Why Forcing a Performance Review Goal Will Fail You

Everyone has expectations in the workplace. But sometimes we just have to be careful and not let those expectations become unrealistic. And when it comes to setting goals for performance reviews, there’s no such thing as playing on the safe side. There is, however, going too far.

Now that might sound confusing, but according to a survey by Cornerstone Ondemand, 15% of employees said performance reviews are a one-sided discussion led by their manager or employer. So don’t be that my-way-or-the-highway kind of manager. Collaborate with your employees to set goals.

The Ideation Process

Goal setting between managers and employees is a give-and-take process.

Once you’ve clearly communicated the organization’s goals, along with your own objectives, to your employee, you can work together to come up with individual goals. Doing this allows you to push your employee to grow professionally and contribute to the business’s success.

1. Ask employees: Let them come up with goals to support business objectives. Do they want to drive 1,000 leads in six months? Or perhaps they wish to become better at PR.
   

2. Push them: Give your employees a nice nudge. Push their goals to make them more aggressive. Instead of 1,000 leads, try for 2,000 leads. Rather than getting better at PR, why not become a PR expert? Remember to keep them achievable, not impossible.
   

3. Set it: The give-and-take process results in ambitious goals that will help not only the business succeed but the employee as well.

The keyword to employee goal setting is "collaborate." And don’t forget to keep them SMART. You can’t tell your employee what to do, but you can guide them and make sure they’re pushing themselves to be better.

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