How Your Leader Goal-Setting Style Might Be Influencing Your Team’s Motivation

Do you ever set goals for yourself that feel motivating and clear, yet notice that when you set goals for your team, the response feels flatter than you expected?

That question sat at the heart of a recent conversation on The Dee-Brief Show with Executive Coach and Motivational Maps® expert Kate Turner. We explored how a leader’s own preferences, habits and motivators can quietly shape the way goals land with their teams. In this article, you’ll see why your personal goal-setting style matters more than you might think, and how small adjustments can make a real difference to team motivation.

When Your Own Preferences Shape Every Goal

Most leaders don’t realise just how much of their personal style shows up in the goals they set.
If you value pace, you may naturally set fast-moving, ambitious goals. If you like structure, you may provide lots of detail. If autonomy matters to you, you might leave space that others find uncomfortable.
None of these preferences are wrong. But when your style goes unnoticed, your team can feel overwhelmed, under-informed or out of sync, even when the goal itself is sound.

How Your Style Influences Team Motivation

Your leader goal-setting style acts like a filter. It shapes what you emphasise, how you communicate expectations, and the type of support you naturally offer.
Kate shared that leaders often “lend” motivation early on. While this can create an initial lift, it rarely leads to sustained ownership unless the goal also connects with what genuinely motivates the team.
Seeing Your Own Goal-Setting Style More Clearly
Becoming more aware of your style is a powerful starting point.
Notice your patterns

Ask yourself:

• What do I always include when I set goals?
• What do I assume people already know?
• What frustrates me when others don’t respond as I expect?

Use tools that highlight motivation

Kate and I both use Motivational Maps® in our work with leaders and teams. It offers valuable insight into what genuinely drives people, and how your own motivators compare with those of your team. This awareness often explains why some goals energise people while others quietly drain momentum.

Invite feedback

Simple questions can open up powerful conversations:

How do my goals land with you?
What would make this clearer or more motivating?
Adjust the approach, not the outcome
Adapting how you frame a goal doesn’t mean lowering standards. It means communicating the same outcome in a way that feels motivating and achievable for different people.
What Becomes Possible With a More Flexible Goal-Setting Style
Leaders who reflect on and adapt their goal-setting style often notice:
more open conversations
stronger commitment
fewer misunderstandings
calmer, more confident communication
Motivation becomes something shared, rather than something you have to push.
FAQs: Leader Goal-Setting Style
What is a leader goal-setting style?
It’s the natural way you set, communicate and prioritise goals, shaped by your own motivators and preferences.
How does a leader’s goal-setting style affect motivation?
Your style influences how team members interpret goals. When it aligns with what motivates them, energy rises. When it doesn’t, motivation can fade.
How can I adapt my goal-setting style to support different people?
By increasing self-awareness, inviting feedback and adjusting how you communicate goals rather than changing the goals themselves.
If you’d like to explore this further
If you’d like to explore this further, you’ll find everything you need in one place at linktr.ee/DeeClayton, including The Dee-Brief Show, Simply Amazing Training resources and ways to connect.
If you’d like to learn more about Motivational Maps® or explore Executive Coaching with me, you’re very welcome to get in touch and book an exploratory conversation via the Simply Amazing Training contact page: https://simplyamazingtraining.co.uk/contact
If you enjoyed this conversation with Kate Turner, Executive Coach, Motivational Maps® expert and author of CREATE Motivation, you may also be interested in her book, which explores how leaders can build sustainable motivation by understanding what truly drives people.