Setting Team Goals

Chapter 1 click here: Why Accountability Matters

Chapter 2 click here: Setting an Example of Accountability

Chapter 3 click here: Creating a Culture of Accountability

Chapter 4: Setting Team Goals

Clear and meaningful goals are essential for effective accountability and have been shown to improve both the quality and quantity of output. (46) But beyond SMART goals, how can you set performance objectives for your team which you can hold them, and they can hold themselves, accountable to? Goals that are collaborative, aligned, clear, motivational, and individualised create a foundation that will facilitate accountability in your team.

Set collaborative goals

Your team’s goals should be set by your team, not imposed from above. One survey showed that only 30% of employees strongly agree that their manager involves them in goal setting, but that this small group are 3.6 times more likely to be engaged in their work. (47) Goals that are established and implemented with employee participation and input encourage group effort towards the achievement of these goals, driving greater efficiency and quality. (48)

Collaborating with your team to set their goals enables you to craft a common purpose which will motivate them and help them to see the meaning behind their work. (49) When individuals play a role in setting their goals, they are more likely to believe that those goals are achievable and worthwhile, which leads to better performance. (50) This participation also creates a sense of ownership, which will help get your employees on board with being held accountable and holding each other accountable to achieve the team’s goals. (51) Your team is the best source of information on their strengths, weakness, and desires, so it makes sense to involve them if you want to set goals that are relevant and motivating—the kind that make great accountability possible. Working with your team at this first stage of the accountability process also sets you up for the collaboration which is necessary every step of the way.

Set aligned goals

What your team wants isn’t the only thing to consider when setting goals. Team objectives need to be aligned with the larger goals of the organisation or they won’t be worth meeting. As the leader, it is your job to articulate to your team the purpose and priorities set by the top level of your organisation, to show how these are relevant to your team, and to see to it that your team’s work supports these high-level goals. (52) This will motivate your team, as employees who are able to link their goals to those of their organisation are 3.5 times more likely to engage. (53) However, the one study showed that 93% of employees were unable to align their work with organisational goals. This created a huge lack of accountability, with 84% stating that the most significant factor in the organisation’s performance was the behaviour of their leaders. (54)

Your team’s goals also need to be aligned with the capabilities and goals of its individual members, or they won’t be achievable or motivating. Balancing the needs of your organisation, your whole team, and each individual—while also making sure that your goals are aligned with and support each other—is challenging, to say the least. (55) That is why it is so important to get your team on board and benefit from their input.

Set clear goals

If you are going to hold your team accountable for their goals, they need to be clearly understood. Writing goals down and frequently communicating them to your team are helpful ways to ensure that the purpose behind their work remains clear. However, it is essential that you communicate not only the goals themselves but what is necessary to achieve them. Studies show that only 50% of employees clearly know what is expected of them—there are several steps you can take to make sure that yours are among this number. (56)

Assign responsibilities

Outline the action steps necessary to achieve each goal. Then, set deadlines and milestones and assign the tasks to individuals, making sure they have the skills and resources required. These tasks will be the responsibilities which you will hold each employee accountable to, so you will need to regularly revisit them, check their progress, and provide whatever support is necessary. When clarity for individual responsibilities is well established and maintained, you protect your team against tasks being done incorrectly or left undone, and the blame-shifting which results in unaccountable teams. (57)

Establish processes for progress

Dashboards, status reporting, team meetings, and one-on-one check-ins are all great options for tracking and communicating progress, and they will be discussed in the following chapters. When planning progress meetings, whether in teams or with individuals, consider their needs—some people will want to touch base several times a week due to their personality or the nature of the work, whereas others will be more independent. (58) Make meetings as frequent, and only as frequent, as they need to be for you to be aware of how work is progressing. If meetings are too frequent, they become inefficient and your team will likely feel micromanaged.

Communicate a hierarchy of action

Some goals and tasks need to be the highest priority and can’t be compromised on. When conflicts arise, your employees need to be able to identify the most essential tasks to use their time effectively. This will also help them to make good decisions about what they can and can’t commit to being accountable for. (59)

Set consequences

Establish positive and negative consequences for meeting or not meeting goals (see chapter seven). The promise of reward can be a great motivation, but your employees also need to be aware of the consequences, both natural and imposed, if they fail to follow through on their responsibilities. (60 Being clear on consequences will remind your team of the significance of their actions and ease the process of enforcing them by reducing the feeling that they are out-of-the-blue or unfair. Just make sure that you can and do deliver on the rewards and consequences you set. (61)

Set motivational goals

For both group and individual goals to be effective, your team needs to be motivated to achieve them. To some degree, you can motivate them by external rewards and consequences.

