Developing Goals to Discover Growth – for You and Your Learners
When most instructors talk about goal setting, it’s aimed squarely at the pupil. “The goal should be theirs.” At worst resulting in “What do you want to do today?” but otherwise “Today we’re going to work on roundabouts.” Tick. “Next week, let’s do parking.” Tick. All fine. But these aren’t goals, they are subjects. They do not address a need, they are not achievable.
Even once instructors grasp this, often through fear of Part 3 or Standards Check, they don’t really use goals for growth. One of the reasons is that “The goal should be the learners” but learners don’t necessarily know how to set goals, they are often used to being told what they are doing and what they are trying to achieve. And the instructor doesn’t dig deeper as they aren’t very good at goal-setting themselves – think about the most recent CPD you did where they started with “What do you want to learn?” and you looked back thinking “I don’t know, its your course…”.
How do we make this better? Welcome to my ‘Tri-cycle goals’ approach
By leading the way. If you want a lesson to really develop something, start with your own goal first. And share it with your pupil.
It might be:
- Get the level of instruction spot-on today – not too much, not too little.
- Vary my analogies so I’m not leaning on the same old “zebra crossing” story.
- Listen more, talk less, and see what comes out of the silence.
Why? Because your example sets the tone. You’re showing your learner how goals aren’t just a box to tick – they’re a living part of the learning process. It’s the teaching version of monkey see, monkey do.
You set yours, they set theirs. It might even become competitive.
Now, their goal might be:
- I want to remember to check my mirrors before every signal.
- I want to stay calm if someone honks at me.
- I want to be smoother with my clutch control.
Doesn’t matter if the goals are wildly different. What matters is that they’ve chosen it, they’ve said it out loud, and now there’s a shared focus. You’re not dragging them through the lesson, you’re both walking into it with intent.
Simple?!
That might sound obvious, but here is the Chris Bensted fairy dust moment, there is a third goal! Yes, we are going from one to three!
The Cheat Goal
We would all be lottery winners if we got to pick the numbers after the draw. We would all know whodunnit if we had already read the book. This is where we can use this 20/20 hindsight to see the way ahead.
At the end of the lesson, throw in the retrospective goal:
“If you knew then what you know now, what would your goal for today’s lesson have been?”
That one question opens doors you didn’t know were there. It tells you what they thought was important when they started. It shows you how they processed the lesson in real time. And it gives you a direct line to what might need attention next time.
Sometimes they’ll surprise you:
- “Honestly? I’d have focused on getting my speed under control, because that made everything else harder.”
- “I’d have tried not to panic when I saw the cyclist. That really threw me.”
- “I’d have made my goal to look further ahead. That’s what made the roundabouts easier.”
That’s gold. Because now you’re not guessing where their head’s at, they’re telling you. And the next lesson can start from their experience, not just your plan.
The Tri-cycle
- A bike with one wheel (the pupils goal) will be wobbly and result in a balancing act as it will lack in foundations.
- Two wheels (Your goal and their goal) provides balance and support.
- BUT three wheels (the restrospective goal), it has balance, support and direction!
The trick is to make it normal. Every lesson, three moments:
- You share your goal – model the behaviour.
- They set theirs – make it theirs, not yours disguised as theirs.
- You both reflect at the end – let the retrospective goal be the bridge to next time or provide understanding.
And yes, sometimes their “goal” will be too easy. Or too hard. Or not really a goal at all. That’s fine. You’re teaching the skill of setting one just as much as the skill of driving. Over time and with your guidance, those goals will get sharper, more realistic, more useful.
When both of you come into a lesson with purpose, you create a loop of awareness, focus, and ownership, and that’s the stuff that turns learners into thinking and aware drivers – and instructors into goal setters.
Want some more?
This post is part of my unique GRADEA Course which you can discover by clicking this link. I’d like you to learn more. Would you like to grow your skills? If so, this is your next step.
For Interest:
The inspiration for the retrospective goal was a series with Alan Davies ‘As Yet Untitled’ where a group of celebrities sit around a table and chat. At the end of the chat, they decide on a name for the episode based on the conversation they had. Playing “What shall we name this lesson?” became a bit of fun, but has since grown into the 3 goals method.