Can an organisation ever be led without a purpose? No. The driving force to fulfil the very purpose or the long -term and short-term goals of the organisation are the employees. Hence, steering their efforts in the right direction is quintessential and employee goal setting is done to achieve that. The most important responsibility of a manager is to set employee goals. Not only will setting performance goals help in achieving the goals soon but will also help in honing employee skills.
Goal setting for employees has some other benefits too. They are-
- Focus on short-term and long-term success.
- It predefines the criterion for performance review and appraisals.
- It leads to better employee engagement.
In this blog, we share the right ways to set goals so that engagement and productivity both can surge.
Goals should align with company objectives
In order to make the goal setting really effective, you must keep each goal in sync with the company goals. When employees realise how each goal set for them fits in the bigger picture, they work even harder. McKinsey and Company mentioned how linking organisational goals with key strategic objectives and converting them to team-performance goals can impact the performance of the employees.
Let employees identify their job-specific goals
The aim should be to make the employees feel like they are a part of the journey. You can ask the employees to suggest their job goals. As a manager, you should not impose your expectations by framing goals yourself. You should focus on intermingling the individual goals with the goals of the team and company. You can come up with an action plan to realise those objectives.
Goals must be realistic to achieve
The goals must be SMART, which means the goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based. It would be unfair of you to set unrealistic goals for the employees just because you want to achieve the company goals as soon as possible. Remember, haste can never do any good. It is better to let employees take the required time so that their work doesn’t fall short on the quality front. So, set the goals with mutual consent.
Set goals with similar responsibilities
If there are several employees working under the same job profile then their goals should not be different. If there will be a disparity in the goals, it will lead to discouragement and unhealthy competition.
Appreciate the good performers
Not appreciating the efforts of employees can demotivate them and give the low performing employees yet another reason to not perform better. So make it a point to set milestones and rewards in advance in cash or kind to motivate the employees or you can even surprise them with a bonus.
Understand the challenges of low performers
Reprimanding or getting furious will not improvise the performance. However, what may improve it is support, belief and motivation. So, if an employee fails to achieve the individual goals set for him, as a manager, you should talk to that employee. After the discussion, if the objectives require some rework, it should be done.
If followed diligently, the aforementioned points can help you steer productivity and engagement to a great extent. And so, the realisation of your company goals is not far off now.