Group rewards for successes such as completing a project under budget or reaching a milestone early can encourage hard work and improve performance. By basing at least some of an individual’s rewards on group performance, group incentive programs can foster positive traits in your team, such as cooperation and knowledge sharing. (62)

For individuals, extrinsic rewards—those which are independent of the work itself and administered externally—might have a positive influence on performance, attendance, commitment, and job satisfaction. (63) However, they can also have a detrimental effect on intrinsic motivation, which is a far more effective long-term motivator. (64) Intrinsic rewards—those which are directly related to performing the job—include autonomy, learning, personal growth, and a sense of accomplishment. (65) These are a source of internal motivation, whereas extrinsic rewards can at times create a sense of being controlled and make the rewarded work appear less desirable. (66) Extrinsic rewards are beneficial in some circumstances (see chapter seven) but the best way to motivate your employees to reach their goals is to connect them with the intrinsic rewards they most value.

Involving your team in the process of setting their goals will increase intrinsic motivation by creating buy-in. This is especially true if you focus on the meaning of the goals and discuss their purpose in contributing to larger team and organisational objectives. (67) When employees can see how their work contributes to the success of their team, they are more engaged in it. You can also help to increase motivation by breaking down goals into milestones—short-term goals that must be achieved in the pursuit of a larger, long-term goal. These are effective because they combine the anticipation of achieving a long-term aspirational goal with the satisfaction of completing meaningful tasks that contribute to that end goal. Develop milestones by working backwards from your end goal and considering what the essential steps are along the way. Then, assign deadlines to the milestones approximately two weeks apart to maintain momentum and motivation. (68)

Negative consequences for under-performing can also push employees in the right direction. However, these should, in most cases remain small, for example direct conversations, formal performance management, closely monitoring performance, and reductions in responsibility. They shouldn’t be the main motivator as, without positive factors that pull employees towards excellent performance, they can encourage people to settle at the minimum level of quality which will avoid consequences. Too many negative consequences can also stifle innovation by reducing autonomy and creating a fear of failure. (69)

Another way to create motivating goals is to establish milestones—mini-goals which lead up to and are significant to the success of the main goal. Having regular milestones to strive for and celebrate provides a sense of satisfaction and sustains motivation for long-term goals. Work backwards from your main goals to determine important milestones and, ideally, space them two weeks apart to maintain momentum. (70)

Set individualised goals

Once you have set your team’s goals, sit down with each employee and work with them to create their individual work goals. Consider the responsibilities they have in achieving the team’s goals as well as their skills, limitations, and aspirations. This will help you to establish a clear plan with relevant actions steps, challenging but achievable targets, and motivating goals, which will be the basis of your ongoing accountability. (71) This accountability will only be possible when each individual team member understands what success will look like in their responsibilities, what steps they need to take to succeed, and what obstacles might arise.

Using a job scorecard might be a helpful aid in this process. Collaborate with your employees to create their job scorecard and share them with the whole team to give clarity to each individual’s role. This tool is similar to a job description in that it covers the purpose of the job, its desired results, the necessary skills, traits and competencies, its key responsibilities, and the expected standards of behaviour. (72) However, unlike a job description, the job scorecard is designed to be used as an ongoing performance tool. Employees can rate themselves or be rated by others according to the core criteria of their role, which highlights areas where corrective action or training are necessary. A job scorecard is also a fluid document which can be altered in response to changing objectives, priorities, and strategies. (73) You can regularly revisit job scorecards with your employees to ensure that their individual goals and responsibilities remain clear and relevant to those of the team.

This kind of collaborative goal setting provides meaning by bringing attention to how the work of each individual contributes to achieving the goals of the team and the organisation—and research shows that this is an important predictor for performance. (74) Joint goal setting also encourages mutual accountability and teamwork, because it is clear how each individual’s performance impacts that of the team.

How can you create more effective team goals?

Effective goals are an essential first step in working with your team toward greater accountability. Ask yourself these questions before setting your next team goals, and consider how you can best work with your team to create goals that are effective and motivating:

• How can you best collaborate with your team, get their feedback on past goals, and seek their input regarding your team’s future goals?
• Are your team’s goals in line with the strategic vision and goals of your larger organisation?
• How clearly are you communicating your team’s goals, the action steps needed to achieve them, and how progress will be measured?
• Do the goals and the rewards attached to them provide intrinsic motivation for your team?
• Has each employee set individual performance goals which reflect the larger goals and strategies of the team?

