Goal Setting for 2024

You may have heard of the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. But have you ever encountered the tasks of HR past, present and future?

Two out of the three tasks tend to land towards the end of the calendar year, and can be particularly resource-heavy for people managers with large teams. Let’s take a look at what they involve.

Past = performance reviews. The formal process when we look back on what we’ve achieved, how we approached tasks, and the skills and behaviours that led us there. No doubt some of your diaries are already filling up with such meetings!

Present = business as usual. Keeping on top of your day-to-day workload and responsibilities, which includes the not-so-small task of leading and motivating your team.

Future = planning your future people strategy. Setting goals for the coming year and putting plans in place to ensure you have the people resources to accomplish them.

In this blog we’re going to take you through a holistic approach to goal setting for 2024 (or any year you happen to read this!). We’ll look at the clear links between performance reviews and future development, dig down into individual and organisational goal setting and some different methods of approach.

The link between past performance and future development

When you look at past, present and future performance as a whole it can help to build up a picture of where you want to be, both personally and as an organisation. For example, reviewing past performance with a team member may highlight skills gaps that go on to inform their future goals and objectives. While at an organisational level, systems that are currently working well or recurring issues with a project may also inform your future approach. This is why it’s important to look back before you look forwards and set your goals.

Individual goal setting

As a manager, throughout the year you will hold performance review meetings with your line reports to discuss their progress and achievements. It’s natural for these conversations to drift into career aspirations or objectives for next year.

If you can, try to keep the past performance and future goals separate. Take useful notes and organise a separate meeting when you can both focus purely on objectives and goal setting. This discussion may cover:

• Organisational context and generic strategic goals for all employees

• Any objectives not fully achieved from last year

• Career aspirations and steps or actions needed to get there

• Skills and personal development areas of improvement

• Challenges and expectations for both manager and employee

Between you, agree a mix of achievable short-term and longer-term objectives. Some of the things you plan to achieve next year may set you on the path to a much larger goal, such as a promotion. It’s useful to break each objective down into individual actions that will contribute to reaching it. Once agreed, all that’s left is to formalise and document each set of individual goals, ready to take action.

Organisational goal setting

Setting organisational goals provides clarity around the strategic direction of your business and will inform individual objectives. When employees have a clear vision of the future they are much more likely to understand their own role, responsibilities and how you expect them to contribute. Strategic understanding has strong links to higher levels of productivity, motivation and engagement at work.

High level organisational goals will address areas such as finance, operations, marketing and sustainability. For this post we’re going to focus on our area of expertise: People!

Individual goal setting conversations are an essential part of organisational people planning. What internal and external resources will you need to help your employees achieve their goals? From training and coaching to recruitment and cultural change, an overarching people plan should cover every aspect of the employee lifecycle. Our free ebook, People Planning for 2024, provides more detail on using the employee lifecycle to guide and structure your plan.

An effective people strategy sets out your future vision and identifies the resources needed to help your business, and people, thrive. Those resources could be in the form of new recruits, skills development, training courses, coaching and mentoring programmes, software, and other third-party resources. It should also set out the culture you want to create, detailing cultural change work and engagement activity to make that happen and maintain a happy, productive, motivated and fulfilled workforce.

Setting realistic goals

Traditionally, goal setting has been based on SMART principles. That is, setting goals which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-based. However, there are some schools of thought that now believe SMART goals are outdated, e.g. not all goals can be easily measured or completed within a year, and setting deadlines and missing them can become demotivating. One alternative approach is to set goals that are Purposeful, Actionable, Continuous and Trackable (PACT).

Whether you prefer a structured approach or something a little more flexible, goals should always be based around the things you can control. There is little point in setting out a complex goal when you have no support, or idea how, to achieve it. Any form of goal setting must therefore be realistic and achievable. Our world, and the workplaces within it, are constantly changing so it’s only right that the goals we set ourselves have an element of flexibility built in.

Balancing the tasks of HR past, present and future

If you’re a people manager with several line reports you may find this time of year a challenge. Balancing time spent on the tasks of HR past, present and future can be tricky. Our advice is to treat your employees as you would your children at Christmas. Spend equal time, money, and effort on each one!

Setting future goals and having quality conversations around them is important to keep employees focused, motivated and on track throughout the year. If your organisation and employees may benefit from advice, training or additional support in this area, please get in touch. We’re here to share the load.

Further reading

If you’re interested in more in-depth guidance on people planning, download our free ebook People Planning for 2024. We explore the key people trends for 2024, how to use data to inform decision making and some of the big challenges around recruitment, retention and the impact of AI. You may also be interested in our blogs on Upskilling your workforce and Sustainability: People and Planet.

How we can help you

If you’d like to discuss any of the issues raised in this blog, get in touch with us today on 0161 941 2426. We’re here to help.