Goals and performance management aren’t unrelated — in fact, they’re deeply interconnected. Goals are essential guideposts for aligning teams to a shared vision Some system for setting goals, outcomes, priorities — whatever and an important tool in helping employees understand how their you prefer to call them — is necessary for the objective evaluation e昀昀orts contribute to the success of the business. of performance. When promotion, compensation, and growth opportunities are informed by measures of progress against Yet, many companies keep goal-setting and tracking distinct from irrelevant goals that don’t accurately re昀氀ect an employee’s what they call “performance management,” if goals are regularly achievements, employees feel disengaged and unvalued. tracked at all. In fact, 21% of survey respondents said that their goals are set annually and never looked at again — and if the last few years Furthermore, the business loses a critical opportunity to identify have taught us anything, it’s that the needs and demands of growth and upskilling opportunities to enable better outcomes, a business can change overnight. as well as to truly understand and reward the e昀昀orts of its best performers. Goals provide important context for productive performance conversations. Without meaningful measures of an individual’s progress against intended outcomes, the evaluation of performance is subjective, inconsistent, and biased. How Goal-Setting Drives Employee Engagement and Retention