Performance reviews – be they annual, quarterly or monthly – need to be based on actionable goals for the whole process to provide value to the company and the employee.
Without these goals, it becomes difficult to track progress and inspire the team to give their best effort. This rule applies whether the person is a junior developer right out of college, or a senior project manager.
With a constantly improving team in mind, here are a few ideas on goal setting as part of an overall process for employee development – including reviews. Leverage these insights to ensure your team continues to reach higher levels.
Productivity Goals Work for a Specific Project or Longer
Productivity-based goals offer managers a relatively easy way to incent your team into giving more effort. You also gain a measure of flexibility when going this route. The goals can be for an entire period up until a performance review, or for a certain project requiring extra effort to bring it to a successful conclusion.
Having a system that successfully tracks and reports on productivity is a must when devising goals based on this metric. Work with the other project managers and executive staff at your company to brainstorm ideas on what data to use for each job role. If your reporting tool also tracks efficiency, use this data to develop goals based on this area.
Goals for Employee Personal Development
Soft skills – like leadership and communication – are growing in importance in an IT industry dominated by Agile, DevOps and other collaborative organizational structures. This kind of personal development is vital for growing an office culture able to compete in today’s business world. Include a few goals in this area for each employee; judging these potential achievements makes more sense in an annual review.
Additionally, there aren’t many suitable metrics available to track progress towards many personal development goals. Managers need to keep this in mind before the review process begins. Make it a point to take notes on each employee throughout the year and also sample the opinions of their direct project managers and senior-level co-workers.
These ideas work for goal setting for employees on your team, as well as your own personal goals. Speak with the executive team at your organization if a similar process isn’t already in place.
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