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Employee Goal Setting

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Published: 12Aug2009
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If you managing others, you have the responsibility of driving goal setting for specific department deliverables within the company, as well as for your employees.

In business, this is how the "tree" of goal setting forms:

**Company goals - senior leaders in the last quarter of the year, evaluate successes and failures of the current year and create next year's company goals. There is usually a long term plan in place and goals created for each year support this plan. Plans are fluid and can change given the business environment.

**Department goals - Department leaders can be involved in the company goal setting stage, though their primary focus is to insure the goals are implemented. Their responsibility is to present the goals to their team and to guide and motivate them to a high level of performance...i.e. meeting the department's deliverables.

**Individual employee goals - The employee usually has two types of goals: goals that support the department's projects as well as personal development goals.

==>Setting Employee Goals

**Department Goals

It's good to have a system to follow in creating goals for your employees. Though the challenge is not in the system but rather in the fact that business changes are so rapid that goals created in January, can be drastically different by June.

Having said that, I would suggest that you use the S.M.A.R.T. system to help your employees create meaningful goals to meet the department's deliverables. Here is what S.M.A.R.T stands for:

S - Specific - create a goal that states what needs to be done, the purpose, how the employee will do it and the time it will take to perform it. Put all of the details in developing the goal.

M - Measurable - You need to know when the goal has been accomplished. If you can't measure when the job is done, you can't possibly manage the goal. Create specific outcomes in order to measure the attainment of each goal. List specific milestones that need to be met in order to insure that the employee is on track to meeting the completion date.

A - Attainable - a goal needs to stretch the employee and the employee needs to feel they can do it. The goal can't be too far out into the future...it has to be attained in the near future for the employee to commit to working on the goal.

R - Realistic - the employee is willing and able to do the work. If an employee is missing a skill or knowledge on a subject matter, you may need to include that also in the goal.

T - Timely - be specific on the timeframe the employee needs to complete their goal. Depending on how complex the goal is, you may also include milestone timelines to insure that the employee is on the right path.

If you are creating goals for the whole year...it can be difficult to predict how the year will go. That's why it's important to set up regular intervals where you check in to see if the employee's goals are still aligned with business objectives...and make adjustments if needed. Though do give credit to the employee who worked hard on a goal even if the business need changed.

**Personal Development Goals

Personal development goals focused on the employee building a skill or knowledge, or changing a particular behavior. Even in a changing business environment these goals are good for the whole year. Make sure you also use the S.M.A.R.T. system to manage the process for the employees.

**Time Off

As odd as it seems in today's U.S. business environment, I believe it's important to make sure all of your employees schedule vacation time. Give your employees permission to enjoy time off. Give yourself permission to take time away from operating the business. What will everyone gain from this? Both you and your employees will perform more effectively. There are too many burn out employees trying to perform quality work...create a goal for vacation time.

==>Final Thought

I have a pet peeve about using the word "multi-tasking." I'm not that impressed with someone who says they can "multi-task." Rather I'm more interested in the employee that can show how they took the time to produce quality work. You can't do two things at the same time and perform effectively. More importantly, I believe this multi-tasking orientation actually creates more stress and less attention. So create a goal for all of your employees to do their best and focus on quality.

Pat Brill is the author of the blog "Managing Employees" http://www.ManagingEmployees.net . You can reach her at pat@managingemployees.net.

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