It’s helpful to think of the goals for your business on three different levels: on a company or departmental level, on a team level, and then on an individual level.
We’ll go from the top down.
The first step may sound obvious, but it’s vital. Before you can think about team goals, you should be crystal-clear on the goal you want to set for your department, or for the company as a whole.
Ask yourself questions like:
- Why do you want it?
- How will accomplishing this goal serve the company’s mission (and bottom line)?
- How will you measure progress and keep everyone moving forward?
- What will it look like when the goal is completed (i.e. how will you know you’re there?)
Now, you’re ready to set a goal for your team.
You want team members working together – collaborating and supporting each other, so your team’s goals need to be challenging, and at the same time be something that is important to the team. You want to foster focused energy and a feeling of cooperation. Identifying the right goals will result in the team banding together, instead of acting like a bunch of individuals competing with each other.
Team goals must:
- Be strong enough to keep your team motivated
- Make good use of individual team members strengths
- Serve your company’s mission
After setting your team’s goal, the next important step is to enable individuals to identify goals for themselves. It’s important that you make sure everyone understands and is behind the team’s goal, but you should also take the time to listen and understand what personal growth goals people may have, and to help them with those goals, too. Ultimately though, as the manager, it’s your job to make sure that each individual’s goal will advance the team’s goal (as well as the overall department or company-wide goal).
Using the “SMART” criteria to judge goals on any level, can be very helpful. This acronym stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
Other important components in the process of setting team goals are:
- Setting deadlines
- Tracking progress
- Supporting and engaging with team members.
Deadlines are absolutely necessary. A goal with a deadline fosters accountability and makes everything more rewarding for your team. A goal without a deadline may never be achieved.
Tracking progress can help your team stay motivated, and if you stay on top of things you can spot problems and course-correct as necessary.
As the manager, it’s your job to assist team members with their goals and to give the team help as needed. You can show your support by:
- Talking to team members 1 on 1
- Demonstrating that you’re open to questions and available for guidance every step of the way
- Give constructive feedback
Goals exist to guide team members and to help everyone do better work. Studies show that having goals that are clearly defined and challenging will result in better performance by all. But everyone must be working toward the same outcome, as well as completely understand how their individual role fits into the big picture.
Communication is key, and I look forward to seeing how this process elevates your company’s growth and overall employee engagement. If I can help you, please don’t hesitate to reach out.