Goals and Feedback

On page 321 of your Brown textbook, you will find a passage called Feedback and Goals Improve Performance. Review the section and also search the Hunt Library for 3-5 additional resources on how feedback and goals relate to performance. You don't have to cite all of the resources as some may not relate to your reflection. As you are completing this exercise, refer to A631.3.5.CM.

In a well-written blog, describe your understanding of the importance of feedback and goals to performance. What are your thoughts regarding Brown's contention that there are generational differences in the amount of feedback desired by employees. How much feedback do you generally give and receive? Have you found that for you personally, having specific goals and receiving targeted feedback has led to more engagement, higher performance, or any other benefits (or drawbacks)? What are the implications of your reflection?

            Goals, they are in my opinion what drives many people to keep getting better at what they do. Fortunately for many humans they are never truly satisfied with where they are in life and they continue to strive to create and reach new goals. This is an important human trait which I believe has gotten us to where we are at in today’s technologically advanced society. Of course goals are essential to the success which we have had but it would be much harder to attain goals if we did not get constructive criticism from those which we look up to or the those in-charge of us. Feedback and goals go hand in hand with each other; our society strives off of these two very important factors in the business world and also in our personal life.

            Every time I reflect on my life’s accomplishments and current status I am reminded of how important it is to have goals. For me the discussion of goals and feedback has had a very big influence in my life, ever since I graduated from High school I would find myself asking “how can I improve myself?” This is the mentality that has gotten me to the MSLD program and still to this day has me craving more. Raising a very big family at a very young age has made me push myself to do things that I would have never thought possible, if I could see the person I am today a decade ago I would not recognize the person that I am looking at.

            Making it this far did not come easy, I am reminded of an article which I read called “Using Goal Setting and Feedback to Increase Running Distance (Crawland, K.A)”. My life has not been a short race but more of a marathon which I keep pushing towards to reach the finish line. The Author of this article talked about an experiment which they used for runners to increase their running distance, the key to this experiment was to utilize the power of short term goals and feedback. The runners created short term goals and received extensive feedback which pushed them to reach goals which they thought were unattainable. I can see how this is very similar to my life because when I started my adult life I always thought that many things were unattainable.

            When I started my adult life I was eighteen years old working in a shoe store earning minimum wage, I thought that this would be enough money for now and I would slowly promote my way to the top. After six months I was promoted to assistant manager and received a fifty cents per hour raise, the first thing to come to my mind was “that is all I get after working so hard for six months?” To make matters worse I can recall a moment when I received my new title and my manager looked at me and said “if you keep up the hard work maybe one day you can be just like me”. This comment made me feel sick, at this point I knew that I needed change but I also knew that it would take time. I began to set short term goals like join the military, enroll in college, and take a couple of classes while I am on deployment. My life was finally starting to shape up; because of my short term goals and feedback from many people which mentored me and guided me I became the person I am today.

            Being mentored and accepting feedback was never an issue for me, in the military you learn to take feedback and make the most of it. In our text it states that “fifty percent of older workers do not like taking feedback (Brown, 2011)”; I made it a point to observe these behaviors and commit myself to learning everything I could from people which were much more experienced than me. Without feedback I would not have learned to stop making excuses for myself, learn accountability, and to understand that I have to keep pushing myself.  In the article called “Goals and Feedback: Partners in success (B. Deveau, 2013)” it talk’s about the two important forms of feedback. The author of this article says that “feedback has two forms the things that you are doing well and want to repeat, and what you are doing wrong and want to change (B. Deveau, 2013)”. There were certain people in my life that gave me this type of feedback; these people encouraged me to stay in school no matter how challenging it got, and they led me away from the reckless behavior which I involved myself in when I was just a young man experiencing the world for the first time overseas.

            As I am writing this paper I am quickly realizing that the moral of the story is that no one is perfect; goals pared with good feedback are what will make us as humans and future business leaders much better. In one decade I have gone from living well below the poverty line in the city limits of New York to being able to raise my family in a beautiful suburb outside of Dallas. I know that my work is not done, I have goals which I am still striving for and I am sure that there are new goals left to create. I am proud of what I have done but as I stated before many humans are never satisfied. There is always a new goal to reach so that I can continue to elevate myself far beyond anything which I would have even thought was possible. I can definitely see how goals and feedback do improve performance, it is a good lesson to learn from this week’s reading and knowledge which I can hold on to for a lifetime.

References:

-          Deveau, B. (2013). Goals and feedback:: Partners in success. National Dragster, 54(14), 28. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1409285107?accountid=272

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-          Wack, S. R., Crosland, K. A., & Miltenberger, R. G. (2014). USING GOAL SETTING AND FEEDBACK TO INCREASE WEEKLY RUNNING DISTANCE. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 47(1), 181-5. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1517530254?accountid=27203

-           Brown, Donald R. (2011, pg. 321). An Experiential Approach to Organization Development (8th ed.).    Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.