Practical ways to help your team with goal setting

Now more than ever, it’s hard to attract and retain good team members.  One way to help with this, is to identify business and personal goals with your team.

There are many benefits to setting goals:

• Helps the team understand how they fit into the big picture

• Establishes guidelines and criteria for a successful performance review
• Can be personal goals that help your team’s confidence and happiness
• Deepens engagement

Here are some considerations for goal setting for your team in 2022

1. Set goals that align with company objectives

When each team member understands how their individual role and responsibilities contribute to the bigger picture, they’re often more focused and motivated to achieve goals that result in success for themselves and also the business.

2. Get the team to identify job-specific goals

Leaders will likely get more insightful answers if they ask their team members to identify goals specifically related to their job, their personal aspirations and that are meaningful to them. There’s a big difference between imposing goals on the team and encouraging them to suggest their own. When their suggested goals align with company objectives, a leader can work alongside their team members to develop action plans to attain those goals.

3. Set SMART goals

The team may not know how to make goals for work that they can realistically achieve. Instead, carefully planned, clear, and trackable goals set within the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based) framework can help outline the steps necessary to reach a goal.

4. Set consistent goals for team members with similar responsibilities

Goalsetting in the workplace may backfire when it’s framed as a contest or competition among the team. It can also quickly undermine a positive work culture. Refrain from encouraging internal rivalries which can have a negative impact and diminish morale.

5.  Reward team mates that achieve their goals

Not only does recognition honour that team members efforts, but it demonstrates that the company values this type of commitment and hard work. When hard work goes unnoticed, team members can justifiably feel there’s no point in working so hard which can negatively impact productivity.

6. Work closely with team members who miss their goals

Not everyone will reach their goals, leaders should periodically assess progress and provide assistance and encouragement where needed. When goals aren’t met, there should be an in-depth discussion about what challenges occurred, combined with encouragement to try again and address or rework the stated objectives. Working with your team to set goals helps strengthen a culture of ongoing feedback and open communication.

As you can see, helping your team, also helps your company achieve success. Share this with your managers and encourage them to do this exercise with their team, no better time than as the new year starts to jump in and set these up.