According to the Dominican University of California, it’s mentioned that 42% of personnel achieve all their goals once they plan by writing down all their plans and goals to achieve. If you are a business owner, setting goals for your employees is essential. You want them to be happy, motivated, and productive – and you need to set development goals for them. Developing your employees is a vital aspect of business growth. It ensures that they stay up-to-date with the latest changes and developments. However, setting the right employee development goals can be difficult.
How to Set Employee Development Goals
It is important to set up employee goals that are both realistic and motivating. Don’t offer them goals that are unachievable or that are easily attainable. This can solely make them upset or put an excessive amount of pressure on them. Instead, set goals that can be measured and achieved with the resources you have, and make sure they are clear to everyone involved in employee development. Make a plan for development with milestones and due dates so that everyone knows where they are and what they need to do. Encourage your employees by giving them rewards for their progress along the way.
1. Set goals that are both achievable and motivating
According to Gail Matthews’ goals research, those who set achievable plans for their daily tasks achieve 40% more as compared to those who don’t set any goals. So, creating achievable goals for employees can be a challenge, but it is essential for your team’s productivity. When creating plans, make sure that they are specific, measurable, relevant to the job, and time-bound. Try not to set too many ambitious targets at once if one falls short of expectation. Begin by setting smaller objectives to help employees improve their skill set or develop new ones. Every accomplishment feels like progress instead of just one step towards the goal.
How to set up smart goals
When you set SMART goals for employees, you want them to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Specific: Your goals need to be clear enough so that employees understand what they need to accomplish to meet the stated objectives.
Measurable: Goals should be quantifiable so that both you and the employee can track progress over time. Measurable goals will help ensure both parties are aware of where each party stands and whether or not there is room for improvement.
Achievable: Goals must be challenging yet achievable to not discourage workers from trying their best. For instance, an employee might become verbal or physically abusive towards themselves or others due to a goal being too difficult (or impossible). In such cases, it may no longer qualify as an achievable goal at that point.
Relevant: All business goals must be relevant to the organization’s mission statement to stand any chance of success. If a goal is unrelated or irrelevant (for example, giving raises based on performance rather than job satisfaction), it’s likely to fail to fulfill its purpose, either within the organization.
2. Set measurable goals
Employers need to set measurable goals for their employees to maintain a personal and professional work-life balance. This helps employees feel appreciated and motivated while also ensuring that they meet the company’s expectations.
Setting clear objectives can be tricky, but using the SMART method of goal setting can help make the process easier. Setting smart goals can be a difficult task, but with the right tips, it can be a breeze.
Here are a few tips to help you get started:
1. Define your goal
Before you can set any smart goals, you first need to know what you’re trying to achieve. Make sure your goal is specific and measurable, so you can track your progress.
2. Break your goal down into smaller chunks
Once you know what you want, it’s time to break it down into more manageable pieces. Creating smaller goals will help you stay motivated and focused, and it’ll make achieving your overall goal easier.
3. Set a deadline
Having a date by which you want to achieve your goal will help keep you on track. Not only will this give you something to aim for, but it’ll also spur you on when the going gets tough.
4. Reward yourself
Besides setting tough deadlines and breaking down daunting goals into bite-sized chunks, rewarding yourself for reaching milestones can also be a motivating factor in achieving success with smart goals. Sacrificing time for hobbies or spending time with loved ones can all contribute to achievement of these tasks!
5. Keep a journal
Keeping a journal can be helpful in both tracking your progress and staying motivated. It allows you to reflect on your successes and challenges, as well as keep track of any advice or tips you may have learned along the way.
3. Create a developmental roadmap with milestones and deadlines
A developmental roadmap can be an excellent tool for ensuring that employees are on track and meet goals set forth by the company. It should include milestones and deadlines for when employees should reach specific objectives and pointers about what to do if they fall behind schedule or miss their targets. By establishing clear expectations from the beginning, you will help your team stay focused and motivated while also avoiding any unnecessary drama or conflict later on. A developmental roadmap can also serve as a valuable point for future reference.
4. Encourage your employees by rewarding their achievements along the way
Encouraging your employees is an essential part of cultivating a positive work environment. When you reward them for their achievements, they are valued and appreciated. These rewards will encourage them to continue working hard.
There are numerous ways to recognize your employees. Some popular methods include giving bonuses, granting promotions or raises, providing flexible work hours or telecommuting options, and creating a fun and engaging workplace culture.
Work can be closely done with employees who fall short
The management of underperformers can be challenging, but it’s possible to ensure their productivity and success. Here’s what you can do:
The first step is to try to figure out why employees act the way they do. Once you know what they want, it’s easier to talk to them about the problem.
Most of the time, an employee’s bad attitude or lack of motivation is caused by things outside of their job, like family problems, rather than problems at work. In these cases, counseling or other help is needed to get past these internal problems.
Once the root causes have been fixed and the employee is back on track, it’s important to work closely with them so that both sides can benefit from the relationship.
Make regular assessments – It is important to check on how employees are doing regularly to make sure they reach their goals. You can measure productivity in many ways, such as through reviews, checklists, interviews, or surveys. It’s also helpful to get feedback often so that the quality of the work can be improved. If you have a problem, you need to fix it right away. This will help keep problems from getting worse and make the workplace a better place to be.
5. Align employee development and career goal
Increasingly, employees are working towards career-aligned individual development goals (INDGs). INDG planning provides an organization and employees with clarity about what the future holds and where members see themselves within that context with better alignment between employee objectives and company strategy. INDG implementation also ensures that individuals are continuously learning and developing to keep up with industry changes, ensuring they remain effective on the job.
OKRs and Employee Engagement
Setting goals will increase employee engagement and support people to focus on the most important things. It is one of the most difficult conditions to turn dreams into action. As you are all aware, OKRs are not flawless, as HR specialists have already demonstrated.
The machine of a unified employer uses OKRs. They are the most important objectives for businesses to increase employee engagement. Their main goal is to motivate employees to achieve their objectives. New goals should be set by using a top-down approach that also works with maintaining performances and indicators of defining their goals once, which is only one of the many things they intended to do.
OKRs will support their goal-setting efforts, which may hold them to a high standard of accountability, by:
Conducting interviews with each employee to identify areas for improvement in the achievement of their goals and areas they are working on.
Focusing on lowering the new highest turnover rate from 20% to 5% to address the issue of employee engagement.
Setting development objectives for employees requires considering their total accomplishments, work responsibilities, company values, and organizational culture. Moreover, setting development milestones is a useful strategy for monitoring a person’s progress and ensuring they are on course to realize their full potential.
Want to know how to use Engagedly for performance management and employee development in the COVID era? Book a live demo with us.
Srikant Chellappa is the Co-Founder and CEO at Engagedly and is a passionate entrepreneur and people leader. He is an author, producer/director of 6 feature films, a music album with his band Manchester Underground, and is the host of The People Strategy Leaders Podcast. He is currently working on his next book, Ikigai at the Workplace, which is slated for release in the fall of 2024.