Your guide to setting SMART objectives for Appraisals and Performance Reviews
Objective setting is a key part of the employee appraisal process. Without goals to work towards, your team will find it difficult to know what is expected of them, and without SMART objectives, you will find it difficult to evaluate an individual’s performance.
What are SMART Objectives for appraisals?
SMART is an acronym used to highlight the specific criteria that objectives should meet in order to be effective.
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S |
SPECIFIC | The required outcome or action must be linked to a rate, number, percentage or frequency.
An example would be ‘Make 5 introductory sales calls every day’ rather than ‘Make sales call every day’ |
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M |
MEASURABLE | You must have a means of measuring the extent to which an objective has been achieved. |
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A |
ATTAINABLE | An objective must be achievable with a reasonable amount of effort and application. This can be subjective so the objective must be mutually agreed, not just ‘set’. |
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R |
RELEVANT | Does the individual have the necessary knowledge, skill and authority to complete the objective? Is it something they can actually impact upon? |
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T |
TIME BASED | Set a deadline for completion or a specific time for review/ assessment. |
Setting Objectives
Use your appraisal meetings as an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the objectives for the future. It is important that objectives are discussed with and agreed by the individual you are setting them for. Apart from being more likely to get ‘buy in’ from the individual if they feel like they have had input, it will help you ensure that the goal meets the above SMART criteria – in particular attainability and relevance. Objectives that are not achievable or relevant will be demotivating for your team – the exact opposite of what good goal setting and performance reviews are all about!
Reviewing Performance
Having set ‘time-based’ objectives, set dates for future reviews but also keep an eye on progress in the meantime so you can flag any potential issues that might prevent the objective being achieved and help keep your team on track.
If your SMART objectives for appraisal are really ‘measurable’ then evaluating achievement should be quite straightforward. This will be particularly important if you pay bonuses on the basis of performance.
If you are unsure how to set objectives for appraisals and how to manage the process, register for our next Appraisal Skills training course or contact us for advice. SMART objectives are also a useful tool in managing performance issues, and we can also provide further advice and training in Managing Underperformance.
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