Goals can come in many shapes and forms. There are goals the company has set, goals for departments or teams, goals for individual employees, and goals at the campaign or initiative level. How can companies make sure that their employees set smart and strategic goals? Building team and individual goals in groups can aid in context and alignment for all involved. A goal-setting meeting can secure buy-in from your team.
There are a few key points to keep in mind, and this starts with a meeting that adequately addresses goal setting.
How Do You Set Team Goals and Objectives?
First, when it comes to a company goal-setting meeting template or a goal-setting workshop, everyone should come prepared with full knowledge of the context from which their goals should derive. Share important updates regarding metrics, planned campaigns, and upcoming changes to the team or company. Remember that while individual goals and team goals should align to some extent, there will be a few differences to note.
Team goals need to align with the aim of the company or organization. While these are going to mirror individual goals in many ways, team goals will be much larger and broader in scope. Some constraints need to be taken into account when setting team goals. These include the amount of time, the company budget, and the resources that the organization has available.
On the other hand, individual goals are going to be more focused. Smart goals for individuals focus on hitting specific deadlines or striking production values in a set amount of time. While meeting goals is important for ensuring the company does well, individual goals are going to be a small part of the company’s goals as a whole. This needs to be taken into account when thinking about how to run a goal-setting meeting.
How Do You Conduct a Goal-Setting Meeting?
When it comes to running a goal-setting meeting, there are many points to keep in mind. It is the responsibility of leaders to think about how they can productively run team goal setting activities. First, review the organization’s goals as well as the team’s current position. This will be a vital part of the goal-setting meeting agenda. As this process unfolds, the team needs to look at what they have accomplished recently and how successful they were in achieving the goal set at the last meeting. The team should have enough context to take a look at the trajectory and see where they are headed.
When it comes to a goal-setting meeting agenda with the manager, address how the manager feels like he or she has done motivating her employees. When it comes to a goal-setting meeting with employees, ask the employees if they feel like they have been supported. Then, in both of these settings, it is important to set goals that will ask both managers and employees to push themselves just a little bit harder. Sometimes, it can be helpful to use objective, quantifiable metrics such as leads or sales to generate a goal-setting workshop outline or goal-setting worksheet PDF. These metrics might even be the goals themselves. These components are going to play critical roles in every goal-setting meeting.
Facilitating a Goal-Setting Workshop
For those asking, “how do you facilitate a goal-setting meeting?” there are a few key points to keep in mind. There are many smart goal group activity options, such as a goal-setting card game that can be used to facilitate this process. A goal setting workshop is a great place to start. Some of the key points that should be asked during this workshop include:
- How do these goals align with the team’s or department’s or organization’s objectives or key results?
- Are these goals S.M.A.R.T.?
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Time-bound
While the answers to these questions are going to play a role during the meeting, the advantage of using a goal-setting meeting workshop is that there will be constant feedback from others who are there. This will allow everyone to ask probing questions regarding their goals, how they can be achieved, and how their prior goal meetings have gone. Then, immediate feedback can be provided on the goals that go against the rubric that was generated during the goal-setting meeting workshop.
Managers and team leaders are going to play a key role during these workshops, so they need to show up prepared to contribute. They are going to listen to the concerns and ideas of employees and members who are present. Then, they will be responsible for interpreting this information and throwing out ideas to the group that might end up acting as the next benchmark or goalpost for the meeting. Therefore, it is good to think about their goal-setting meetings and workshops ahead of time so they can get the most out of this time.
