Setting team goals is more than choosing a percentage at random and aiming for that increase on a metric. Trust me; I would love it if I could simply say, “We’re going to increase subscribers by 10%,” and then watch it come true. Setting team goals is a bit more involved than a wish and a prayer. Let’s dig into the details regarding team goals.
The Leader’s Role in Setting Team Goals
As much as you might want to, the leader’s role in setting team goals is not to state the plan and expect everyone to fall in line. In fact, I’m fairly certain if a leader approached the team and told them they needed to double sales this year, there would be a collective feeling of disbelief. With that disbelief comes all kinds of obstacles that no one knows how to cross.
Instead, a leader is there to help set team goals by ensuring they are stretching themselves enough but not too much. The leader reminds the team of where they want to go and that the purpose of the goal is to get closer to that destination. They must serve – not make demands.
Setting team goals must be about more than metrics. So many components are involved in team goals – and starting with the positives is always ideal!
The Benefits of Team Goals
There are many benefits to setting team goals, including increased collaboration, clarity, motivation, and engagement. Let’s break down each benefit to understand the power of setting team goals.
Individual goals are great and should be part of each person’s work life. However, those goals are focused on one person. When setting goals for the team, the entire group can get involved. They are involved in the goal-setting process, then craft their individual goals off of the team’s goals.
Collaboration stems from team goals and the individual goals that result from setting team goals. Not only does the team work together to achieve the objectives set, they also craft individual goals in a way that allows them to collaborate even more effectively. If team members were expected to develop their own goals on their own without knowing the team’s aim, it is unlikely that collaboration would be in mind.
However, when the team has set the objectives together, they are more likely to ask coworkers to team up in an effort to achieve the goals set. Collaboration, friends. It’s beautiful.
Clarity is another benefit of setting team goals. While some may believe the company’s vision is clear and easy to work toward, that is not always the case. By determining the target together, the team can ensure that they are headed in the right direction with a clear picture of what that looks like.
Motivation is a fantastic benefit to setting team goals because it gives the team something to strive for. Sometimes the vision is amazing, and people want to work toward it – but it’s so far out it is hard to stay on track. Fortunately, setting team goals allows team members to work toward something a bit closer. It’s motivating to be close to achieving something meaningful.
Engagement is always something organizations should strive for. I once had someone tell me that engagement is ridiculous, as the workplace is not Kindergarten, and employers shouldn’t have to “entertain” their employees. So, if there’s any confusion on the subject, engagement is not about entertainment!
Engagement is about the connection and commitment employees have to the organization. It’s like this: treat people like robots; they will likely feel little connection or loyalty toward the organization. They can go elsewhere and find an employer who values them. That value is engagement. Engagement is a common benefit to setting team goals!
Moving From Setting Team Goals to Action
How often do you set goals and then fail to act on them? I’ve done it! I’m sure many, many people and organizations have done it, too. So, what’s the point of setting team goals if no one is actually going to take action to meet those goals? There isn’t one. We must move from setting goals to taking action, and we have to figure out how to do that effectively.
Part of the problem is the goals themselves. Goals are often too extravagant or hard to break down into smaller pieces. If you set an annual goal and cannot track it or check progress, it will be challenging to keep the team moving.
Another problem preventing real action toward goals is the inability to get individual involvement going. What do I mean by this? Let’s say the team sets a goal to reduce overtime by 25% next quarter. But the organization will not hire additional help, leaving several overworked individuals unable to reduce their OT. The team goal is great – the ability of individuals to contribute is less so.
We also fail to turn goals into action when there are too many goals to tackle. I remember my supervisor-provided goals sheet in a sales job where I had five or so goals in each section, resulting in approximately 20 goals to meet annually. 20 goals! If I struggle to keep my New Year’s Resolution on track, why would anyone expect me to complete 20 goals?
Listen, if you’re the kind of person who can knock out 20 goals, no problem, I’d say kudos to you…but I’d also want to know what kind of goals you’re setting. Are you sure they’re challenging enough? If not, you might be setting yourself up for long-term failure by setting too easy goals.
How Setting Team Goals Impacts Team Performance
I shared the benefits of setting team goals a couple of sections back, but I also wanted to touch on the impact of team performance. Yes, collaboration is a benefit and impacts team performance, but there is even more than goals can do for your team.
One mystifying component of goals is the ability to keep people on board.
A study originally published in 2012 examined public employees and the relationship between their intent to leave their employer and the goals they worked toward in their positions. The research determined that as goal specificity increases, turnover intention decreases. Additionally, the employee’s perception of the goal’s importance showed a similar result – greater goal importance resulted in lower turnover intention.
Imagine what might happen to a team that is experienced in their work and working together. It can become like a well-oiled machine. That’s not to say that new faces every so often are never a good thing – I believe that a change in the lineup occasionally can inspire innovation, creativity, and several other things. However, there is value to a team that has worked together long-term.
The communication between a long-term team is often more open, comfortable, and understood. A team’s performance can benefit from consistent communication and stellar teamwork. Setting team goals can help to do just that.
Examples of Effective Team Goals
To learn how to set goals, it might be helpful to understand what practical team goals look like. What qualifies as a team goal? What makes it effective? Let’s look at these examples, and I’ll break them down in the following section.
- Boost monthly sales by 10% for June 2023.
- Achieve a customer service satisfaction rating of 90% for quarter 3.
