HELPING STAFF SET GOALS
© Achieve Global - used with permission

Your Role

If you prepare people well beforehand, they'll be able to take the lead in setting their own goals. Your role will be to offer guidance on procedures, to facilitate discussion, and to make sure that important topics are fully explored.

You may need to help staff members set goals when:

• They need to link their work to larger university, faculty, department, or centre goals
• You're starting a new planning cycle or beginning a new project
• You need a framework for evaluating employees objectively.
• You need to clarify accountability

Involving employees in setting their own goals is among the most motivating approaches you can take.

The process and key actions that follow consist of steps an individual can follow to set goals. The description here and on the pages that follow explains how you can coach individual staff members or groups through the goal-setting process.

You will want to schedule a meeting with the staff member or staff group and provide specific information before the meeting.

Before the meeting

Start the staff person thinking about how his or her responsibilities support university or unit goals by furnishing information such as:

• The University's strategic plan
• Department, faculty, centre or unit plans
• Established university or unit goals and measures

Ask the staff member to list his or her major responsibilities, to rank them in order of priority based on their university or unit impact, and to bring the list to the meeting.  (See process for helping staff identify work priorities)

Hint for Groups:

Suggest that staff group members spend some time thinking individually and then meet to prepare a list of responsibilities for the group.

At the meeting

• Begin your meeting by explaining the purpose and objective.
• Review the list of responsibilities the staff person created.
• Review the university or unit's goals and any other big-picture issues or initiatives to which goals must be linked. Position these goals as a framework for the person to use in selecting his or her key responsibilities.

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Key Action 1

Begin with a list of high-priority work responsibilities.

This can be a list the person created using the "Worksheet for Identifying Your Work Priorities," a list you develop together during the meeting and record on the back of the goals worksheet, or another already existing list.

Hint for Groups:

If group members have not already done so, have them create one list of high-priority responsibilities from their individual lists.

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Key Action 2

Select one responsibility and identify its intended outcomes.

To decide which responsibility to start with, ask:

• Which of these responsibilities will make the most significant contribution to the university or unit's goals, strategy, or direction?
• To determine outcomes, encourage the person to brainstorm and, using his or her own thinking, list up to six outcomes. If questions arise, refer to the material on university or unit goals you provided before the meeting. Offer your own opinion only as a last resort.

Hint for Groups:

If disagreements arise, refer people to the information on University/Faculty or group goals.

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Key Action 3

Rate each outcome based on its Department, University or Faculty contribution.

Encourage constructive thinking by asking questions like:

• How does this outcome contribute to university or unit goals?
• Which of these outcomes contributes most? Least?

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Key Action 4

Set aside low-impact outcomes and ones over which you have little or no control.

Have the staff person draw lines through any outcomes that should be eliminated.

If the person or group has partial control over an outcome, you may want to arrange a goal-setting session at a later time with whoever shares the responsibility for this outcome.

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Key Action 5

Add verifiable terms to the remaining outcomes.

Help the staff person or group rephrase each outcome as a verifiable goal. Guide thinking by asking questions like:

• Does the goal link to the university or unit big picture?
• Does it directly relate to the-most important aspect of the outcome?
• Is the goal stated clearly and objectively? Will it help clarify progress? Does it clearly identify the point at which the goal will have been accomplished?

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Key Action 6

Establish a data-collection plan.

Raise issues such as the following:

• What sources of data, if any, already exist?
• Who will collect the data?
• How will the data be made available?
• How will it be used?

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Key Action 7

Review and adjust all goals set using this process.

Guide thinking by asking questions like:

• Are the goals in line with what's important?
• Do you have the accountability and authority to achieve the goal?
• Will the goal help guide your decisions and daily behaviors?

Hint for Groups:

Ask people to step back and take a look at how these group goals fit with their individual goals

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