One-fourth of the year is over so let’s do some performance review goal setting. How are you doing four months into this year and what can you do to make some improvements?
How Are You Doing With Those Goals You Set?
How are you doing in meeting your goals?
How are you doing in comparison to your budget?
Goals and budgets are not only for big business but can also be done on a smaller scale for you and me.
Big companies put tremendous effort into creating detailed budgets and detailed goals each year and checking their progress against them monthly and quarterly.
Investors eagerly await the announcement of quarterly earnings and stock prices jump up or down based on the results. They go to all this expense and trouble for only one real reason. It works.
Big businesses very seldom wander from the tried and tested. They set goals, budget and compare to their budgets frequently because successful businesses before them did it too.
What Are Performance Goals?
Performance goals are short-term objectives set for specific duties or tasks in your current job position. These goals help employees know what is expected of them in their position and help ensure management that employees are focused on doing the right things.
Without setting clear performance goals, employees may feel aimless about prioritizing and completing their work and disengaged in their jobs. For both individuals and teams, the absence of effective goal setting substantially reduces productivity for the company.
I’m not saying that you have to have goals and a budget to be successful, but it does increase your chances of success. That’s also why you are reading this. To help increase your chances of success. So here’s your tip of the week.
The SMART model is a popular goal-setting tool. As an acrostic, it is easy to remember. Each letter in the word “SMART” represents a key element of a complete and actionable goal:
S – Specific: Is the goal explained with enough detail that it can be well understood by those involved in its completion and by any stakeholders?
M – Measurable: How will those involved in completing the goal know it has been accomplished and how will stakeholders determine its success?
A – Attainable: Is the goal attainable or feasible given the resources available?
R – Relevant: Does the goal align with, support, or advance the organization’s vision, mission, values, principles, and strategies?
T – Time-bound: Does the goal have a target date for completion?
Performance Review Goal Setting
If you don’t have goals and a budget, stop what you are doing and create them. If you do have goals and a goal, stop and take a look at them. Ask yourself the following questions:
- How have you done so far this year?
- Are you awesome or average?
- How have you handled the roadblocks along the way?
- What can you tell from your results?
- What’s working and what’s not?
- Where could you use some help?
- What successes can you leverage?
- What can you realistically control or change?
- What are you doing next, and when will you do it?
Now is the time to start looking at what adjustments you need to make to your performance review goal setting to continue your successes or cut your losses.
It’s also a good time to revise your estimates for the rest of the year. Don’t stop at just revising the numbers. Now is the time to revise your action plan too. Where do you need to step up your action and where do you need to cut back?
Again look at what’s working and what’s not. Don’t have an action plan? Now would be a good time to create one. Goals and business plans only get you so far. An action plan is what makes your goals and budgets work.
Does this all sound like a lot of work?
I’m sure it does, but it is time and effort that will pay itself back tenfold.
Knowing where you want to go and then comparing regularly is the only way to assure yourself you’ll get to where you want to be. Otherwise, you might end up like Alice in Wonderland.
Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
The Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to”.
Alice: “I don’t much care where.”
The Cat: “Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.”
