Archived Publications Ebook: Using Goal Setting and Performance Manageme | Page 6
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GOAL SETTING: THE MISSING LINK TO ACHIEVING
DESIRED PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES
The topic of organizational goal setting is not new, however,
that does not mean most organizations do it effectively. The
ideal behind goal setting is to identify what you want the
organization to accomplish and to identify specific behaviors
and tactics needed to achieve those goals. This ideal also
trickles down to departments, teams, and individuals.
Why do organizational goals
rarely translate into individual
performance effectiveness?
Why do many employees find
themselves unable to articulate what
is important to their organization
and how they can individually
influence organizational success?
LAY THE FOUNDATION:
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ALIGNMENT
The Society for Human Resources Management states
that “A well-developed, legally compliant performance
management system is an essential talent management
tool for high-performing organizations.” Performance
management drives employee behavior to align with
organizational goals and objectives. This alignment is
critical as job responsibilities become clearer and are
specifically tied to the outcome you are seeking to achieve.
This alignment is referred to as vertical alignment, and
it ensures goals are everyone’s personal plan for getting
the organization to their desired destination. Many
organizations fail in this type of vertical alignment leaving
employees confused as to what is expected of them,
resulting in a lack of engagement in organization goals and
lack of positive outcomes. At the individual or group level,
this makes sense: If you tell someone to proceed toward
a destination but provide no map or guideposts to help
them get there, they will probably get lost. Getting lost
disengages the person or group from that journey, and
their likelihood of reaching the destination is substantially
decreased. Goals should provide that clear pathway or
map across the organization to engage employees and help
them reach the intended destination.
As employees develop their own roadmap, there is
potential for employees to cross each other’s paths and
conflict to evolve. It is also important that goals are aligned
horizontally to ensure consistency, build momentum,
and to reduce conflict between departments. Without
alignment, each department could be focused on their
specific goals to improve organizational performance,
but could inadvertently be working against the efforts of
another department. For example, if the ICU has a goal
focused on ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), and the
respiratory department does also, they can work together
for a common cause and ensure that their decisions have
positive implications for both departments.
A clear performance ma