How to set goals for employees

Team goals are formulated to create an environment in which all team members are fully aware of what needs doing and why. When goals and milestones are formulated in a collaborative, “bottom up” manner involving those who are responsible for carrying out the work and relevant additional senior stakeholders, the goal setting process becomes a very powerful alignment tool. Such a collaborative approach shall be contrasted to the traditional structure where a company’s goals have been decided unilaterally by management and communicated “top down”.


It is important that the goal setting process generates ambitious goals in order to motivate everyone who is involved in reaching them. Equally important is that goals are measurable, in the form of specific milestones, and that they are time-bound so that the efforts to reach the goal are focused and can be properly assessed following the deadline.


Which goals are appropriate for employees will vary according to your company’s business model and current needs. Examples may include the following:

• Goal: Increase profitability. Key Result: Secure $1 million new client sales per month by the end of Q1 2021.
• Goal: Increase customer retention. Key Result: Reach monthly recurring revenue of $5 million by 30 June 2020.
• Goal: Grow market share. Key Result: Generate 100 potential client leads by 30 September 2020.
  
• Goal: Increase profit margin. Key Result: Reduce annual software license costs by $900,000.
  

Check out Pembio for a ready-to-use tool that helps you and your team implement a structured goal setting process.