Two important factors in the pursuit of sustainability in motivation are challenge and attainability, and emerging evidence suggests that a goal range can provide a performance advantage. In a study at Florida university, members of a weight loss club were assigned to one of two groups; "lose 2 pounds per week" (single number goal) or "lose 1 - 3 pounds per week" (high-to-low range goal). 80% of those assigned a range goal versus 50% of those assigned a single number goal persisted with a longer-term target. The researchers also found that setting a range goal pointed to an improvement in extra weight loss per week. So far, high-to-low goal setting has largely been confined to studies of weight-loss motivation, but it provides a unique insight for testing high-to-low goal ranges. Given that one of the challenges with incentivising employees is sustained effort, particularly for longer incentive or motivation programmes, this evidence suggests that substantially greater success may be obtained by bracketing goals. Full article: Harvard Business Review
