Goals Research Summary
Perhaps you have heard of the Yale (or Harvard Business School)
study of goals in which only 3% of the graduating class had specific written
goals for their futures. Twenty years later that 3% was found to be earning an
astounding 10 times that of the group that had no clear goals. Well, it turns
out that this “study” is merely an “urban myth,” as extensive reviews of the
research literature by me and by Steven Kraus (a social psychologist from Harvard)
as well as investigative reporting by Fast Company magazine
revealed that no such study had ever been done!
However, the widespread mention of this non-existent study in
business circles as well as the need for research into the techniques used by
business coaches provided impetus for my current research, which was focused on
how goal achievement is influenced by writing goals, committing to
goal-directed actions and being accountable for those actions.
Participants:
A total of 267 participants were recruited from businesses, organizations,
and business networking groups. However, only 149 participants completed the
study. The final participants ranged in age from 23 to 72, with 37 males and
112 females. Participants came from the United States, Belgium, England, India,
Australia and Japan and included a variety of entrepreneurs, educators,
healthcare professionals, artists, attorneys, bankers, marketers, human
services providers, managers, vice presidents, directors of non-profits,etc.
Research Design:
Participants were randomly assigned to one of 5 conditions
(groups): Group 1- Unwritten Goal; Group 2- Written Goal; Group 3- Written Goal
& Action Commitments; Group 4-
Written Goal, Action Commitments to a Friend; Group 5- Written
Goal, Action
Commitments & Progress Reports to a Friend.
o Participants in Group 1 were simply asked to think about their goals (what they
wanted to accomplish over the next 4 weeks) and then asked to rate
that goal on
the following dimensions: Difficulty, Importance, the extent to
which they had the
Skills & Resources to accomplish the goal, their Commitment
and Motivation to
the goal, whether or not they had Pursued this goal before and if
so their Prior
Success.
o Participants in Groups 2-5 were asked to write (type into the online survey)
their goals and then to rate their goals on the same
dimensions.
o Group 3 was also asked to formulate action commitments.
o Group 4 was asked to formulate
action commitments and send their goals and action commitments to a supportive
friend.
o Group 5 was asked to formulate action commitments and send their goals,
action commitments and weekly progress
reports to a supportive friend.
Participants in this group were also sent weekly reminders to
email quick progress
reports to their friend. At the end of 4 weeks participants were
asked to rate their progress and the degree to which they had accomplished
their goals
Results
1. Types of goals: Participants pursued a variety of goals
including (in order of
frequency reported) completing a project, increasing income,
increasing
productivity, getting organized, enhancing
performance/achievement, enhancing
life balance, reducing work anxiety and learning a new skill.
Examples of
“completing a project” included writing a chapter of a book,
updating a website,
listing and selling a house, completing a strategic plan, securing
a contract, hiring
employees and preventing a hostile take-over.
2. Goal Achievement: Group 5 achieved significantly more than all the
other
groups; Group 4 achieved significantly more than Groups 3 and 1;
Group 2
achieved significantly more than Group 1.
Mean Goal Achievementts
3. Differences between all writing groups
and the non-writing group: Although
the
previous analysis revealed that Group 2 (written goals) achieved
significantly more
than Group 1 (unwritten goals), additional analysis were performed
to determine
whether there were also differences between the group that had not
written their goals
(Group 1) and all groups that had written their goals (Groups
2-5).
This analysis revealed that the mean achievement score for Groups
2-5 combined
was significantly higher than Group 1.
Mean Goal Achievement
Conclusions:
1. The positive effect of
accountability was supported: those who sent weekly
progress reports to their friend accomplished significantly more than those who
had unwritten goals, wrote their goals, formulated action
commitments or sent
those action commitments to a friend.
2. There was support for
the role of public commitment: those who sent their
commitments to a friend accomplished significantly more than those
who wrote
action commitments or did not write their goals.
3. The positive effect of
written goals was supported: Those
who wrote their goals accomplished significantly
more than those who did not
write their goals.
With the proliferation of business and
personal coaching and the often anecdotal reports of coaching success it is
important that this growing profession be founded on sound scientific research.
· This study provides empirical evidence for
the effectiveness of three
Coaching tools: accountability, commitment
and writing down one’s
Goals.
· There now is a study demonstrating that writing one’s
goal enhances
Goal achievement. However, it was not done
at Harvard or Yale, but
At Dominican University.
