Have You Considered How Individual Contributors Perceive Your Goal-Setting Process?

Evaluating this part of your performance management strategy can help to determine whether your organization is an entrepreneurial environment or one that sticks to the status quo 

As an individual contributor, the goals-setting process can be an extremely positive experience. But for some people it can be a nightmare. This posting explores how some individuals perceive the goal-setting process and gives you an opportunity to think about what your organization's process could be as part of your employee performance management strategy. What's your perspective?

I don’t know about you, but I take my individual goals very seriously. When planning my goals for the year, I look to find ways to use my strengths, to stretch my abilities by reaching out of my comfort zone, to add value to the organization and to assist in the development of others. Yes, that’s pretty lofty, but they are my goals, and it's how I look at it. By setting my standards high, I believe this helps me to become a better leader within the organization, a stronger team contributor and a better person.

The manager plays an important role in the goal-setting process. They should be guiding the individual, removing obstacles when challenges come along, and allowing the ownership and responsibility for the goal to always reside with the individual. Discuss the vision, set the direction, support the individual and let them loose -- let them do the "work." And the “work” should be all encompassing. The manager needs to allow the individual to create the framework, design the work, ask for feedback, and execute the plan.  More importantly, let the individual feel the sense of accomplishment because of what he or she has created. This process can be very powerful, with the side effects of building a stronger manager/employee relationship, a collaborative environment and trust! 

On the other end of the spectrum, I also have seen the micro-manager who manages so tightly, it can feel like employees are just executing what the manager wants done. While coaching these individuals with manager concerns, I’ve heard them say, “Just tell me want you want done, and I’ll do it. Don’t make me think if you’re going to control my work.” I’ve seen this happen too often and have coached individuals and managers on how to work differently together under these circumstances. Many times this happens when management doesn’t set direction, guidelines, or determine roles and responsibilities for goal-setting. Even if direction is vague, managers do what’s natural -- they do what they believe will get the job done based on their experience or comfort. They make choices.

So what does this all mean, you ask?  As leaders in the goal-setting process, it’s important to consider:

• How goal setting works?
• What the roles and responsibilities are?
• What standards are in place for the organization?
• How the individual is involved?

Answers to these questions and more will determine whether you have an entrepreneurial environment that exhumes ownership, collaboration and pride, or a controlling environment that can create the status quo and has people not thinking, just following. 

So, if you could create an organizational goal-setting process, what would you do? How would your company grow because of it?  How would you influence the change? 

Laura Durando is a Client Success Manager with Cornerstone OnDemand. She has over 25 years of business experience and has held executive positions in Talent Management and Organizational Development with multiple organizations.