Setting employee goals are at the heart of successful performance management. Goals align the efforts of everyone in the business, helping drive company level success. Setting clear realistic goals provide direction for employees, helps motivate employees and improves overall performance.

 I take you through 8 actions to set employee goals that get results. Use these actions to set employee goals and you will have clear, realistic goals, that the employees feel they own alongside you.

 Goal alignment – individual goals supporting team goals which in turn support company goals – is so important to maximise the effort everyone put in and to maximise performance. 

 To get employee ownership during goal setting, it is important that the employees set their own goals or at least significantly input into their goals. Ask them to work out their goals to enable the team goals to be met. 

 Make sure all the goals are SMART goals, so it is clear to everyone what the goals are and when they have been achieved.

 When thinking of how to set goals, make sure you plan how to measure progress against the goals set. It is largely pointless having goals without any way of measuring performance against those goals. 

 A really important part of setting goals is working out how to achieve them. Build the plan of how to achieve the goals set with your employees. This will take the pressure off individual and mean the goals are much more likely to be achieved. 

 Use carrots and sticks – rewards for achieving the goals and support those that are behind their plan to achieve their goals. Deal with any problem team members quickly. 

 When setting goals, always keep the main thing the main thing. It is so easy to get distracted by the latest idea or project, which makes achieving the original goals a lot harder. 

 Finally, in business change is always constant. So set aside the time to review goals set periodically – every quarter works well – and adapt your employee’s goals as needed.

 Take these 8 actions to set employee goals and enjoy better results and performance!