CHAMPIONS

STATE RUNNER UPS

SEMIFINALIST

QUARTERFINALIST

2ND ROUND OF PLAYOFFS

 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS

WINNING SEASON %

After we accomplished each level, we highlighted it. It became a weekly moment for us as we made our way through the season.

Based on this I wonder, have you discussed your team goals for this season? Have you written them down? Are they posted somewhere that the team can see them and reflect on them weekly? Do you all talk about them regularly?

What other goals would you add to this list that can be measured?

Let me know if you and your team have done this exercise and what your goals are. If not, just remember that the 97%, I am sure, wished they had.