Goals setting in the workplace

An introduction to management by objectives and the SMART framework, goals that are Specific, Measurable, Ambitious, Realistic, and Time bound. Explains why each criterion matters for keeping employees motivated and able to track their own progress toward a goal.

A hands on exercise to review your current goals against the SMART criteria, Specific, Measurable, Ambitious, Realistic, and Time bound, and to rewrite them where they fall short.

A detailed breakdown of each SMART criterion with before and after examples, including how to turn a vague goal like reduce app errors into a specific, measurable target with a deadline. Also covers the comfort zone versus growth zone balance and why Parkinson's Law makes a well chosen deadline a real motivator.

Three real business goal examples rewritten step by step to meet the SMART criteria, from prospecting new clients to improving customer satisfaction, showing exactly why the original goals were too vague and how to make them specific, measurable, and time bound.

A worksheet exercise using a downloadable resource: review a list of poorly defined objectives, identify which SMART criteria they are missing, and rewrite them as proper SMART goals.

How to cascade an organization's strategic vision down into concrete goals at the department, team, and individual level, illustrated with a full worked example from company vision down to a single project manager's objective.

An explanation of the Top Down approach to goal setting, where management defines objectives at each level of the organization, its advantages for aligning teams quickly, and the important distinction between defining an objective and dictating exactly how it should be achieved.

The Bottom Up approach to goal setting, where employees help shape their own objectives based on their strengths and interests, and why it tends to increase engagement and motivation compared to goals imposed purely from the top.

Review your current team or individual goals to check whether they truly align with your company's strategy, applying the Top Down and Bottom Up approaches from the previous lessons.

An introduction to OKRs, Objectives and Key Results, the goal setting framework used by companies like Google, Intel, and Netflix, with a full worked example cascading a company vision down to team and individual objectives and their key results.

How to write clear, measurable key results that answer the question how will I know I am on track, as distinct from the day to day tasks needed to achieve them. Also covers how to choose a realistic review cadence, quarterly or biannual, for your OKRs.

Applying the zero based budgeting principle to goal setting. Instead of incrementally adjusting last year's objectives, you start from zero and ask what you can accomplish with the resources and skills available today, a mindset that keeps goals ambitious instead of anchored to the past.

The difference between must have goals, the core objectives tied directly to performance, and stretch goals, deliberately ambitious targets designed to push an employee out of their comfort zone and support their development, both important for motivation.

How to use a technique borrowed from NLP, moving toward a desired behavior versus moving away from a problematic one, to help an employee change a soft skill behavior such as communication or collaboration. Illustrated with a real coaching example of a talented but confrontational team member.

Think of a behavior you or one of your team members would like to change or improve, then define a goal, using the toward and away from approach from the previous lesson, that could help make that change happen.

How to break a goal down into the specific tasks needed to reach it while keeping the end result in mind, with a worked example of the activities required to launch a mobile app, including deadlines and dependencies between tasks.

List the tasks, deadlines, and dependencies needed to achieve one of your current goals, using the keep the end in mind method from the previous lesson.

Why having the right tools and the right skills is essential to reaching your goals, referencing Gallup's engagement research on having the equipment needed to do your job well. Includes examples of turning a skill gap into a concrete development goal, such as a certification or a training course.

Identify the tools that would make your daily work easier and the skills you need to develop to perform better in your current role, then define a plan to acquire them.

How to design a reward system that recognizes both performance and behavior, and the pitfalls to avoid, such as rewarding only easily measurable results, illustrated with a sales team example where rewarding new contracts alone can end up hurting customer retention.

Why waiting until the end of the year to review goals is too late, and how regular check ins, at least twice a year and ideally more often, help catch drift early, give timely feedback, and adjust goals when circumstances change.

Define a strategy, frequency, duration, and format, for reviewing your own goals and those of your team, using the minimum recommended cadence of at least twice a year.

Four cognitive biases that distort how you judge a colleague's performance: confirmation bias, the halo effect, self serving bias, and the fundamental attribution error. Understanding them helps managers make fairer, more rational decisions when setting and reviewing goals.

The GROW coaching model, Goal, Reality, Options, Will, for structuring performance conversations and helping your team define their own action plans, with sample open ended questions for each stage of the framework.

The same six step feedback framework used elsewhere in this training, applied specifically to goal follow up conversations: state your intentions, describe the situation and your reaction, let the person respond, suggest improvements together, and set metrics to track progress.

Prepare feedback for a goal follow up conversation using the six step framework from the previous lesson.

How to think about your own career goals across every area of life, health, career and finances, family, personal development, and turn a long term ambition such as a promotion into a SMART goal with a concrete action plan and deadlines.

A short closing message summarizing the key techniques covered in this training on setting SMART and OKR goals, linking them to strategy, and coaching and giving feedback to help your team achieve them.

How to get in touch with Jamal Lazaar with questions about this goal setting training, and where to follow his other courses on management and leadership.

Bonus resources and information about Jamal Lazaar's other courses on goal setting, management, and leadership skills.