Three documents that are critical to the goal setting process include the employee’s job description, a written copy of the company vision or business objectives and a written copy of appropriate departmental objectives. Another helpful document might contain the employee’s personal work-related goals. Author Stephen M. Covey suggests  that individuals “develop a Personal Mission Statement.”

Working from the job description; first identify the main responsibilities. Goals for each area of responsibility should be clearly linked to company and departmental objectives. Whenever personal goals can be integrated with work goals, employee engagement and motivation is likely to improve. 

Once key goal areas have been identified, the manager and employee must write out specific action steps for each.

For each goal, visualize the final outcome. Author Stephen M. Covey describes this as “begin with the end in mind” and he includes it in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Moving backwards from the end goal,  the employee and manager have to determine the following:

-where am I now in relation to the end goal?
-what steps to I need to take to reach the goal?
-what short-term milestones can I set to help me reach the end goal?
-what are the timelines for each of the milestones?

It is important to remember to keep the number of goals reasonable so that the employee has adequate time to focus on all of them. Final goals should be prioritized.

Stephen M. Covey also suggests that we think about what we want to “start, stop and continue.” (MICA). In other words, it is important not only to identify what we need to do to achieve a goal, but also to identify what we do—and need to stop doing—that is interfering with goal achievement.

The SMART format for goal writing is widely accepted; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Risky and Time lined. Halogen Software published an article on this topic which  provides a link to “sample employee evaluation forms” and suggests the following items be included in evaluation forms:

• “A definition or expansion of the acronym SMART
• An appropriate example of a SMART goal
• Sufficient space to provide a detailed description
• A field to list the higher level organizational goal that this goal is linked to
• An area to list any important milestones
• A separate field to capture the way success will be measured
• A separate field for the due date
• A limited number of fields to enter goals, to limit the overall number of goals assigned to each employee”

Further to this topic, HR author Susan M. Heathfield reminds us: “Don’t tie yourself to setting only measurable goals, however; you may find yourself concentrating on the trivial, because it is measurable, rather than on your most important outcomes. Sometimes the most important goals, the non-urgent, critical goals, are hard to measure.” Her article on About.com contains valuable advice related to goal setting. She reminds us that “the goal is yours: you own the goal” and she emphasizes the importance of rewarding progress and achievements.

References:

Covey, Stephen. Four Roles of a Principle-Centered Leader. MICA Management Resources, Toronto, ON, October 28, 1997.

Covey, Stephen M. “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind.” FranklinCovey [www.stephencovey.com]. Obtained December 10, 2008.

Halogen Software. “Writing SMART Goals.” [www.halogensoftware.com]. Obtained December 10, 2008.

Heathfield, Susan M. “The Awesome Power of Goal Setting: Ten Tips for Triumph.” About.com: Human Resources [www.about.com]. Obtained, December 9, 2008.