Funny how words have different meaning for people. My sense is Zig Ziglar presumed the word “specific” to provide crystal clear clarity.
From my decades of experience, many people write goals, yet upon closer examination these goals are not as specific as they should be.
Another presumption I believe Ziglar, a salesman, author and motivational speaker, had was mindset. Many people look at goal setting and goal achievement without the necessary mindset. Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you think you cannot, either way you are correct.”
Ziglar, who was 86 when he died in 2012, was a highly motivated person. He had the mindset to keep going. Some today may call this grit to a positive attitude. Just listen to any of his presentations and anyone can see Ziglar’s mindset. He understood the necessity to master his craft, to be autonomous and to relate to others.
Ziglar also recognized goals must be measurable. The 21st century update would be Measure times Mindset. Some may call this mindset “can-do attitude” while others might refer to it as “grit.”
Today Ziglar’s mindset has been captured in the 1970s research by Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan through their “Theory of Self Determination.” This theory of motivation looks to support our intrinsic tendencies to behave in positive ways. In 1996, Deci along with Richard Flaste published “Why We Do What We Do,” to explain this fairly simple motivational theory.
Before Deci and Ryan, probably the most noted 20th century work on motivation and mindset was through the efforts of Gordon Allport who built upon the research of psychologist Eduard Spranger. In Allport’s book, “Types of Men,” he described six major value types:
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1. Theoretical
2. Economic
3. Aesthetic
4. Social
5. Political
6. Religious
Today these six values have been incorporated into online assessments published by several different organizations. What has been learned is when the economic driver is in the top 50 percent of all value drivers, there is a greater likelihood the salesperson will be more successful.
I have given one of these assessments to hundreds of individuals including salespeople and my own findings confirm this. Salespeople with a higher economic driver have the necessary mindset potential to achieve sales goals more so than those with lower economic drivers. Those salespeople with the economic value in the lower 50 percent can still be successful provided they have clarity around these drivers.
Finally, updating the “A” from attainable or achievable to align is essential. The reason most people have goals is because they have a plan of action, purpose, and passion even if those plans, purposes and passions are unstated. When goals are aligned to these three “Ps,” this only adds to the ultimate success of goal achievement.
Next week’s column will discuss the R and the T of the SMART criteria along with a tool to help increase your goal setting and goal achievement success.
Leanne Hoagland-Smith is an author, speaker and executive coach. Her weekly column explores issues that impact the bottom line of firms with fewer than 100 employees. She can be reached at 219-508-2859.