Introduction

Every leader, every manager you talk to would agree that goal-setting is a vital component of employee motivation. When you set achievable goals, employees look forward to their success and are determined to accomplish the goals. They try to push themselves to complete the smaller tasks that lead to the ultimate goal, especially when it is driven by reward and recognition. Ask a hundred leaders, ‘What is the best way to motivate an employee in the workplace?’ You will find that majority of them find goal setting to be a motivating factor that drives an employee to accomplish a task.

The first and worst mistake most managers make while setting goals is that they set unrealistic goals. An unachievable goal only leads to a build-up of stress. A goal that is difficult to achieve indeed drives an employee to strive harder. But that’s a realistic goal. When the employee fails to accomplish the set goals, they start to feel demotivated and lose their ambitiousness. To ensure that the employee does not lose their ambitious trait due to added stress, it is vital to set goals that are realistic and achievable. In addition, many managers fail to recognize the strength and talent of their employees, can you ask French linguists to write a program for an application?

Every employee is a part of your organization because they have a unique set of talents that are recognized by you. The employees have been through a rigorous hiring cycle to be a part of the organization. It is vital to understand that, to motivate your employee to perform their best, the goals you set must be relevant and realistic.

How to Set Relevant and Realistic Goals with Your Employees?

If you want your employee performance to be highly effective, every small goal that you set for your employee must be closely aligned with the overall goal of the organization. An employee will perform efficiently and effectively when their tasks are aligned with achieving the ultimate goal of the organization and their performance contributes towards organizational growth.

Setting relevant and realistic performance goals has a set of benefits that it offers to its employees. Some of the benefits include the following:

– It provides clear direction to the supervisors and the employees.

– It forms a frame of reference for the employees to communicate effectively.

– It offers a focus on the company’s short-term and long-term goals.

– It acts as a reference guideline for performance review

– It offers deeper employee engagement

– It is ideal for cultivating a sense of fulfilment; it indicates success for those who are close to achieving their goals.

– It helps the employees to clarifies the expectations that the supervisors have.

By establishing a clear performance goal that is realistic and relevant to the employee and their talent, supervisors can guide them in achieving their goals. Here are some tips to consider to set goals that are realistic and relevant to the employee.

– Make sure that the goals that you set for each employee are aligned to the overall growth strategy of the company.

– Seek insightful answers from the employees! Let the employees brainstorm and identify goals that are specifically related to their responsibilities.

– Set goals based on the SMART framework which stands for

• Specific: Goals that are clear and specific to what employees do
• Measurable: The goals must be measurable so that the performance can be tracked
• Achievable: The goals must be attainable by the employee
• Relevant: It must be worthwhile and related to the specific talent of the employee
• Time-based: It must have an end-date or a target within which it must be attained.

– The goal must be attainable and measurable such that it motivates the employee to accomplish it.

– It must be consistent with the responsibilities of the employee

– The goal must be recognized with a reward or a recognition that drives the employees to achieve it

Employee performance depends on how the goals are set and what are the drives that will motivate them to accomplish their goals. Some of the employee performance goals examples will help you understand how they will impact the performance of each employee.

Top 10 Employee Performance Goal Examples

We have established that goal setting plays a vital role in the performance of the employee. Setting goals is crucial to establish best practices in the organization. When you seek help online to develop employee goals, you will come across a lot of sample goals for employees that you can benefit from. Every example differs from the other based on the industry and what the organization’s ultimate goal is. Here are some employee performance goals and objectives examples that talenx.io believes would help an organization and its employees alike.

1. Collaboration Goals

These are goals that aim at supporting a colleague in achieving their goals to encourage collaboration. It has a direct impact on motivation, productivity, performance, and resilience.

Example: Help Jane achieve sales target for the third quarter.

2. Professional Development Goals

These goals help employees stay relevant and up-to-date in a competitive market.

Example: Complete the Digital Marketing Basics course by the end of the year and start with SEO optimization training by the first week of January.

3. Self-Management Goals

Self-management includes adaptability, productivity, accountability, decision-making, focus, time-management, and so on. Developing these skills contribute to accomplishing professional goals.

Example: Implement effective time-management to be able to fulfil responsibilities within the given time. Complete 2 Pomodoro Sessions every day.

 4. Soft-skills development Goals

Self-promotion, conflict management, adaptability, and interpersonal skills are external soft skills. Growth mindset, perceptiveness, self-awareness, and self-compassion are internal soft skills.

Example: Improve emotional resilience in three months by framing an action plan to adopt the desired transformation.

5. Creativity Goals

Creativity can impact how well you implement the task given to you as it can relax your mind and the body. Organizations believe in cultivating creative thinking as it contributes to the development of the employee as well as the company.

Example:

– Develop or learn to paint during the weekend for two quarters.

– Do yoga three times a day for at least a year.

6. Emotional Intelligence Goals

It refers to one’s ability to process their emotions to be able to make sound decisions. It is a critical skill that is necessary for the effective performance of the employee.

Example: Practice self-awareness with the help of meditation for 30 minutes every day, to be able to note down feelings and experiences that impact the work.

7. People Management Goals

Whether you are an employee or a manager, your people management skills show that you are a team player and have communication skills, and a strong ability to motivate others. It also supports transdisciplinary skills development goals that enable you to align with different departments in the organization.

Example:

– Communicate with people from other departments once a week for a year to understand their responsibilities and how your team can support them.

– Practice empathy for a quarter by reflecting on your behaviour towards your subordinates and how it affects their performance.

8. Negotiating skills

These skills are imperative to every individual in a business as it helps to reach common ground in case of a conflict.

Example: Get training to improve negotiating skills by the end of the third quarter, and stay on top of the latest practice.

9. Virtual Communication Goals

Technological advancement has paved the way for the use of various communication apps, collaborative spaces, and remote work opportunities. Communication channels are constantly evolving, making it essential to be literate in these tools.

Example: Outline all communication tools and gain a strong understanding by the end of the month.

10. Decision Making Goals

A strong leader is a great decision-maker. It is a vital skill that is difficult to develop but offers significant results.

Example: Focus on limiting subjective perceptions and get trained in probability within three months. Also, do not postpone difficult and vital decisions that you must make.

Did you know that these employee goal setting examples can help benefit your employees and contribute to the growth of the organization? Several other performance goals can help you achieve your overall goals in an organization such ascross-cultural fluency goals, efficiency goals, productivity goals, among others. Every organization has different needs, and the goals are set based on the needs.

Conclusion

Considering the examples of measurable goals for employees mentioned above, any company that adopts best-practice in setting goals for its employees would experience growth. These goals are a vital part of an employee’s performance which impacts the organization. Goal-setting offers a lot of benefits to the organization and the employee alike. The tasks and goals influence employee’s efficiency, productivity, and development. Setting unrealistic and irrelevant goals can cause stress and can lead to employee attrition. It can impact the overall growth of the company. The services offered by talenx.io ensures that goal-setting is implemented, keeping in mind the health and development of the employees, as well as how these goals impact organizational growth. If you are looking to set goals for your employees that are aligned with your company’s ultimate goals, call us for more information!