Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
We all get that in order to make money, we need to create a quality product or service that someone will pay for. Employee performance goals help organizations do just that.
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.
Use these sample employee performance goals to get you started.
Employee performance goals help staff see a straight line between what they are doing and how it affects the performance of the organization.
It also helps them understand how what they do makes a difference – and ultimately affects the bottom line.
SMART Goals
The first step is to make sure each of the goals are written as SMART goals.
This model of goal development uses the SMART acronym which is – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.
This is a process that can test whether or not the goals can realistically be achieved.
The idea is that once a goal is written, you should go back and ask:
Is the goal specific?
How will we measure whether or not we achieved it?
Is the goal 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. This would mean improving the satisfaction score of 82 to 87 by June 30, 20XX.
Goal: Improve Customer Satisfaction Scores by 5 points (82-87) by June 30, 20XX.
Now let’s ask the SMART questions:
- Is the goal specific? Yes, the goal is specific in that it hopes to improve by 5 points.
- Is the goal measurable? Yes, the goal is measurable because it states 82-87, which is a measure.
- Is the goal attainable? Yes, the goal is very attainable.
- Is it realistic? Yes, the goal is realistic.
- Is the goal timely? Yes, now is a good time to focus on this goal as the business goes into the fall.
This is a goal that affects every department and every employee in the organization.
Sample Employee Performance Goal
Now let’s say that Linda is the manager of 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 reflected 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.
Linda’s supervisor will use this goal document to assess Linda’s performance and include the successful completion of these goals in her annual performance appraisal.
The results of these goals should show improvement in the overall customer satisfaction scores at the organizational level as measured in the organizational business goals.
The effort of Linda’s department supports what the organization is doing, which is why part of the management of the goal was delegated to Linda.
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?