SETTING GOALS FOR EMPLOYEES

Setting Goals for Your Employees


Setting goals with your employees is an essential element of effective human resources management.

There are a variety of reasons to set employee goals. Goals can: focus employees on the purpose of your business; enhance your chances of success by applying your employees efforts to your company's long-and short-term success; and motivate employees. Employee goal-setting is also an important part of an employee appraisal or bonus program because without goals, achievement is not easily measured.

To be effective, employee goals must be clear and understandable. Each goal must be concrete, attainable, and critical to the growth of your business. The tips below will help you set good goals:

Set goals with employees

Employees are often the best source for information about what job-specific goals will contribute to overall increased productivity, responsiveness, or other business goal. Involving employees in goal-setting also eliminates the potential for the resentment that can arise when goals are imposed.

Reevaluate goals frequently

At a minimum, do this halfway through the year to insure that goals still make sense and that employees are on track.

Make goals specific and measurable

Don't set goals such as "Do a better job," because a general goal does not instruct an employee in what steps to take. An example of a constructive goal is "Increase response time to customer calls by 30%" or "Cut customer complaints by half."

Goals don't have to be tied to sales

Don't automatically assume that bonuses should be tied to increased sales or even profitability. For example, it may be most important in a given year for your business to cut costs or raise visibility. Tie bonuses into that critical goal rather than one that is traditional.

Make sure employees goals are attainable

Many people have a tendency to set goals too high. Unattainable goals lead to employee frustration and lack of motivation and it is your job to make sure that employee goals are realistic.

Be consistent

Don't set different goals for employees the same responsibilities. Not only will this likely breed resentment, but it can put you in legal hot water in terms of charges of discrimination.

Watch your timing

It's common for businesses to set annual employee goals at the beginning of the year. Others may want to do it before a busy season, or at an annual company meeting. Be careful to set employee goals and conduct evaluations on a calendar year, not on employee anniversaries. This way, it will be easier for you to compare performance between people with similar jobs.

Avoid rivalry

You want your employees to work against your competitors, not each other. Avoid things like contests as part of your goal setting. Instead, have your employees strive to meet a specified target within a specified period, and reward those who meet it. By doing this, you provide all of your employees with incentive to share information and help each other.

Set goals that tie employees into the success of your company

Should I say another big leap forward by Major Khalid Nasr. Here he is talking about participative management in goal-setting ; simultaneously stressing over realistic approach and reviewing the goals at least biannually. Not talking in so many words, but the writer also had stick & carrot rule in mind when he talked about tying up bonuses with performance. Evidently it also referred to linkages between quantifiability in specific and measurable terms. Objectivity also implied elimination of biases & consistency of a policy adopted after careful consideration and deliberations. The author also underscored the need for encouraging competition ( a positive trend for boosting-up production & sales) and avoiding rivalry ( a negative attribute resulting in dissipation of time & energy of Human Resource); simultaneosuly emphasising over the need for avoiding time-overruns and cost-overruns which are generally interdependent resulting in (a) enhanced cost of the project at its inception,(b) tangible & intangible losses due to delaying the benefits expected to be flowing out of investment, and (c) leaving the field open for rival industrial units etc etc.

Jameel Zaidi