Employee goal management has a strong connection with business success. Employee goal management inspires employees, increases performance productivity and drives business productivity. Therefore, it is crucial that managers take into consideration the business results that they want to achieve before jumping into the goal-setting process. Employee goal management is more than just setting goals during the performance reviews that we do once a year.   

Employee goal management is often considered the primary step in performance management. Managers set and prioritize the goals for their employees based on their skillset and roles. But there are instances where employees are sometimes unable to achieve their goals on time. This is due to the reason that goals are only considered during the annual performance appraisal cycles. This leaves employees disappointed for not being able to achieve their targets.  

It is important to realize that corporate businesses are growing increasingly competitive in the current scenario. Organizations are adopting new strategies every day to suit the needs of their customers and drive business success. It is only important that managers do away with their callous attitude towards managing employee goals and adopt effective goal management strategies in order to engage their employees effectively  

Let us explore some of the ways in which managers can facilitate goal setting for driving business success:   

Communicate the employee’s purpose in the organization  

An employee invests his time and effort in building the reputation of your business. It is only fair that he knows how he is contributing to the growth of your business. As a manager, it is important that you communicate clearly the purpose of your employee in the organization. Before setting targets for him to achieve, let him understand what is expected out of him in the organization.  

Why is he important to your business? How is the company going to leverage his talent to increase its profits? Let them understand how their daily tasks affect the numbers/outcomes that come along the way.  

Convey the vision and mission of the organization  

Imagine your employees coming to work, sitting on the chair and carrying out your tasks. They don’t understand why they are doing what they are doing. They have no idea as to how their tasks are affecting the business. This leads to the fact that they disengaged with their work. This is because they do not know what their organization stands for.   

When you communicate the vision and mission of the organization to your employees, you can expect some commitment from your employees. The key here is to make your employees feel connected to the organization’s mission. This results in better engagement.  

Cascade the goals according to the business objectives  

Employees need to understand that the goals that they are performing influence the overall strategy of their business. Communicating the objectives of the organization to your employees serves as benchmarks for their goals. Goals need to be created and passed on in such a manner that they merge with the team goals and the business strategy.   

Goals basically break down the business strategy in such a way that it is divided into manageable chunks. It is like passing toll gates at every point before reaching your destination. Therefore, it is imperative that everyone is sailing in the same boat to fulfill the company’s objective.    

Assign challenging goals  

While your employees are busy fulfilling their goals, you need to ensure that they are enthusiastic about their goals. You need to try and eliminate the mundaneness in their tasks by assigning them more challenging goals. Assigning your employees challenging goals would motivate them to perform higher.   

But it is important that you keep in mind that by setting challenging goals, you don’t make it difficult for them. Your goals need to be measurable as well. This just gives them a common target so that they can measure their progress easily. Challenging goals keep them interested and encourage them to use their full potential.  

Involve them in the goal-setting process  

When you are setting goals for your employees, make sure that you involve them in the goal-setting process. The best way to do this is by obviously giving them guidelines on how they can set it themselves. For instance, you can teach them how to set goals according to the SMART criterion. Tell them that their goals need to be well defined in terms of what is expected out of them. Encourage them to set milestones so that they can track their progress. Ask them to keep in mind the overall impact that their goals are going to have on the business.  

Create a culture of continuous feedback  

Employee goal management is a collaborative process that involves a continuous dialogue between the managers and the employees. It involves discussing the employee’s progress in fulfilling the goals and provide them coaching on what needs to be improved. Inculcating a culture of continuous feedback in your business can help managers prioritize goals and track the progress of the employee goals.   

This will keep your employees more engaged as opposed to ticking a few boxes because you are collectively working towards the overall development of the employee. Moreover, this improves your leadership skills, team development, and managerial effectiveness.  

Utilize technology to manage goals  

The best way to track, measure and manage your employee goals is to adopt tools and software to facilitate the process. Try investing in a digital platform such as a performance management software or a goal tracking software to centralize the whole goal-setting process in your employee performance management process.   

Investing in performance management software can improve your managerial effectiveness by increasing interaction, automated workflows, training programs, and speeding up your goal tracking process. This improves collaboration between you and your employees. Moreover, it saves a lot of your time and resources by digitizing everything from top to bottom.  

Let them make mistakes  

On one hand, when you want your employees to fulfill their goals effectively, do not pressurize them by expecting them to give their next to perfect performance. Let your employees learn by making mistakes. When they make mistakes, encourage them to do it well the next time. Do not reprimand them for their mistakes.   

Sensitive employees may take your harsh feedback to heart. Therefore, encourage them to fail forward and tell them that mistakes are opportunities for them to learn. Motivate them by telling them how well they had performed their previous tasks. The choice of words creates an impact.   

Make them accountable for their goals  

As a manager of your team, you might find it important that you constantly keep telling your employees what needs to be done. If you have communicated the objectives of the business and their goals, then trust your employees to take care of the rest. Your employees may not appreciate your constant pestering as they want to be accountable for their goals.   

Remember that everyone is working towards the success of the business and your expectations at times may not be of primary importance. Therefore, let them take accountability for their goals and only help them when they face issues.  

Recognize and reward them for their achievements  

Recognition is pivotal. Your employees are working towards the success of your organization day in and day out. It is only fair that they deserve to know how their contribution is helping the business in any way. As a manager, it is probably not a bad idea for you to recognize them for the work that they do. Appreciate them for their achievements or for fulfilling their goals in a timely manner. It does not take any special effort but by simply expressing your gratitude, your employees will be motivated to fulfill their goals efficiently and be dedicated to the organization.  

Conclusion  

In order to practice effective employee goal management, using the above-mentioned strategies can help you engage and empower your employees to fulfill their goals effectively. Your employees will be motivated to give their best every day. Using these strong goal management strategies can help you align your goals with business success and take your business to a pedestal. The stage is yours!!!