Benefit From Giving Your Employees A Chance

Goals are individualistic. Every person has his own set of aims. And the passion to achieve them makes them a perfectionist in their efforts. Self-selection of goals makes such a difference in performance, so why don’t organisations allow everyone to choose their own?

Does that sound silly?

Without the direction and leadership of the higher authorities, corporations cannot afford to allow everyone in the organisation to set their own goals. In other words, rogue goals just won’t do. Right?

If you are thinking the story ends there, then no.

Choice Architecture

Choice architecture is a technique developed by Richard Thaler, PhD, from the University of Chicago which helps people make choices that are exactly what is desired by the organisation and are in-line with the sponsors’ direction. With this tool, the only choices that are offered are those that meet the sponsors’ preset requirements.

An example of choice architecture is the value meal menu at McDonald’s. Of all items available at McDonald’s restaurants, the most popular and the most profitable items are arranged on the value meal menu. They have made value meal simpler and easier to order from, by organising them under a single name. Thus, it is liked by the customers and ordered more frequently than a la carte items.

When this method is applied while setting goals, employees see only a few of them. Three is a great number of choices – options that are fixed by management. As the management has decided the level of goals ahead of time, any goal chosen by the employee will be acceptable to the organisation. Thus the organisation gets to keep the employees happy as well as they have their objectives attained.

If we think about it, we come across choice architecture every day. Some apps require us to opt in, others to opt out; the way the food is organised in the supermarket, the order and level that food items are displayed on grocery shelves; the order and options of available food items in a cafeteria, consequently, we are subjected to choice architecture every day. While it may sound artificial, we experience choice architecture in many aspects of our lives.

Give them a chance

When the goals were offered in this framework of choice architecture, 98% of all employees were seen selecting goals and 58% of them performed better than their expected performance.

Ultimately, people who select their own goals perform and accomplish 37% better than those who can earn the same rewards for the same effort but with no requirement to commit to their goal.

So, all Managers out there– Get thinking and create relevant goals that are attainable by your employees for them to choose from. Always remember, by utilising this technique, you will benefit from giving them a choice. To know more about the employee engagement strategies, contact BI WORLDWIDE.