Providing a well structured performance management process is the most effective way to accomplish organizational goals. This management of performance should be based on goals set at the organizational level and driven down throughout the organization.
Employee performance goals help employees see a straight line between what they are doing and how it affects the performance of the organization, it helps them understand how what they do makes a difference and affects the bottom line.
Let’s go through an example of an employee performance goal.
The first step is to make sure each of the goals are written as SMART goals which is – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. This is a way to test whether or not the goals can realistically be achieved. Once a goal is written go back and ask the questions, is it specific? How will we measure it? Is it truly attainable? Is it realistic? Is the timing of it right?
Ok now let’s say that the organization has a goal of improving customer satisfaction by 5 points, pulling it from 82 to 87 by June 30, 20XX. This is a goal that affects every department and every employee in the organization.
Now let’s say that Linda is the manager over the customer call center and oversees 10 customer service representatives. Linda’s job is to get the customer service reps involved in improving the customer experience which should be reflective in the customer satisfaction scores.
Let’s take the organizational goal of “improving customer satisfaction by 5 points” down to the department level. Linda is aware of some of the issues that the call center is having from reviewing the customer satisfaction data. The issues expressed by customers that her department has responsibility for are:
- call wait times
- rude employees
- customer service reps who give out wrong information.
In this scenario, the call center department may then have three goals:
- Improve customer call wait times by 90 seconds.
- Reduce complaints about rude employees by 90%
- Reduce complaints about wrong information by 90%
In order to improve customer satisfaction scores, there are some things Linda will need to do to improve the customer experience. These action steps can be put into a goal document for accountability.
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Department: Call Center 20XX Goals for Linda Manager |
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Goal (objective) |
Action Steps |
Responsible Person |
Measured by |
Due Date |
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Improve Call wait times by 90 seconds. |
1. Review wait time data. |
Linda Manager |
Completion by due date |
11/1 |
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2. Determine wait times by employee. |
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11/1 |
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3. Meet with staff to determine best practices. |
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11/15 |
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4. Establish standard for call times. |
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11/30 |
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5. Determine any possible training needs. |
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12/15 |
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6. Train/inform employees on new standard. |
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1/15 |
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7. Communicate call time expectations to employees. |
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1/31 |
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8. Track call times for 30 days. |
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2/28 |
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9. Review call times again and compare to customer satisfaction data. |
Linda Manager |
Customer Satisfaction increased to 87 points. |
3/30 |
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1.Reduce complaints about rude employees by 90%
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1.Review satisfaction data for prior 6 months and determine number of complaints of rude employees. |
Linda Manager |
Completion by due date |
11/15 |
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2. Spend time listening to customer call conversations. |
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12/15 |
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3. Meet with staff and solicit feedback about the issue. |
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1/15 |
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4. Develop training program. |
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1/30 |
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5. Schedule mandatory training. |
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2/5 |
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6. Track satisfaction data for 90 days and reassess. |
Linda Manager |
Customer Satisfaction increased to 87 points. |
May15 |
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3.Reduce complaints about wrong information by 90%
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1. Review satisfaction data for prior 6 months and determine number of complaints about wrong information. |
Linda Manager |
Completion by due date |
11/15 |
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2. Spend time listening to call center conversations. |
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12/15 |
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3. Review training manual and compare conversations to scripted information. |
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1/15 |
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4. Meet with employees and share observations. |
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1/30 |
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5. Schedule re-training on procedure manual. |
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2/15 |
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6. Track satisfaction data for 90 days and reassess. |
Linda Manager |
Customer Satisfaction increased to 87 points. |
5/15 |
Linda’s supervisor will use this goal document to assess Linda’s performance and include successful completion of these goals in her annual performance appraisal. This is one of many steps in a structured performance management process that contributes to an organization achieving organizational objectives.
Does your organization write performance goals?
photo by: Steve’s photos
