You may have heard about how companies like Google are using corporate goals management (like OKRs) to achieve ongoing success. While it’s obvious corporate goals management works for some companies, you may wonder whether it’s absolutely essential for all companies. The answer is yes, and the reasons why are listed below.
Drive Sales
After introducing OKRs, Sears Holding Company revealed they experienced an 8.5% jump in hourly sales. This increase was observed over a period of a year and half – just think about what OKRs could mean for your company when used over a long-term basis.
Improve Performance
In addition to the boost in sales, Sears also noticed a noteworthy jump in performance. When using OKRs, employees were 11.5% more likely to progress into a higher performance level than their peers who did not use OKRs. Even after employees tried OKRs just once, their likelihood of advancing into a higher performance level increased by 3%.
Engage Employees
Findings collected by the American Psychology Association (APA) indicated the following:
- Monitoring goals more frequently makes them more likely to be achieved. When goals are tracked regularly and thus achieved through a goal setting framework like OKRs, it will also lead to a boost in morale and employee engagement.
- The more regularly you monitor your goals, the better your odds are of accomplishing them. You can regularly monitor goals through practices like weekly one-on-one meetings and pulse surveys, which drive engagement by facilitating a regular feedback loop.
- When you create goals based on employees’ strengths, they’ll further improve their strongest qualities. As a result, they’ll feel more empowered, motivated, and engaged.
Goals Give Your Employees the 4 Things They Need
Finally, Gallup identified four key qualities workers need in order to stay with an employer. They include clear expectations, an opportunity to excel, recognition and praise, and feedback about progress.
- Employees should know what’s expected of them at work. While meeting goals itself is challenging, it’s becoming more challenging when they don’t really know what employer expects of them. Employees need to know what constitute bad or good performance.
- Employees should get an opportunity to excel. It’s employer’s job to provide such opportunities which give employees enough rooms to improve and excel.
- Employees deserves recognition and praise. Recognition and praise can go a long way. In fact, it’s a low cost, high impact investment that every employer should make.
- Employees need to receive progress feedback. Feedback matters, and employers should focus on giving constructive feedback on how employees can do better.
Each of these four qualities is supported by goals management, because it requires managers and employees to maintain ongoing communication. During communications, managers provide clear, actionable feedback, give praise and recognition when appropriate, and encourage employees to celebrate wins when both operational and aspirational Objectives are achieved.
By creating goals aligned with employees’ talents and skills, they also give employees an opportunity to excel consistently.