Goals

Effective, ethical performance management is impossible without clear goals. Imagine terminating a consistent underperformer or simply giving feedback about their performance when you have never clearly and openly stated what you expect them to do. You can do it, but it’s unnecessarily hard, opens you up to legal risk, and is an abdication of your managerial responsibility.

Goals are your or your company’s expectations come to live and their formality can vary greatly. Development targets are often set as part of an annual performance review, but you can set clear goals when assigning a small piece of work too.

Clarify what you need with this simple phrase

I expect you to…

Most performance review systems describe results as whether an individual was below, at, or exceeding expectations. So this simple phrase is a powerful way to translate complex or broad job description bullets into tangible work for your direct reports.

You can use this phrase in various ways to set expectations, for example:

“I expect you to be on time for our 1:1.”

“I expect you to communicate delays for your deliverables as soon as possible, not when or after the due date has arrived.”

“I expect you to manage your energy levels and inform me if you’re experiencing a high workload for more than 2 consecutive weeks.”

“I expect you to share a first draft by tomorrow 3pm.”

“I expect you to stay off work when you’re on vacation or sick.”

What’s different with 🔄Feedback is that you set expectations upfront. Giving feedback after you’ve set expectations will make your managerial life so much easier, because you can connect the behaviors and impact to whether these expectations were met or not.

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