C-Hub Spotlight, Issue 12, December 2023

 Featured Topic: Goal Setting

If you could make a meaningful change that you believe is achievable, what would it be? 

Setting specific, measurable goals can improve motivation and drive action by focusing one’s attention on what is most important to accomplish. It is easy to fall into a daily routine of habits and tasks without making meaningful progress toward a goal when one is not intentional about what they hope to achieve. By consciously constructing clear goals that are challenging yet attainable, the chances of fulfilling your goals increase. 

 

What is the evidence? 

Goals that are meaningful to the person executing the activities are more likely to elicit intrinsic motivation and provide a roadmap to progress. Effective goals are intentional, specific, challenging, and motivating (Locke & Latham, 2002). Organizations can foster a sense of meaningful work by providing rationale for why the goals are set and why they matter (Devarajan et al., 2018). 

In mentoring relationships, mentors who asked students to set goals performed markedly better than those in the control group who did not set goals (Max van Lent & Michiel Souverijn, 2020). When people participate in constructing their goals, this encourages proactive behavior (Pervaiz et al., 2021), and self-efficacy increases due to greater information exchange during the goal-setting process (Locke & Latham, 2002). Written reflective goal setting activities that encourage connections between an individual’s life goals and their academic goals can diminish inequities among marginalized groups in goal performance (Schippers et al., 2015). Self-efficacy also increases when people are adequately equipped to succeed, have role models or mentors, and when they receive persuasive communication expressing confidence in their ability to achieve their goals (Bandura, 1997; White & Locke, 2000). 

However, failing to achieve high goals can diminish individual self-esteem and lead to future reticence to pursue ambitious goals, which can impact organizational results in the long-term (Höpfner & Keith, 2021). Research shows that setting incremental goals can encourage progress and belief that the bigger objective is achievable; as one moves closer to the end, focusing on the overarching goal can increase meaning and help sustain motivation toward goal achievement (Lee, 2024). Developmental or formative feedback, which is feedback provided during the process of working toward a goal, has been shown to have a significant positive effect on both intrinsic motivation and job performance (Guo et al., 2014). If one’s work or research impacts communities and marginalized groups, it is also important to ensure that members of those communities are involved in priority-setting and decision-making to ensure inclusion, equity, and stronger results (Pratt, 2019). 

 

What can you do? 

Individuals 

  • Set SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound). 

  • Reflect on why goals are meaningful to you. Even if you did not choose the goal, consider the purpose of your work and how it might align to your personal values and contributions. 

  • Share your goals with others. Sharing your goals can build a sense of external accountability and give others an opportunity to support you. 

  • Request feedback while working toward your goals. People who actively seek feedback are more likely to improve performance (Su et al., 2019). Asking for formative feedback can help course correct to help you achieve your goal. 

 

Managers and mentors 

  • Provide clarity in your expectations. When people know what their role is and what is expected of them, they are more likely to succeed. 

  • Provide opportunities to co-construct goals with your team and mentees. Goals are likely to be stronger and more informed when the people responsible for completing the goals are involved. 

  • Encourage people to reflect on why their short-term goals are important, and provide space for people to think about their long-term goals. Facilitating reflective space for goal setting can be an inspiring exercise for a whole team – reach out to C-Hub if you would like support in this activity. 

  • Provide ongoing feedback. Feedback can be what is going well in addition to what can improve. Helping people know how they are doing, especially in promoting their strengths, can encourage progress toward the goal. Reach out to C-Hub if you’d like assistance in how to provide effective feedback. 

 

Upcoming C-Hub Events, Opportunities, and Announcements  

C-Hub's Teaching and Course Design Certificate Program. Application deadline: September 20, 2024. Facilitator: Dr. Kathy Takayama, Executive Director of the Center for Professional Development and Inclusive Excellence and DEI 

Applications are now being accepted for C-Hub's Teaching and Course Design Certificate Program, open to all OIST members (faculty, students, researchers, staff), including those who are new to teaching and those who have had experience and are interested in international best practices). The 5-module interactive program covers inclusive teaching, active learning, effective communication, using AI effectively in teaching, course and syllabus design.  For postdocs/researchers who may be interested in teaching opportunities (courses will be taught in English) through a future collaboration between OIST and Japanese universities, this Certificate Program is a pre-requisite. The program will run from October 2023 to April 2024. The application deadline is September 20th. If you have further questions, please email C-Hub@oist.jp.

