Setting Annual Goals that Push Employees to Exceed Expectations

You want 2015 to be your best year yet, but how do you realistically make big improvements over last year? First, you need to define ambitious goals for your team. Then, you need to give them the tools they need to be more productive, creative, innovative, and efficient. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible either. Use these tips and tricks to help you reach your goals.

Know What You Have

Look at the team you have in place and determine how much better they could realistically be doing. It might be just a few percentage points, or as many as double digits. The key, however, is accuracy. Ask for too little and you settle for disappointment. Ask for too much and you set yourself up for failure.

Make Your Expectations Clear

Once you have your annual goals clearly defined, do everything possible to educate and inform your employees. Its unfair to hold people to standards they are not aware of, and almost always ineffective too. Lay out a plan with as much detail as possible, invite questions and feedback, involve managers and leaders, and make sure no one misses the message.

Offer a Perk

It’s not enough to simply snap your fingers and expect people to suddenly work harder and do better. If you want your team to exceed expectations, you need to motivate them to do so. A rousing speech might work, but bonuses, raises, extended vacations, and promotions work a lot better. Make sure you are prepared to reward teams/employees that improve the way you want them to.

Track Your Progress

Throughout the coming year, look over your numbers in the context of your ambitious new goals and track your progress closely. Meeting your targets might take multiple course corrections along the way, and if you don’t act fast enough, opportunities could be permanently lost.

Use Change Strategically

The team you have in place might be capable of modest improvements, but what if they had one or two new pieces? Changing the makeup of your workforce can have a huge effect on its output. Throughout the year, ask yourself if a strategic addition or subtraction could be the small change you need to meet your goals.

Focus on Yourself

If you expect your employees to suddenly be accomplishing more, set the same goal for yourself. You have a major role to play in meeting ambitious year-end goals, which means you also need to make improvement a priority. If your team feels like they are working harder while you’re reaping the rewards, you’ll lose their support and sap away their motivation.

It’s good to be ambitious, but make sure you’re watching for signs of burnout in your team. It’s never worth it to lose valuable employees just to meet short-term goals. Find more strategies to help you maximize the value of your workforce by working with the staffing specialists at The Squires Group.


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