No matter how SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based) your goals are, it’s going to be very difficult to accomplish them without a method for tracking progress. Just think about how many New Year’s Resolutions fall by the wayside after a month or two. When things get busy or you get caught up in the day-to-day, it’s easy to lose sight of big-picture goals.
The same challenges plague many well-intentioned employees. So, let’s examine why employee goal tracking software works and how it can be used effectively.
It Fosters Collaboration
One of the major obstacles that goals face in the workplace is that they’re often too vague. Many managers don’t provide enough support to help employees define actionable goals or the necessary steps to accomplish them.
Only 3 out of 10 employees strongly agree that their manager involves them in goal setting, which helps to explain why only 22% strongly agree that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them.
[bctt tweet=”Only 3 out of 10 employees strongly agree that their manager involves them in goal setting.” username=”@reflektive”]
Because managers have a better understanding of the company’s overall mission, they can help relate an employee’s individual goals to that larger vision. That context provides a deeper sense of purpose to each goal, and shows the employee that management is invested in their work.
And rather than simply discussing goals, writing them down on a piece of paper, and then forgetting about them, goal management software keeps those objectives in focus. Employees and managers can check on the status of each goal, track how much progress has been made, and regroup as needed when circumstances change.
It Provides a Sense of Direction
A key part of goal management is setting step-by-step tasks to ensure the objective progresses from concept through completion. For example, if your personal goal is to complete a marathon, you wouldn’t simply show up the day of the race and start running. You would probably set certain milestones to complete as part of a training regimen. As you hit each milestone, your body would be in better shape and better prepared to run the entire marathon.
Unfortunately, too few people take this approach with workplace goals. Only half of employees strongly agree that they know what is expected at work. And a mere 19% strongly agree that they have talked to their manager about steps to reach their goals.
[bctt tweet=”Only half of employees strongly agree that they know what is expected at work.” username=”@reflektive”]
But when a manager does provide guidance to employees, it dramatically boosts engagement. Among employees who strongly agreed with the following statement in a Gallup survey, “My manager helps me set work priorities”, 38% are engaged professionally. While that number may not seem very high, consider that only 4% of respondents who disagreed with the statement are engaged in their work.
By breaking big goals into small tasks, what may seem daunting suddenly seems attainable.
It Raises Accountability
There’s little accountability when an employee simply writes down a list of goals without consulting their manager. But when goals are visible—not only to the employee, but to management and peers—and it’s easy to track progress, people are often much more motivated and disciplined. Stakes are now attached to what otherwise might feel like an unnecessary formality.
[bctt tweet=”There’s little accountability when an employee simply writes down a list of goals.” username=”@reflektive”]
While only 40% of employees surveyed by Gallup strongly agree that their manager holds them accountable for their performance goals, engagement among those employees is 2.5 times higher than it is among employees who aren’t held accountable.
The purpose is to ensure that organizations are experiencing tangible benefits from the goal-setting process, and goal management software can help make those benefits a reality.
Ready to raise the bar at your company? Learn more about how our employee goal tracking software works, today!