The Importance of Employee Goal Setting

Small Wins Yield Big Outcomes

• In addition to being a useful way to measure progress and improve motivation, goal setting can directly affect performance,

• Employees who regularly set modest short term goals, outperform their colleagues who do not. They also feel better about work.

• Reviewing goals in a group setting helps teams clarify objectives and ideally barriers to achieve them.

• Critically, the data shows a casual relationship, not just a correlation, between setting goals and achieving results. When people set goals, their personal performance improves. There is also a link to morale; when people achieve at least half their goals, they report feeling better about work.

Buggenhout, N.V. & Ellis, J. The big power of small goals strategy, and business. 14 May

2024.

Celebrating small wins improves morale at an individual level (when employees log their successes) and at a team level when the group level (when the group recognizes achievement). Creating a culture of trust encourages employees to share goals and achievements without fear of personal judgement. In such an environment, people are more willing to be vulnerable and admit mistakes.

Shore, David. Harvard University, Strategies for Leading Change Initiatives: Mastery

Session. July 29-31, 2024.