Papers-Thought Leadership Improving Outcomes Through Goal-Setting | Page 4

GOAL SETTING: THE RIGHT WAY
Goal setting is one of the most important activities for
an organization. A culture that ensures all employees
understand their roles, expectations, and why they are
critical to organization success often find themselves
well prepared to handle the many challenges we find
in healthcare today. Unfortunately, many organizations
do not spend time ensuring goals are aligned well with
expectations of employees, and then wonder why they
aren’t achieving their organizational objectives. The steps to Best Practice Goal Setting vary, but typically
include the following:
We know that every discipline in our health systems is
mission critical in providing patient-centered excellence.
Ensuring that every team member who wears our
employment badge is competent (and ultimately
confident) is a supreme responsibility we face as healthcare
leaders. Once those competencies are clearly outlined,
then an ongoing Performance Management system is key
to ensuring employees understand the importance of
their work, and the quality of their performance. • Specific. A goal is specific when it provides a
clear description of what is to be accomplished
and is easily understood.
Best Practice Goal Setting provides: • Achievable. Goals should be achievable. This does
not mean that goals should be easy, but should
be challenging and able to be accomplished.
• Organizational direction and discipline to ensure
that everyone is focused on the same objective.
• Effective utilization of workforce and organizational
metrics to ensure appropriate resources, and to
reduce the likelihood of delays.
• An opportunity for the organization to achieve an
advantage over the competition.
• Clarity to the workforce regarding what is expected
of them.
• Create goal statements. This statement describes
what the organization is trying to accomplish.
• Setting Goals. Many organizations utilize SMART
objectives when goal setting. The utilization of this
approach has been proven to align organizational
strategic initiatives with goals that can be obtained.
• Measurable. A goal is measurable if it is
quantifiable. Typically you start with baseline
data, and then set a target towards which you
can progress to, as well as utilization of external
benchmark data. Consistent metric ranges
should be used.
• Relevant. Relevant goals should be appropriate
to and consistent with the mission and vision of
the organization. Short term goals should also
be relevant to the longer, broader goals of the
organization.
• Timely. Finally, a goal must be timely and include
a starting and ending point. Often goals have
intermediate steps, which can be assessed as the
individual progresses.
A culture that ensures all employees understand their roles, expectations,
and why they are critical to organization success often find themselves well
prepared to handle the many challenges we find in healthcare today.
4
HealthStream.com/contact • 800.521.0574 •