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Accomplishing Valued Objectives with Goal Completion Trio

 

Dr. Sharon L. Bender

June, 1996 - July, 2007

 

Goal Completion Trio

Goal Completion Trio helps determine the importance of your goals and their respective events and tasks. For example, if you write a statement about your values that states that you want to complete a homework assignment before the weekend so that you can go camping and that you will spend one hour daily working on the assignment, you have just evaluated the priority of this task.

 

In general, three major elements to evaluating and completing your goals are governing values, goals and objectives, and steps to completion. Just remember VGA:

 

1)     Values

2)     Goals

3)     Actions (Steps/Tasks)

 

Each builds upon the previous level. For example, you must first understand your values, then you can develop your goals and objectives. Finally, you can list the steps you will take to meet your stated objectives. Noting by a measurable means what you must do to identify completion of your objective is critical. Otherwise you’ll not know when you’ve done it.

 

1) Values

 

Values tend to be subjective, comprising beliefs that are established for individual, organizational, or social purposes. Values may change depending on the circumstances or the task at hand. One exercises integrity if values are applied appropriately regardless of negative reinforcement from other sources. Conflict may arise when individual values are not aligned with those on an organizational or social level. Likewise conflict may arise when organizational values contrast with those of a social level. An ideal climate for value establishment and adherence are in the event all three realms of our lives are in sync.

 

2) Goals

 

Goals must be specific, realistic, and logistic. In other words, they must be clearly stated, reasonable to attain, and measurable. In deciding goals consider performing a SOR Analysis to determine strengths, opportunities, and roadblocks to success. Consider that strengths are our skills and abilities, opportunities are our contributing resources and circumstances, and roadblocks are our weaknesses and threats. Begin with objectives and move to identify the goals to meet those objectives. Finally, develop a list of tasks that will be managed in meeting the goals. Tasks accomplish goals and goals meet objectives (tasks > goals > objectives).

 

3) Actions

 

Actions are the steps to completion of our established tasks. Our actions come with consequences, which may be negative or positive in nature. If we did a good job of establishing our values and developing the tasks for goal completion, we should be able to take appropriate actions to accomplish our valued objectives. When taking action and the outcome is negative, it can be unproductive to blame others for our failures. Rather, it is productive and furthering to learn from our mistakes. It is the only way to make adjustments and avoid the same mistakes. Passing blame only stalls our individual, organizational, and social growth.

 

The Journey

 

The origination of this device stems from simplification of the "Daily Values and Goals Inserts" in the Franklin Quest day timer product.

 

Franklin Quest offered instructional guidance on using its day planner products, which included application of inserts (bookmarkers) that help establish daily “values and goals” in order to plan the steps and tasks (actions) to completion of defined objectives.

 

Figure 1 depicts my Franklin Quest daytimer package, including inserts along with refill pages and my actual daytimer. This product is now available as FranklinCovey. Figure 2 depicts the inserts more closely.

 

The pyramid on the inserts depict the level and degree of importance of the parts of the planning process.

 

1)     Governing Values

2)     Long-Range Goals

3)     Intermediate Steps

4)     Daily Tasks

 

I participated in this instruction in 1996 while working in the Strategic Planning department at Knoll Pharmaceuticals. We were permitted the instructional experience along with purchasing the Franklin Day Planner from Franklin Quest.

 

Prior to discovering the means to organize thinking in this triangulated version, called Goal Completion Trio, I learned about goal setting in TQM & TQL training and in many other management related training, work life, and educational experiences.

 

In using any scheduling device remember to use Goal Completion Trio to determine your values, goals, and actions associated with any task planning. Establishing your values will help you to define your objectives.

 

Figure 1. Franklin Quest Daytimer

 

Figure 2. Franklin Quest Inserts

The following is an excerpt from an e-mail from a coworker, demonstrating that I am the originator and developer of “Goal Completion Trio.”

 

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:04:32 -0400

Email from BM.

  

I have had the esteemed pleasure of knowing Dr. Sharon L. Bender since working with her in the Strategic Planning department at Knoll Pharmaceuticals, BASF in 1996 where we served as administrative assistants. Sharon consistently went beyond her job duties in finding ways to improve and streamline processes. For instance, she designed a three-way device that she refers to as SOR Analysis.

 

Another device that Sharon developed was a process for formulating goals and completing them. We purchased the Franklin Quest day timer and Sharon developed a device from its steps to completing goals. It had to do with establishing values and goals and then coming up with the steps or actions you needed to take to complete the goals.

 

I applied this trio for understanding goal completion in a manuscript I produced in 1999, "Understanding Distance Education" in the section "Managing Distance Education" (p. 86). This manuscript was published to my Web site in 1999 at GeoCities as a means to help distance education students organize their time and to be able to complete their coursework efficiently. The content is outdated, so it has not been republished. However, Figure 3 depicts a page from my manuscript in which I introduced the Goal Completion Trio concept.

 

Figure 3. Manuscript

 

Sources

 

Bender, S. L. (1999). Understanding Distance Education. sharonbender.com/GeoCities.
 

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