Most people prefer to do things that stretch them rather than things they could do in their sleep.  Setting easy goals may seem like a good thing to them and you in the short-term, but it won’t motivate people to move out of their comfort zone.  To push performance beyond their current best.

Research indicates that having a challenging goal actively encourages a person to achieve more.  To work hard toward higher standards of performance.  To have more confidence in their ability to rise to tough challenges.

Facilitate growth in others by assigning tasks that contain stretching elements they’ve not done before.  Start by understanding their current level of skill and asking, “What task or goal can I assign them that requires a step beyond what they’re doing today.  That makes the most of the skills they have, but is slightly bigger than their current capabilities?”  Make sure that the task will stretch them, not break them.  If they think it’s far beyond their capacity, they will be less engaged and not motivated to try.

 

References:

Chron (2017, February 2) Diane Chinn: How to Motivate Employees Using E.A. Locke’s Goal-Setting Theory