How To Set Employee Performance Goals

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Performance goals should follow the SMART system and be:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Relevant

• Time-bound

Key Takeaways:

• Employee performance goals are a way to track an employee’s performance and achievements.

• They are different from development goals and instead track short-term metrics, such as improving sales, getting a certification, or learning a new skill.

• When setting employee goals, it’s important to get input from the employees to make sure that the goals are reasonable, achievable, and relevant to their job duties.

• Performance goals should also be a way to motivate employees, as they’ll know what they need to do to get a good performance review and continue their career trajectory.

What Are Performance Goals?

Performance goals are objectives that employees are expected to achieve in a period of time. Generally, they’re short-term goals that are set as a way to assess employee performance. Oftentimes, performance goals will be specific to particular positions, such as a sales associate being expected to sell X number of subscriptions per month.

Part of the purpose of performance goals is to determine pay raises, bonuses, and promotions. The people who meet or exceed these goals regularly are the ones who are on track to get raises and promotions, while those who don’t lose out – or get dinged for poor performance.

What Are Good Goals for a Performance Review Examples?

Good goals to set for performance reviews are going to be goals that are achievable in a year’s time frame. The majority of performance reviews are annual, which means that if you’re setting goals for them to meet by the time the next performance review rolls around, it should be within a year.

Here are some example goals:

How to Set Performance Goals For an Employee

Setting performance goals for an employee is a several-step process that should be done with the employee’s input. In order to set successful performance goals, there are some recommended steps to follow:

• Take company objectives into account. Different organizations have different priorities and objectives. It’s important to consider the company’s goals when setting performance parameters for employees. While something may be a fine performance goal in a vacuum, it may be something that isn’t useful to the company or relevant to the employee’s position.

• Review the employee’s job description. It’s important to make sure that the goals you’re setting are something that directly applies to the employee’s job duties and expectations. Otherwise, you’ll either end up wasting employee time by forcing them to do something outside their role, or no one will meet the objectives. Either way, the result is that the goals are unhelpful.

  If the employee is commonly doing duties that are outside their job description, it may be time to review their job title. Either it needs to change to fit their new duties, or the job description should be updated.

• Ask for employee input. Setting goals works better if you’re able to work with the employee on them. In larger businesses, each person in a certain position may have the same goal. Even so, it’s still a good idea to solicit advice from the people filling the positions in question. As a manager, you aren’t going to know as much about the job they’re doing as they are.

• See if it makes sense with the SMART method. The SMART method is an acronym that helps make sure that the goals you set are helpful and a good way to measure performance. It stands for:

  • Specific

  • Measurable

  • Achievable

  • Relevant

  • Time-bound

  You want to make sure that any performance goal you set for yourself or your employees includes all of the above. That guarantees that you’ll be able to use it as a performance assessment.

How to Write Performance Goals For an Employee

Writing performance goals for an employee requires understanding the expectations of the employee’s job and how to set an achievable goal. When writing a performance goal for an employee, you should:

• Determine an achievable goal. This first step is usually the trickiest. Using the SMART system is a good way to determine whether or not it’s a good metric to use.

• Get input from the employee. It’s important to include the employee or employees in setting performance goals. For one thing, they should be able to comment on whether or not they think it’s a realistic goal. For another, you need to be sure that they understand what performance goals you’re setting and the effect they’ll have on their career trajectory.

• Write it down in plain language. Once you’ve determined the goal and gotten feedback on it, you need to write it down. This is like any other business communication or record. It should be clearly written, concise, and easy to measure. Generally, performance goals are quantifiable, such as increasing sales by 10%, which means that anyone can measure it.

• Revisit it as necessary. Remember that objectives and employees change over time. Setting the same goal every month (or whatever period of time you select) can eventually get unachievable. For example, unless the company is expanding hugely, there will come a time when increasing sales by 10% is all but impossible.

How to Write Performance Goals For Yourself

Writing performance goals for yourself is similar to writing them for someone else. They can seem harder because you don’t have the luxury of having a removed perspective on your own achievements, but all the same, principles apply.

• Decide what you want to improve. The first step is to decide what’s important to you in terms of improvement. There are many different ways to get better at your job, so you should select the one (or two) that you want to make sure you get done. Do you want to prioritize:

  • Upping productivity? If this is your metric, then you can set a goal similar to the ones for marketing. For instance, have the factory line produce 5% more goods by the end of the quarter.

  • Completing a training program? There are many different programs out there to improve your skills and value as an employee. Programs of this sort can range from skills specific to your industry to more generalized skills like leadership.

  • Increasing your education? Going back to get a master’s degree can greatly increase your pay. There are also associate’s degrees specific to various industries or other educational programs such as seminars or vocational training. Generally, these are difficult to complete while also working, but setting a goal can give you an endpoint.

  • Improving your skill set? Improving your skills is always going to help your career. Of course, there are training programs to do this, but there are also ways to improve your skills without one. This can either be by learning from someone else at your business, teaching yourself, or just making time to practice.

  • Hitting a certain achievement? It’s also possible to set a goal based on something you want to achieve, such as getting a promotion or a raise. In this case, it’s usually better to focus on tasks that you can complete to push you closer to this goal, as actually getting the promotion may be out of your hands.

• Take your job description into account. Just as with your employees, remember to consider your own job description. Learning skills outside of it can be helpful if you’re looking to change careers or to get a promotion, but in the majority of cases, it’s best to set goals within the scope of your expected day-to-day duties.

• Set a timeline. It’s important to have a timeline for your performance goal. Otherwise, it’ll be difficult to determine whether or not you succeeded in achieving it. Usually, performance goals are short-term, so it’ll likely be less than a year.

• Get input. Generally speaking, it’s good to ask someone else’s opinion on your performance goals just to make sure that you’re setting something reasonable and achievable. This step isn’t necessary as they’re self-set and self-enforced, but it’s never a bad idea to get a second opinion.

• Make sure it fits the SMART criteria. Goals that you set for yourself should also use the SMART system, as they should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

• Review goals as needed. Don’t be afraid to change your performance goals. Of course, you don’t want to do it constantly, as that can defeat the purpose of setting a goal for yourself, but don’t force yourself into something that isn’t working. You want to make sure that you can achieve your goals and better yourself by doing so.

Why Are Workplace Performance Goals Valuable?

Workplace performance goals are valuable because they give a metric to assess employee performance. In addition, employees having achievable goals that have a positive effect on their careers is motivating and shows them where the company wants them to focus.

Setting goals of this type can also be a way to point your employees in the direction of what you want them to focus on. Quite a few employees want to know what direction they should focus their efforts on – or even what they should work on – and setting performance goals answers that question.

How to Measure Performance Goals

The primary way to measure performance goals is by whether or not your employees are achieving them. As performance goals should be relevant and achievable, if your employees aren’t achieving them, then they’re underperforming.

Remember, though, that if the majority of your employees aren’t meeting your goals, there’s a larger problem. It may be that the goals you’re setting aren’t actually achievable, that there’s low morale, or that your employees aren’t getting the equipment or support they need to do their jobs.

Author

Di Doherty

Di has been a writer for more than half her life. Most of her writing so far has been fiction, and she’s gotten short stories published in online magazines Kzine and Silver Blade, as well as a flash fiction piece in the Bookends review. Di graduated from Mary Baldwin College (now University) with a degree in Psychology and Sociology.