Goal Setting Time! Where Do I Start?

By Marnie E. Green

If you establish performance goals during the annual performanceevaluation process and have often wondered where to start, hereis a little guidance. I work with many supervisors and employeeswho see goal setting as the opportunity to list the classes theemployee will attend for the coming year. And, while learninggoals are appropriate, the goal setting process can be much moremeaningful. Here are four kinds of goals that you might considerwhen setting annual performance goals.

1. Essence of the Job Goals – These are the goals that clearlydescribe tasks that are required on the job. For example, anaccountant might have a goal to prepare and submit monthlyfinancial statements. A librarian might have a goal to catalogueand reshelf returned books within 12 hours. A mail clerk mighthave a goal that requires her to deliver all mail daily to allwork sites. Essence of the job goals make the expectations forthe job clearer than they are listed on the job description.These goals personalize the job to the position and to theindividual employee.

2. Project Goals – Project goals are those activities that theemployee will pursue with a beginning and an end and may beabove and beyond the employee’s routine duties. Project goalscan be related to improving systems, developing new products,creating new programs, or anything else that you can think of.

3. Professional Development Goals – Professional developmentgoals specify what the employee will learn for the coming year.While attending a class to learn something new is noble, Ichallenge you to find new ways to help employees develop theirskills while clearly linking the goal to the organization’sneeds. For example, “cross training in a new work area at leastone day per week” is a professional development goal. A bettergoal would be to cross train in the accounting department atleast once per week and be able to reconcile bank statements byOctober 31. Or, “attend a training class on PowerPoint anddevelop a new slide show to be used in new employee orientation”would be more challenging than just attending the class. Makesure the professional development goals not only develop theemployee, but also help your organization.

4. Performance Improvement Goals – Performance improvement goalsshould be saved for those times when you want to emphasizeclearly that an employee’s behavior must change. Performanceimprovement goals include things like, “arrive to work ready toserve customers at 8 a.m. every day” or “limit the number ofcustomer complaints you receive to three per quarter.”Obviously, not all employees would need these kinds of goals.However, they can be helpful in documenting your performanceexpectations in a clear and measurable way.

Now, go out there and set some goals! Make your expectationsclear and everyone wins!

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