 

Postdoc Profile Survey 

This is a brief survey to be used at the new postdoc orientation, October 25, 2024. The goal is to help provide the incoming postdocs with an overview profile of the current OIST postdocs. Please complete this survey by the end of September 30. 

 

Strengths and Ontological Coaching for Individuals. Facilitator: Ayumi Nagai, Professional and Culture Development Specialist 

Personal coaching opportunity is available for OIST members through the strength-based development and ontological methodology. C-Hub offers coaching for you to develop an intentional, self-aware approach to discover who you are "being" and who you are “becoming.” Sign up for coaching here. 

 

Non-Academic Job Market Workshop Series – Module 4: Interview Preparation Using STAR. October 23, 2024. 4:15pm-5:30 pm. Lab 3, Level C, Room 700 (L3 C700). Facilitator: Dr. Brandon Conlon, Assistant Director for Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Professional Development  

This is a workshop series for those who are in the process of applying for non-academic positions or considering them in the future. Participants will hone their skills for writing compelling résumés, hybrid CVs and cover letters, practice job interviews, contextualize their academic research toward industry positions, and learn comprehensively about the process of searching for a job. Registration will include access to the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) site for the series, which will provide access to links of carefully curated resources & pre-workshop assignment prompts. Each module is an independent workshop. Before each module, there will be an assignment designed to help you diagnose, reflect upon, and activate your thinking and skill. Register for the series here. 

 

New Postdoc Orientation. October 25, 2024. 9:00am-1:00pm. Lab 3, Level C, Room 700 (L3 C700). Facilitator: Dr. Brandon Conlon, Assistant Director for Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Professional Development  

The postdoc orientation event is modeled after international best practice at other major research universities, to introduce postdocs to the wider OIST community as they strategically map out their career, personal, and work-life priorities/needs over the course of their scientific training at OIST. The event is also intended to create community amongst the postdoctoral scholars. C-Hub and various OIST partners will give short presentations about how their office/program/team can support postdocs over the course of their career at OIST. Other postdocs, researchers, and members of the community will be there to meet and greet the new postdocs. Register here. 

 

Enhancing Your Professional & Scientific Web Presence – Module 3: Impactful ways of sharing scientific work. October 31, 2024. 4:15pm-5:30 pm. Lab 4, Level F, Room 01 (L4E01). Facilitator: Dr. Brandon Conlon, Assistant Director for Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Professional Development  

Whether we like it or not, we have a web presence. The way you represent your professional self online conveys important information to potential contacts who are interested in your work. When a prospective contact attempts to locate you online, having a less than optimal web presence could mean missed opportunities. Dedicating attention to the ways in which online platforms can be used to enhance your professional visibility is a valuable step on your career path. Registration will include access to the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) site for the series, which will provide access to links of carefully curated resources & pre-workshop assignment prompts. You will be asked to prepare a short reflective assignment for this workshop. Register here. 

 

Writing Workshop Series - Facilitator: Dr. Brandon Conlon, Assistant Director for Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Professional Development  

This is a workshop series for all writers who want to boost their mastery of the composition process from the sentence to the wider organization of any piece of writing. By considering how even scientific writing is a story, participants will become more adept at communicating their specific writing purpose. Moreover, participants will reflect on and analyze examples of effective writing, a skill that depends, in turn, on close reading ability. They are invited to bring drafts of a writing project currently in progress to apply what they learn in the series.   

Module 1: Writing as Process and Story 

Module 2: Close Reading for Better Writing, Part I 

Module 3: Close Reading for Better Writing, Part II 

Module 4: Balancing Data with Purpose and Voice 

Module 5: Enhancing the Integration of Sources 

Module 6: Clean, Crisp, & Clear: Tidying up Your Writing 

If you plan to attend at least one of the workshops above, please do register. Registration will include access to the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) site for the series, which will provide access to links of carefully curated resources & pre-workshop assignment prompts. You will be asked to submit some of your own writing for the workshop assignments. Register here. 

