How realistic and well-defined goals engage employees to give their best.
“In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.”
Setting goals and adhering to them, till completion, is the hallmark of any successful enterprise as well as an individual. As businesses grow in complexity, especially in today’s competitive world, organisational goal-setting assumes greater significance and becomes critical for sustainable and long-term success. Realistically set goals become the driver of growth and profit. They help improve effectiveness and make operations more productive. On the other hand, lack of effective goal-setting may lead the organisation’s performance southward, and a poorly-formulated objective may well steer an organisation in the wrong direction. The same principle applies to an individual in an organisation. In a dynamic business environment, no organisation, or an individual, can survive without a well-defined, long-term strategy and a planned list of short-term achievements.
High-performing organisations are known to manage employee performance through a continuous and structured process of assessment. In that high-performance culture, employees are focused on the right priorities and are accountable for delivering strong results. With a set of well-defined goals, these employees feel energised and engaged to give their best. This alone makes them competitive differentiators. The single factor that facilitates this is the alignment of organisational goals with those of an individual. Research indicates that in high-growth companies, a higher percentage of employees have organisational and individual goals aligned. Organisations which expect their employees to achieve big results set tough targets and stretched goals. When employees commit themselves to a cause they believe in, they will be more inclined to achieve their objectives.
Well-defined goals give employees an incentive to perform better simply because they provide an unambiguous path and a process where results can be measured objectively. It also provides a direction and spurs employees to achieve tasks. A time-bound goal creates better understanding of expected results and generates a sense of connectivity with the overall organisation. It makes an employee feel important and critical when he realises that what he is doing is important to the success of the organisation. This, in itself, is highly motivational. And a motivated workforce is what all managers dream of when goals and objectives of the team are to be achieved. A virtuous circle is set in motion when employees accomplish the target. They are then motivated to move on to the next and may be higher target. Each achievement and new target thus refuels their motivation and energy levels.
Jack Canfield in his book, The Success Principles, rightly states that “… vague goals produce vague results.” If the goals are ambiguous or incomplete, then the results achieved will also be that much ambiguous and incomplete. Stephen R Covey sums it up appropriately when he says, “Begin with end in mind…”, thereby highlighting the importance of awareness about the overall direction before setting out to describe goals. Thus, two criteria intermingle to create an effective result: An overall direction, often loosely termed as “vision”, and a specific set of time-bound list of activities termed as “goals.” Effectively set goals allow employees to be proactive. Instead of simply jumping from one crisis to another, they create room for self-initiative and an environment to plan and execute and also a sense of ownership in every employee’s mind.
In setting goals, the age-old principle of “SMART” goals still holds good. Goals do need to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. These simple principles help define workable and meaningful goals. It is imperative that goals should paint a precise picture of expected outcome or accomplishment. There should be a concrete criteria for measuring the progress of each goal, with clear time lines. Progressive managers have found that quarterly reviews — as opposed to annual reviews — yield far better results as they provide time for course-correction and also an opportunity to work on impediments that may have arisen. Finding so much time for such an exercise is often quoted as a constraint, but those who have deployed this process vouch for the benefit that accrues as a result.
A goal should have a start time and a time by which the goals are expected to be achieved. In the absence of a deadline, procrastination sets in and results get delayed. Another important aspect of goal-setting is to make sure that the goal plan is a realistic one. Often, managers set highly ambitious goals which are ambiguous. Such goals lead to unclear understanding about the organisation’s expectations. This does not mean that goals need to be ones that are easily achievable. Goals that are too easily accomplished do not stretch employees and inhibit their growth as they do not provide enough challenge. An old adage aptly describes the need to have stretched goals when it says “Oh, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp. Or what’s the heaven for ?” Ambitious goals are the right fuel for high performers.
The most notable feature of goal-setting is to obtain commitment. Many may show a high level of interest in some goals that are presented to them. But there is a difference between interest and commitment. When one is interested in doing something, one does it only when circumstance permit. On the other hand, when one is committed to something, one proffers no excuses and delivers only results. If all goal-setting efforts end up with results, there could be no better ending.
Aquil Busrai is executive director, human resources, IBM India, and national president of National HRD Network. He has 36 years’ experience in HR with organisations like Unilever in India and Kenya, Motorola in Asia-Pacific and Shell Malaysia.