PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND GOAL SETTING

Chiaka Nweze SARC Human Resources Coordinator

Performance Evaluation is a process of assessing an employee or organization’s performance, along side its pre-set goals and objectives. The essence of this evaluation varies and can go from identifying areas of strength or weakness, to measuring success or level of effort, training needs, as well as a reward system.

Goal setting at an organizational level is something that cannot be over emphasised because it ensures the organization articulates and stays focused on its priorities. It also ensures that all stakeholders are putting their energy in the same direction. However, just developing goals without a managed process of breaking them down, deploying it piece by piece to all employees, and monitoring may be an exercise in futility. In this article we will explore two goal setting frameworks that can be used for performance evaluation, OKRs and goal planning.

Objectives and Key Results

Objectives and Key Results (OKR) is a goal-setting framework used in positioning and tracking ambitious goals. Its development is attributed to Andrew Grove who introduced the approach to Intel in the 1970s. John Doerr published an OKR book in 2017 which is called Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs. OKRs comprise an objective (a significant, concrete, clearly defined goal) and set of three to five key results (measurable success criteria used to track the achievement of the goal). Studies over time show that team members are more engaged and productive in their work when they have a clear picture of what they are trying to achieve and its significance to the overall existence of the organization. OKRs create a shift in mindset from focusing on the amount of time spent in the workplace or on a task to focusing on the impact each action adds to the bottom line. The concept of OKR stipulates that organizations meeting their end goal and thriving is hinged on two concepts –Objectives and Key Results.

Objectives arequalitative, short, and aspirational expressions of what is expected to be achieved. Objectives are expected to motivate the entire team to achieve by keeping their eyes on what needs to be achieved and how it fits into the big picture.

Key Results are criteria for measuring the progress of the objectives. For each set of objectives, there should be three to five identified key results that can be used to measure its success, failure, or progress. This is because OKRs are typically ambitious; more so, a 70 percent achievement is often regarded as good enough.

OKR Planning

It is the responsibility of upper management to ensure that the organization has clear OKRs. These organization-wide OKRs then get broken down to different units/teams and individuals that make up the team. While OKRs originate from upper management, they should never be a ‘management only’ decision. To foster participation, it should be an inclusive project. OKRs are designed to be ambitious and foster out of-the-box thinking and is typically not tied to financial rewards. This is what a typical OKR looks like in everyday terms:

We will _________ as measured by ____________ .

Objec ves Thesekeyresults

Goal Planning

Goal planning is another goal-setting framework that highlights the process of setting specific objectives or expectations that an employee or organization anticipates meeting within a certain period. It involves identifying the actions, steps, and resources required. Goal planning typically involves the following steps:

1. Defining the goal: This involves identifying a desired outcome. These goals need to be SMART as goals that are not SMART are difficult to relate with or track. SMART stands for Specific (welldefined and articulated without ambiguity), Measurable (have specific metrics or parameters that can be used to track and determine progress within specific periods), Attainable (not impossible to achieve), Relevant (relevant to scope of work or responsibility of the employee/team), and Timely (clearly defined timeline of achievement). Goals can be developed from the employee’s Job Description.

Summary:

2. Identify steps: Goals should be broken down into smaller pieces and the resources needed to achieve the goal are identified.

3. Timelines: Realistic timelines should be set for completing each part/overall goal.

4. Progress evaluation: Most organizations do goal planning at the start of the year, where the supervisor sits with individual employees and comes up with a goal. This goal is then tracked periodically (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc). The reason for tracking is to ensure that appropriate and timely feedback is provided. An employee should not have to wait for the full performance evaluation cycle to hear that they have not lived up to expectations. For new employees, managers are encouraged to sit with them as part of the onboarding process and have their goals planned out, for the purpose of clarify.

SMART goal planning helps the employeremployee relationship and reduces labour related issues such as accusation of unfair dismissal, and other issues based on performance.

Regardless of which framework is used (OKR or goal planning), it is important to mention the need for the organization to have a clear performance evaluation policy that articulates expectations. When it is followed it will reduce risk of legal liability, provide valuable feedback, and increase employee and organizational outputs.