Here’s How Managers Can Help Employees Set Meaningful Goals

Use experiences from 2021 to help employees consider what they could have done differently at work, and then develop goals to address those issues.

Ask each employee, "If you were able to make changes, what would you have done differently?

Helping employees set goals that will get them to collaborate with colleagues in other departments. This will give them the opportunity to learn something new, increase their visibility and help them form new relationships that have the potential to advance their careers.

The process of goal setting had gotten a negative slant because of the focus on documenting goals.

Goal setting can also be termed as "expectation setting" to put more emphasis on the conversation and less focus on the process.

Under this new concept, managers talk to employees about what is expected from them based on their role, job level and projects from three angles—what the firm expects, what the team expects and, finally, how the employee hopes to grow in the coming year.

Give employees time to reach their goals. Perhaps employees take a half-day every Thursday to work on their goals, whether that means taking online training, meeting with a mentor or thinking through a stretch project.

Work with employees to break their goals into bite-sized achievements that can be celebrated. Building in milestones is a win-win. If you don't achieve the entire goal, at least you hit a milestone and we're still miles ahead than we were before.

Ask employees to think about how attaining that goal would improve their lives.

For instance, perhaps they would become more confident, learn a new skill or earn a bonus. Help your employees to see the goal as not just an end, but as the beginning of something else that could be new and improved in their lives.