Team Goal Setting

You are planning your first team meeting. On your agenda is the setting of team goals for the upcoming season. You want to involve the team in setting the goals, so that they are committed to achieving them. You are to be commended for this very positive and inclusive approach. We'd like to give you some ideas on how to prepare for the goal setting discussion.

Goals May Differ

You need to be prepared for the team to come with different goals than you might have in your own mind. You might want to win the championship, your players may want to make new friends. The answer is not to choose between a competitive and a social goal, but to accept both as realistic goals.

Social Goals

As coach, you want to achieve team harmony. It is well known that a harmonious team performs better. So let the players make suggestions for social goals. Listen carefully and record all suggestions, if possible on a flip chart. When all the ideas are down, try to combine them into one overriding "goal statement". Examples are:

team harmony
feeling good about the season
personal development
making friends

Then take some of the ideas presented and turn them into specific tasks you can put on your team calendar, such as:

pre-season team social
one overnight trip to tournament
mid-season pool party
post season team event
after practice "fun times"
meetings with each player

Competitive Goals

This will rely more on the coach's input. Likely when asked, most people want to win the championship. After all, isn't that why we compete?

You need to be cautious. An unrealistic goal may set high expectations. High expectations when unfulfilled lead to frustration and possible disharmony.

We sugest you do some research. Gather information about the league you compete in. If you coached in the league last season, you already know. If someone else coached, ask to meet them and discuss the level of competition. Watch the other teams in pre-season exhibition games or even play them in a friendly match.

Then look at the skill level of your own team. Write down strengths and weaknesses, not against your own standard, but against the competition. This exercise will also help you in developing your pre-season practice plans.

Knowing the competition's strengths and having assessed your team you can formulate a realistic goal. It might well be to win the championship, but other alternatives:

have a winning record
make the play-offs
not finish last
score more goals than you let in
don't get relegated

When you're discussing the competitive goal with your team, provide them with the information you gathered and talk it through. You will most likely want to express the final goal as realistic with a bit of a stretch:

"We want to make the play-offs, and if we do, we will be ecstatic. Once we're in the play-offs, it's anybody's game and we'll try to go all the way."

Monitoring

Monitor progress against the goals throughout the season. Ask players for their views. Be prepared to make adjustments in your program to meet the goals or be ready to adjust the goals. The most important thing at the end is that the team believes it accomplished what it set out to do. There must be a positive end to the season.

Summary

The pre-season team meeting is a great opportunity to set team goals. You must know your team and your competition before you have the goal setting event. Let players lead the development of the social goals. You guide them in the development of the competitive goal. Remain flexible. Celebrate success at the end !