- Earn an average email open rate of 28% for May 2023.
- Increase production of product by 500 units daily.
- Reduce errors by 15% in quarter 3.
- Improve customer retention by 5% in July 2023.
You might think these seem like pretty standard team goals. You’re right! A lot of times, the goals themselves are not the problem. The problem is the process and implementation.
How to Set Team Goals
Setting goals was once a simple process that included imagining what you wanted to do or change, possibly writing it down, and maybe trying it out. Okay, let’s be honest: setting team goals is never simple. Because it isn’t just setting goals. It’s so much more than that!
Let’s take a peek at how to set team goals – and actually work toward achieving them.
1. Know the Vision
When you’re setting team goals, you have to start with the vision. If you don’t know the vision, you have no business setting goals of any kind! You might know parts of the vision or be unclear on some details…figure it out now. You don’t want to establish goals only to determine they aren’t going to get the team where they want to go.
Know the vision. That’s first.
Everyone involved should be able to describe the vision backward and forwards. If the team doesn’t know the vision better than their firstborn’s innocent face, go over it again. And again. And again, if necessary. The point is – know the vision.
2. Develop a Plan
The team knows the vision. Now it’s time to craft your strategy.
Let’s use this example: An organization struggles with too many errors.
Where are the errors coming from? Let’s say 25% of errors result from miscommunication between departments. While we can’t expect people to always be perfect, we can expect improvement. So, the team would collaborate to develop a strategy to improve communication.
With ideas and input from the whole team, a firm plan can be crafted on which to base the goal for improvement. Setting team goals requires team input – don’t develop a plan as a one-person show because you aren’t the only one implementing the plan.
3. Skip SMART, Be CLEAR
Many will tell you to be SMART. I’m not a fan of SMART goals, as they limit the capacity to think outside the box. Conversely, CLEAR is similar to SMART, with the added benefit of refining the goals after they’ve been set. Check out the CLEAR process:
Collaborative. It must involve everyone on the team.
Limited. Consider the limited time, money, and scope for the goal.
Emotional. Bring passion!
Appreciable. Cut it down into actionable steps.
Renewable. Make changes as needed or when the unexpected happens.
While the ability to change your goal can become a slippery slope, CLEAR goals are not for goal-switching. If you want to “refine” it weekly for the next several months, it isn’t a CLEAR goal. Instead, allow the team to consider small changes and adjustments to account for the unforeseen.
4. Explore How Team Goals Branch into Individual Goals
A worthy goal for the whole team to work toward is fantastic! But if they can’t break it down into individual goals, it might seem a little too daunting or like someone else will get it done.
In the example about improving the number of communication errors, individual goals can be pulled from the team goal. As a reminder, the team goal stated: Reduce errors by 15% in quarter 3.
An individual could think, of the 100 errors made last quarter, I was involved in 7 communications mistakes. Next quarter, I will proofread my emails and take an online communications course to improve, and I’ll aim for no more than two mistakes.
Another individual in the manufacturing department might think, I made 12 errors last quarter. I will print the manufacturing steps and post them on my workstation to reduce my errors to 6 for the quarter.
If every team member were to approach the team’s goals in this manner, each would have a component of accountability toward the total number. The leader could help to develop the appropriate individual aim to decrease the total errors by 15%.
The team should examine how individuals in each department or area might craft their own goals to meet the needs of the team goal.
5. Craft a Timeline and Track the Pace
Every goal should have a timeline. Someone should be able to track every goal. If you aren’t checking off your progress or monitoring your deadlines, you might lose sight of the goal.
Sticking with the error reduction example, the goal has a timeline: quarter 3. It can also be tracked by examining how many errors the team made at the same point in time from quarter two. If the team made 30 errors in the first month of quarter two and only 22 errors in the first month of quarter 3, you can see how the team is performing ahead of the curve.
The same is true with any goal – ensure you can track the progress.
6. Work Together
I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat it: setting team goals requires the team’s efforts. You cannot set a team goal and inform the group what they must do to achieve the goal. They must be involved!
Getting the team to work together to set goals helps them feel connected to the progress.
Think of your personal goals and how it might impact you if someone set them for you:
“Hey! I noticed you’ve put on a couple of pounds over the winter. I’ve set a goal for you to lose 15 pounds in 6 weeks!”
“My lovely spouse, you’ve been spending much of your downtime watching the television. You’re going to read an hour every day until winter returns.”
“Daughter, I want you to be a famous novelist. I’ve set a goal for you to write 1000 words daily until you get that publishing contract!”
No, thank you! You can’t choose someone’s goals for them in the same way you can’t choose their passion. Let their passion assist in setting the team goals, and they’re more likely to succeed.
7. Review it When It’s Over
After the deadline, achievement, or somehow other end to the team goal, it’s time to review.
What worked? What didn’t? Was there a component that was more difficult than others? Was there a team member who had to carry a heavier workload than others? Examining the ins and outs of the team goal can help you and the team to improve in setting team goals next time.
Always improve! And to do that, you must review.
Are You Setting Team Goals?
Team goals are vital to the success and motivation of the team. Of course, motivation isn’t the only benefit, as I pointed out earlier. It is essential to consider what goals your team might thrive on – so bring them in and start setting team goals now!
The change in your team may be palpable when they discover that they can take action for themselves and the team’s movement toward the vision.