 

Other OIST Events 

Special Career Talk: A Physicist’s Professional Journey and Career by Nancy Hecker-Denschlag. September 27, 2024 from 3:00pm-5:00pm. Hosted by OIST Graduate School. 

Dr. Nancy Hecker-Denschlag will share experiences transitioning from academia to industry and involvement with non-profit organizations. Dr. Hecker-Denschlag will highlight the contrasts between academic and industrial paths in pursuing science and discuss an expert ladder career path, which offers an alternative to management and allows individuals to continue their work as scientists outside of academia. Dr. Hecker-Denschlag hopes to encourage participants to explore diverse career paths within the scientific field and consider the tremendous impact they can make through volunteer work and outreach efforts. 

Get Involved with OIST Graduate School Mini Courses. We are in search of volunteers to teach a variety of topics requested by students and community members. Please have a look at upcoming topics here and contact gs-cp@oist.jp if you would like to contribute to teaching any of these topics. If you would like to suggest another topic to teach or to learn, please submit this form. We can't wait to work with you on enhancing OIST's educational environment for everyone! 

C-Hub Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Updates  OIST interviewed in the final round of a major institutional diversity grant application focused on women’s leadership with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, and Technology (MEXT). Although OIST was not selected, OIST executive leadership has committed to moving forward in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts through the One OIST strategic plan. Many thanks to the divisions, teams, students, staff, researchers and faculty who contributed their perspective and insights to this grant process over the last several months. 

 

​C-Hub Executive Director Kathy Takayama delivered talks for the following organizations on the enhancement of equity and the empowerment of women: ​

 

Keynote address at the Northern Tohoku National Universities Gender Equality Symposium  

Invited lecture for the Keizai Doyukai Committee for the Promotion of DEI in Society.

 

If you or your team would like assistance with topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, please submit a request through ServiceNow. 

 

References and Further Readings 

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman. 

Devarajan, R., Maheshwari, S., & Vohra, V. (2018). Managing performance: Role of goal setting in creating work meaningfulness. The Business and Management Review, 9(4), 261–274. https://cberuk.org/cdn/conference_proceedings/2019-07-13-10-28-50-AM.pdf 

Guo, Y., Liao, J., Liao, S., & Zhang, Y. (2014). The Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivation on the Relationship Between Developmental Feedback and Employee Job Performance. Social Behavior and Personality an International Journal, 42(5), 731–741. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2014.42.5.731 

Höpfner, J., & Keith, N. (2021). Goal Missed, Self Hit: Goal-Setting, Goal-Failure, and Their Affective, Motivational, and Behavioral Consequences. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.704790 

Lee, L. (2024, May 17). Focus on Small Steps First, Then Shift to the Larger Goal. Stanford Graduate School of Business. https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/focus-small-steps-first-then-shift-larger-goal 

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation: a 35-year Odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705–717. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705 

Max van Lent, & Michiel Souverijn. (2020). Goal setting and raising the bar: A field experiment. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 87, 101570–101570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2020.101570 

Pervaiz, S., Li, G., & He, Q. (2021). The Mechanism of goal-setting Participation’s Impact on Employees’ Proactive behavior, Moderated Mediation Role of Power Distance. PLOS ONE, 16(12), 1–20. NCBI. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260625 

Pratt, B. (2019). Inclusion of Marginalized Groups and Communities in Global Health Research

Priority-Setting. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1556264619833858 

 

Schippers, M. C., Ad W A Scheepers, & Peterson, J. B. (2015). A scalable goal-setting

intervention closes both the gender and ethnic minority achievement gap. Palgrave

Communications, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1057/palcomms.2015.14 

 

Su, W., Lyu, B., Liu, Y., Chen, H., & Fan, J. (2019). Supervisor developmental feedback and

employee performance: The roles of feedback-seeking and political skill. Journal of Psychology

in Africa. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Supervisor-developmental-feedback-and-

employee-The-Su-Lyu/a6b5a210dafe892ebcd2c18231c7ec42de02aa7e 

 

White, S. S., & Locke, E. A. (2000). Problems with the pygmalion effect and some proposed

solutions. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(3), 389–415. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1048-

9843(00)00046-1