The Science of Setting Goals: How Coaching Influences Employee Performance and Engagement

Introduction

From the earliest days of humanity, goals have guided our survival. Whether sowing crops or embarking on monumental building projects, as a species, we’ve always looked ahead, imagined a better state, and made a plan to reach it using the knowledge and tools at hand. This ability to set intentions and pursue them isn’t a mere cultural invention—it’s deeply wired into our psychology and biology.

Neuroscience shows that goals activate the brain’s reward system. Each time we move closer to a desired outcome, the brain releases dopamine, a chemical that fuels motivation and makes us feel good about progress. Psychologists have long observed this same dynamic in human behavior: in the mid-20th century, researchers like Kurt Lewin and later Edwin Locke and Gary Latham demonstrated that specific, challenging goals improve focus, persistence, and performance far more than vague wishes or open-ended effort.

Put simply, goals give shape to our energy. They help us overcome inertia, make decisions, and endure challenges because there’s something meaningful on the other side. But science also shows that not all goals are created equal. Those tied to growth, learning, and intrinsic motivation are far more sustainable—meaning they foster stability, fulfillment, and continued engagement over the long term—than goals focused only on external rewards.

This is where coaching comes in. By combining the psychology of intrinsic motivation with personalized support, coaching helps employees not only design meaningful professional goals but also pursue them in ways that build confidence, resilience, and long-term wellbeing. In other words: coaching and goal setting can leverage ancient human drives, modern psychological insights, and even the brain’s own chemistry to create lasting growth for individuals.

The Psychology of Goal Setting

In the 1930s, Kurt Lewin proposed that goals create what he called “tension systems”: when a goal is unfinished, it pulls at our attention and energy until it’s resolved. Think of how hard it is to relax when you know you’ve left something important undone—that’s Lewin’s theory in action.

A few decades later, Edwin Locke and Gary Latham built on this foundation to create what is now known as Goal-Setting Theory. Their research, beginning in the 1960s, transformed our intuitive sense that “goals help” into hard evidence about how they help. They found that goals work best when they are:

• Clear rather than vague.
  
• Challenging but not impossible—the sweet spot that stretches without overwhelming.
  
• Committed to personally—not handed down by someone else.
  
• Paired with feedback so progress can be tracked.
• Matched to the complexity of the task, with resources and time aligned.

Locke and Latham’s research explains why goals sharpen our attention and strengthen our persistence. But researchers today are finding that it’s not only the substance of our goals that matters—it’s also the way we perceive them. 

Psychologist Dr. Emily Balcetis (NYU), in her book Clearer, Closer, Better (2020), shows that when people perceive their goals as closer or more concrete, they become more motivated and persistent. As she explains: “Successful people don’t just have different goals; they see the world differently.” 

By narrowing our focus, reducing distractions, and visualizing progress as tangible steps, we can make daunting goals feel within reach. Let’s take a closer look at how this works in practice.

The Perceptual Shift

Dr. Balcetis’ research shows that the way we visually and mentally frame our goals can make them feel either daunting and distant or manageable and within reach.

In one of her studies, participants were asked to do sets of jumping jacks with a bottle of water placed a short distance away. Some were instructed to narrow their visual focus on the bottle, while others were free to look around normally. Those who kept their eyes locked on the bottle reported that the distance looked significantly shorter, felt they were exerting less effort, and were more motivated to complete the exercise.

“Seeing goals as closer or more concrete” doesn’t mean pretending they’re easy. It means breaking them down in ways that reduce the psychological distance. A vague aim like “become a better leader” becomes far more motivating when reframed as “Practice active listening in every one-on-one meeting this quarter.” The smaller, clearer step makes the larger goal feel less abstract and more achievable.

This matters because how we frame goals shapes not only our persistence, but also how we feel about ourselves. Goals that are concrete and within reach build confidence and momentum. And as research shows, when our goals connect to deeper values and sources of meaning, the benefits extend far beyond performance — they also strengthen mental health and wellbeing.

Goals, Motivation, and Mental Health

Not all goals are created equal. Psychologists distinguish between extrinsic goals (like bonuses, promotions, or public recognition) and intrinsic goals (like growth, learning, or making a meaningful contribution). While external rewards can spark short-term effort, it’s intrinsic goals that are strongly linked to resilience, satisfaction, and long-term wellbeing.

Accomplishing meaningful goals provides more than a performance boost: research suggests that goal attainment can foster a sense of control, support confidence, and contribute to resilience. Conversely, when goals are absent or poorly defined, people may experience disengagement, stress, or even burnout. Coaching helps avoid these pitfalls by ensuring goals are aligned with deeper values and designed to support both achievement and overall balance.

Coaching as a Catalyst

A coaching approach to talent development shifts the emphasis from driving motivation externally to drawing it out from within each individual. When employees feel that their goals come from their own values and aspirations, they develop a stronger sense of ownership over their performance and growth. That sense of ownership turns potential into capacity and sustains motivation over the long term.

Coaching also provides a structured yet supportive framework for defining and pursuing objectives. Coaches encourage coachees to break large goals into smaller, manageable steps, building self-efficacy—the belief in one’s ability to succeed. Self-efficacy is one of the strongest predictors of persistence and long-term achievement.

Importantly, coaching is not just about accountability. It fosters reflective practices that help coachees recognize patterns of thinking, shift unhelpful narratives, and reframe setbacks as opportunities to learn. “This process may also support neuroplasticity—the brain’s capacity to adapt—helping individuals develop and reinforce new habits and mindsets over time.

Together, these shifts do more than improve performance metrics: they strengthen employee performance engagement by influencing how employees connect with their work. Genuine engagement goes far beyond productivity scores or team performance dashboards—it’s about how personally connected employees feel to their work, their growth, and their purpose. That’s what helps prevent disengagement and “quiet quitting.” When employees set professional goals with their coach, they are more likely to experience that sense of engagement because the goals are personally meaningful and aligned with their own values.

Conclusion

Goals focus our attention, channel our effort, and sustain our persistence. Yet without the right support, even the most carefully designed goals can lose momentum. Coaching provides that support—helping individuals turn abstract intentions into meaningful action by connecting goals to intrinsic motivation and personal growth.

When the psychology of goals is paired with the personalized support of coaching, the impact extends well beyond performance metrics, fostering a healthier, more engaged workforce. In this way, coaching and goal setting provide a foundation for growth that enables employees to thrive even as the workplace continues to evolve.