Writing Performance Goals that work

1. Start with who your “customers” are

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• Identifying customers is the essence of the goal setting process.
• Your key customers are the people who are vital for the purposes of your job.
• We can define customers as the people or groups/teams to whom you provide products, services, information or processes.
• They can be internal or external to the company

The following examples may help you:

Office Administrator:

Sales Representative:

Remember:

Many people with whom the employee interacts are potential customers and may receive occasional outputs (Products, Services or Information). They are important but focus on the key people who receive outputs that are vital for their success or are the main recipients of the outputs that the employee provides.

 

2. Define What the Outputs Are

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Identifying the customer helps to ensure that the correct Objectives and Outputs with appropriate weight is allocated to the employee.

• Outputs help us to focus on what the customer wants from us.
• Generally, customers want an end product from us. They are less concerned about what we have to do (activities) to provide it to them.  What they do care about is that you deliver the output and also meet their definition of quality.  Your stakeholder will be concerned not only with what you provide but also how you do it.
• Knowing your outputs helps you to plan your year and also to manage your diary on a monthly, weekly and daily basis.

Typically, outputs can be derived from the cycle of the job which in simple terms could be described as the following basic process model.

There may be preparation and execution but what is the end result?

Objective should be primarily focused on outputs. An example is that a person who is responsible for chasing money owed to the company would have the output “Outstanding Accounts Paid”

A sales rep may have “Sales Target Achieved”

A Project Manager may have the output “Project Executed”

Notice that we have not said anything yet about how well this should be done. That will come shortly when we look at measures

 

There are normally 5 to 8 outputs but there could be more or less.

The Output can be also expressed as a performance objective e.g.:

• Ensure outstanding accounts are paid
• Achieve Sales targets
• Execute Project

• Every output must have a customer.
• Only list the outputs that the employee is accountable for.
• Outputs should be about 2 or 3 words long.
• Distinguish between key outputs (about 5) and routine outputs. Routine outputs are important but usually have a common recurrence.
• Some outputs seem similar, e.g. reports. Try to distinguish between them by doing the following:
  • Only list the outputs relevant for the financial year or shorter term.
  • List outputs that need special attention as performance goals.
  • Your outputs must relate to key business goals and customer needs.
  • Outputs are within your power or influence to produce, provide, or deliver.
  • Your outputs relate to special projects, as well as to your primary job(s).

 

3. Describe the Measures (KPI’s) in detail

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• KPI’s/Measures describe the output that you will provide.
• They are provided by your customer and describe quality from their point of view. Some customers do need your help to clarify what they need. To guide you, KPI’s/Measures should answer some of the following questions:
  • How many? (Specific quantity produced)
  • How often? (Twice per month; weekly)
  • Having what features? (Must be upgradeable to meet ISO 9002 standards)
  • Meeting what standards or guidelines? (Must meet corporate identity guidelines)
  • By when? (Last working Friday of each month)
  • At what cost? (Not exceed R10 000)
  • With what impact? (Reduce wastage by 10%)
  • Developed with whom? (Developed with Financial Accountant)
  • Approved by whom? (Sales plan approved by Manager before implementation)
  • How implemented? (Only after discussion and agreement of team members)
  • Related to what strategies, plans, other events? (must comply with company policy guidelines)
• KPI’s/Measures can be subjective, i.e. the customer is the one who judges whether it is acceptable, e.g. customer service standards.
• KPI’s/Measures are better though if they have numerous objective elements e.g. numbers, dates, quantities and so on. This helps you to focus on continuous tracking of how you are doing.  This also helps to keep your KPI’s/Measures specific rather than vague, which could lead to misunderstanding.
• Thus, the KPI’s/Measures of “saving at least R10 000 per month on water usage compared to last year’s budget” is better than “saving as much money as possible on water usage.”

 

This is where the detail that supports the output/objectives is described. So, if the output/object was “Achieve Sales Volume, then the KPI’s/Measures will say how much and by when etc.