Performance Goals provide employees with direction and motivation towards action, as well as serve guideposts for evaluating performance.  Goal setting provides a  necessary foundation for employee performance management.  Goal setting theory is generally accepted as among the most valid and useful motivation theories in industrial organizational psychology, human resource management, and organizational behavior.

A variety of goal setting methods exist that serve to provide structure to the goal setting process, including SMART goals and OKRs.  Most methods include four important principles:

• Clarity – Clear goals are understandable and measurable.
• Challenge – The level of challenge is key to making goals motivating.
• Commitment – Employees are more likely to “buy into” or commit to a goal if they feel they were part of creating that goal.
• Feedback – Feedback is essential to tracking one’s success toward completing a goal.

All leaders can apply the principles of goal setting theory to coach and develop employees, as well as increase individual, team, and organizational performance.

Employee Performance Management software can help organizations to manage the goal setting process – aligning all activity toward the achievement of organizational goals. Every organization sets goals and manages performance differently – there is no one best way. viaPeople is the ONLY vendor that allows you to DESIGN a process that works and implement software to support that process.