leadership, group dynamics and goal setting

• Goal


  A target or objective that a person or organization aims to achieve
• Goal setting


  The process of identifying something that you want to accomplish and establishing measurable goals and timeframes
• Who can set goals


  • Teachers
  • Coaches
  • Performers
• Why goal setting is used


  • To increase a performer's motivation, confidence and persistence on task
  • To alleviate anxiety by controlling arousal and enhancing performance
  • To increase attentional focus and help monitor performance
• How goal setting can affect performance


  1. Directing a performer's attention on what needs to be improved/achieved

  2. Regulating the amount of effort put into a task

  3. Ensuring effort is sustained until the goal is reached

  4. Motivating people to develop strategies to reach their goals
• SMART goal setting


  A framework for setting effective goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Recorded, and Time-phased
• Specific


  Goals must be clear and specific
• Measurable


  Goals must be measured by assessing progress, which can be motivating and ensure realism
• Achievable


  Goals should be realistic and within the reach of the performer to maintain motivation
• Recorded


  Goals should be recorded so progress can be monitored and achievements celebrated
• Team


  A collection of people who both share similar goals and interact with one another
• Time-phased


  Goals should be split into short-term and long-term to ensure they remain realistic and achievable
• Group


  A collection of people who both share similar goals and interact with one another
• Group / Team Formation


  1. Forming

  2. Storming

  3. Norming

  4. Performing
• Short-term goal for a 100m sprinter


  • To knock 1/20th of a second off my time taken to leave the blocks
• Long-term goal for a 100m sprinter


  • To qualify for the world championships with a new PB time
• Outcome goals


  Goals directed towards an end result of the activity, e.g. to win a netball match
• Forming stage


  • High dependence on the leader for guidance and direction
  • Group members are getting to know each other
  • Very little agreement on team aims, other than received from the leader
  • Each team member's individual roles are unclear
  • Leader must be prepared to give strong direction
• Storming stage


  • Group decisions are difficult
  • Team members jostle for positions / leadership in the team
  • There is now a clearer focus for the team (still many uncertainties)
  • Cliques form at this stage and there may be power struggles
  • Team must be focused on its goals to avoid becoming distracted by relationships and emotional issues
  • There needs to be an environment of compromise to enable progress
  • The leader has a more advisory or coaching role
• Performance goals


  Goals directed towards the individual's end performance, e.g. to improve a batting average
• Norming stage


  • Much more agreement and consensus of opinion in the team
  • Roles and responsibilities are clearer and generally accepted
  • Important decisions are increasingly made through group agreement
  • Less important decisions are delegated to individuals or small teams
  • There is now a much stronger sense of commitment and unity
  • The team is much more social / friendly at this stage
  • There is general respect for the leader
  • Leadership is more likely to be shared
• Process goals


  Goals used to improve a skill and are often related to technique, e.g. improving batting technique
• Performing stage


  • The team has more strategies and has a clear vision and clear aims
  • There is no interference or participation from the leader
  • There is a focus on achieving goals
  • Team members trusted to get on with the job with little interference
  • Disagreements occur but are resolved within the team positively
  • The team does not need to be instructed or assisted
  • Team members might ask for assistance from the leader with personal and interpersonal issues
• Team cohesion


  The motivation which attracts individuals to the group and the resistance of those members to the group breaking up
• Factors affecting goal setting


  • Long/short term goals
  • Effective goal setting
  • Shared decision making
  • Goal difficulty
  • Goal specificity
• Festinger's definition of cohesiveness


  The total field of forces which act on members to remain in the group
• Short-term goals


  Provide greater opportunity for success, which can reinforce positive feelings and help control anxiety
• Carron's dimensions of cohesion


  • Group integration - how the individual members of the group feel about the group as a whole
  • Individual attraction to the group - how attracted the individuals are to the group
• Long-term goals


  Often achieved through achieving lots of smaller short-term goals
• Effective goal setting

  • Requires a breakdown of overall goals into long, medium and short-term goals
  • Avoids vague goals like "win the league"
• Shared decision making


  Goals set through negotiation and agreement are more effective than externally set goals
• Steiner's model of group performance


  • Actual Productivity = Potential Productivity - Losses due to Faulty Processes
  • Coordination problems: if coordination / timing of members don't match, strategies that depend upon that individual will fail
  • Motivation problems: if individuals are not motivated to the same extent, they will be 'pulling in different directions'
• Goal difficulty


  • Better performance comes from setting more difficult goals that are just beyond reach, rather than easily achievable
• Ringelmann effect


  • The average individual performance decreases as the group size increases
  • Groups pulled with more force than an individual but not with as much force (per person)
  • Loss in performance was mainly due to loss of motivation (and partly coordination problems)
• Goal specificity


  • The more specific the goal, the better the performance. Vague goals like "do your best" are not effective
• Social loafing


  When some individuals in a group lose motivation, apparently caused by the individual losing identity when placed in a group. Individual efforts may not be recognised by those who are spectating or by those taking part.
• Strategies to avoid social loafing


  Highlight individual performance, provide individual feedback, use peer pressure / support from teammates
• Strategies to avoid coordination problems


  Select individuals based on their interactive skills, emphasise that good coordination will lead to better performance, use small teams to help coordinate actions
• Qualities an effective leader should have


  • A clear goal or a vision of what needs to be achieved
  • Empathy (understanding how others feel)
  • Good at the sport (or have great subject / sport knowledge)
  • Charisma (has a certain 'presence' and great powers of persuasion)
  • Good communicator
  • Highly motivated
  • Enthusiastic
• Leadership


  An individual having enough influence over the behaviour of others to motivate them to follow the individual's own set goals