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The above comes from my eBook 'Accountability for Team Leaders'. You can receive a copy of the eBook by sending me a LinkedIn message requesting the eBook.

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References

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47 B Wigert & J Harter, ‘Re-Engineering Performance Management,’ Gallup Inc, 2017, p. 17.

48 Longenecker & Scazzero, ‘Quality Improvement,’ p. 46.

49 C McCullough, ‘The Five C’s of Leadership and Team Accountability,’ 2020, https://www.rhythmsystems.com/blog/the-five-cs-of-team-accountability.

50 Eagle’s Flight, The Guide to Accountability: Delivering What You Promise and Getting Your Team to Do the Same,’ Creative Training Excellence Inc, p. 8; Wigert & Harter, ‘Re-Engineering Performance Management,’ p. 19.

51 T Dewett, Performance Management: Setting Goals and Managing Performance, LinkedIn Learning, 2019, https://www.dhirubhai.net/learning/performance-management-setting-goals-and-managing-performance/next-steps?u=2126025.

52 T Amabile & S Kramer, ‘Checking In with Employees (Versus Checking Up),’ 2012, https://hbr.org/2012/05/checking-in-versus-checking-up.

53 Wigert & Harter, ‘Re-Engineering Performance Management,’ p. 19.

54 P Cantero-Gomez, ‘The 5 Rules Followed by Accountable Leaders, 2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/palomacanterogomez/2019/06/07/the-5-rules-followed-by-accountable-leaders/#1e04e550490f.

55 Dewett, Performance Management.

56 Wigert & Harter, ‘Re-Engineering Performance Management,’ p. 16.

57 Eagle’s Flight, ‘The Guide to Accountability,’ p. 7.

58 Dewett, Performance Management.

59 Eagle’s Flight, ‘The Guide to Accountability,’ p. 11.

60 Eagle’s Flight, ‘The Guide to Accountability,’ p. 10.

61 Dewett, Performance Management.

62 S I Hamukwaya & R Yazdanifard, ‘How a Proper Performance Related Reward System Can Contribute to Work Performance Excellence,’ Open Journal of Business Management, vol. 2, 2014, p. 191; OpenStax, ‘Individual and Group Incentive Plans,’ in Organisational Behaviour, OpenStax, 2019, https://opentextbc.ca/organizationalbehavioropenstax/chapter/individual-and-group-incentive-plans/.

63 S Black, D G Gardner, J L Pierce, R Steers, ‘Reward Systems,’ in Organisational Behaviour, OpenStax, 2019, https://opentextbc.ca/organizationalbehavioropenstax/chapter/reward-systems-in-organizations/.

64 A Kohn, ‘Why Incentive Plans Cannot Work,’ Harvard Business Review, 2013, https://hbr.org/1993/09/why-incentive-plans-cannot-work.

65 S Black, D G Gardner, J L Pierce, R Steers, ‘Reward Systems.’

66 Kohn, ‘Why Incentive Plans Cannot Work.’

67 K Boogaard, ‘How to Set Goals That Are Motivating (Instead of Frustrating), 2016, https://www.inc.com/kat-boogaard/4-tips-to-set-goals-that-are-motivating-instead-of-frustrating.html.

68 A Athuraliya, ‘The Easy Guide to Developing an Effective Action Plan,’ 2020, https://creately.com/blog/diagrams/how-to-write-an-action-plan/.

69 B Brearley, ‘Why Leaders Must Drive Consequences in the Workplace,’ https://www.thoughtfulleader.com/consequences-in-the-workplace/.

70 Athuraliya, ‘The Easy Guide to Developing an Effective Action Plan.’

71 Wigert & Harter, ‘Re-Engineering Performance Management,’ p. 18.

72 T Chepul, ‘Job Scorecard vs. Job Description,’ 2020, https://www.rhythmsystems.com/blog/job-scorecard-vs.-job-description-whats-the-difference#:~:text=A%20Job%20Scorecard%20(employee%20scorecard,direct%20reports%20to%20rate%20performance.

73 D Sewell, ‘Job Balance Scorecard,’ 2017, https://scalingup.nz/library/job-balance-scorecard/.

74 Amabile & Kramer, ‘Checking In with Employees’; Wigert & Harter, ‘Re-Engineering Performance Management,’ p. 18.