No matter the size of your company, setting team goals is a very beneficial practice. Setting goals will make your employees more motivated as they’ll have tangible objectives to work towards, not to mention your team’s productivity will skyrocket.
Team goals can be general, long-term or short-term, impacting the employees, customers or other parts of the business. Today, you’ll learn why goal setting is important, how to set clear goals and some examples of goals you can implement.
Why is goal setting important?
When you set goals, you’re clearly defining what success looks like. You’re considering what your employees are capable of and encouraging them to use their full potential to contribute to the team’s success.
With explicit, tangible goals, your team has a clear sense of how their daily tasks align with the company’s objectives and mission. They’ll feel like they’re doing something bigger than just for themselves.
With big, overarching goals, your team will remain accountable for their individual goals. As a manager, you can assess their performance and how they are contributing to the smart goal.
Lastly, you can use previous goals to inform and improve the decision-making process throughout your company.
How to set clear professional goals
Ensure that your goal is achievable but not too challenging. Use goal-setting frameworks like OKRs or SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Defining these parameters will ensure that your goals are attainable within a certain time frame.
Work with your team to create professional and personal goals so that everyone is on board with the plan. The more you involve your team, the better.
To set clear, professional goals, you’ll want to start with a master plan. By this, we mean the overarching objectives. Focus on your company’s purpose, think about why it was created and where you want to be in 10, 20 or even 30 years. Then, create goals that align with that vision.
What are some examples of goals?
Every successful company has both short- and long-term goals. Below are a few examples of both.
Short-term goals
Short-term business goals are generally those you can accomplish in six months or less. They help to accomplish longer-term goals and require good planning. Short-term goals should be flexible, monitored often and modified if they are not working.
Use a bottom-up approach based on already established goals. Your short-term goals should be clear, objective, realistic and focused on the employee.
Examples of short-term goals:
- Increase traffic on the company website
- Add five new items to the product lineup
- Provide valuable employee feedback using a new system
- Improve employees’ work-life balance by providing more time off
Long-term goals
Long-term business goals generally last from three to five years. To plan them, identify what you want to accomplish in the next few years, and break these long-term goals into short-term, actionable objectives.
It can be easy to set goals and forget about them, so track your progress regularly. Set monthly or yearly check-ins to review your team’s progress.
While it can be difficult to visualise attaining long-term goals, make them a priority. After all, your company won’t move forward without planning and prioritisation!
Examples of long-term goals:
- Increase your business’ profit margin by 10% over the next three years
- Provide more career opportunities by hiring 15 new employees
- Achieve 80% positive customer reviews
- Expand your operations into the US
- Broaden your product lineup to include innovative new products
Here are some measurable goal examples you can set for your team.
Management goals
Not finishing projects on time or completing them unsuccessfully can hurt your business. As a project manager, you should prioritise SMART management goals. A few examples include:
- Improve project performance and productivity by planning ahead
- Execute high-impact projects to help achieve your long-term goals
- Improve team communication by using a team collaboration software
- Establish clear, measurable KPIs and hold the team accountable for tracking them
Team goals examples
Setting team goals can be difficult, whether it’s just you and a few other people or an organisation with 300 employees. However, team goals are so important! They should provide guidance and structure for each team member, allowing them to focus on a specific objective. Here are a few examples:
- Create a content calendar and have weekly check-in meetings
- Conduct team-building activities for employees to foster connections with each other
- Increase sales revenue by 10%
- Evaluate stakeholder satisfaction and work towards increasing it
Career development goals examples
Yes, company goals are important. However, you need to ensure that your employees are happy and satisfied with their professional life. If they aren’t, your company will suffer and take longer to reach its goals. Encourage your team to set goals for personal growth. Personal goals can include:
- Getting a certification or obtaining credibility in a new skill
- Improving communication skills by attending networking events and gatherings
- Improving time-management skills by using an app or to-do list
- Improving public speaking skills by leading a team meeting
Personal growth goals
Employees’ own personal goals are just as important as team and career development goals. Setting personal goals, like learning new skills or eating healthier, helps guide focus and sustain momentum in one’s daily life. This way, your employees will be satisfied with their personal and professional lives. Here are some examples of goals that can be set for personal growth:
- Become fit by losing weight in healthy ways (i.e. exercising five times a week)
- Improve your personal relationships with friends and family
- Improve your self-confidence by setting challenges for yourself
- Improve your soft skills, like communication, listening and time management
Generating company goals with AI
Now that OpenAI and ChatGPT are available to everyone, you can also use AI to set great company and team goals. There are 2 options available to you:
- Use ChatGPT to generate goals: you can quickly get some suggestions by asking ChatGPT to turn your vision into a set of goals. This approach is very flexible, but you'll still have to copy/paste the results into your preferred system to track goals.
- Use an AI-assisted goal-tracking platform: Tability is a goal-tracking platform that has a smart editor that can turn your prompts into a set of OKRs. This approach saves you time by keeping you in the context of all your goals - and you're just 1-click away from publishing your goals to your team.
Final thoughts
Setting workplace goals is the key to success for any organisation. Achievable goals can set your company in the right direction and motivate employees. Remember, you should be writing SMART goals – ones that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Ready to take your company goal-setting to the next level? With Tability, you can track important team goals, KPIs, OKRs, and more. Get started for free today.
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