Papers-Thought Leadership Improving Outcomes Through Goal-Setting | Página 2

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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
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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 management system has been
proven to lead to higher employee engagement, reduced
turnover, improved patient satisfaction, better quality, and
positive financial outcomesa as well. Research indicates
that organizations that implement ongoing performance
feedback or discussion throughout the year have 15%
lower turnover than those that don’t, while 43% of highly
engaged employees receive regular feedback. This data
indicates employee willingness to stay connected to the
organization’s broader mission to achieve its goals.
Like any good map or guidance system, vertical and
horizontal goal alignment for healthcare are as important
as longitude and latitude. Together, they ensure each
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